Hof van Savoye

Last updated
Court of Savoye Mechelen Hof van Savoye 2 9-06-2012 15-28-09.jpg
Court of Savoye
Court of Savoy, rear facade on Keizerstraat and (here darker) side at Korte Maagdenstraat Gerechtshof Mechelen.jpg
Court of Savoy, rear façade on Keizerstraat and (here darker) side at Korte Maagdenstraat
Inner courtyard of Margaret of Austria's Palace Hof van Margareta.JPG
Inner courtyard of Margaret of Austria's Palace

The Hof van Savoye (Court of Savoy) or Palace of Margaret of Austria is an early 16th-century building in Mechelen, Belgium. It was one of the first Renaissance buildings in Northern Europe.

Contents

Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, Governor of the Netherlands, was granted a house located in the Korte Maagdenstraat (Virgins Short Street), [Note 1] but she found it too small and started an ambitious expansion campaign in 1507. From 1517 to 1530 the architect Rombout II Keldermans furthered the project, along the Keizerstraat (Emperor Street) modifying what became the rear wing, which faces the Palace of Margaret of York, her step grandmother who had died in 1503. Margaret raised her nephew Charles, the later Holy Roman Emperor, in her palace, at which she lived until her death in 1530. [1]

Historian Eric Ives describes the inner courtyard and southern wing of the palace, still much like Anne Boleyn must have seen it during the stage of her upbringing at Margaret's court. It stood a model for the Palace of Whitehall as rebuilt for Anne in the 1530s. [2] [Note 2]

In 1546 the explosion of the city gate that held the gunpowder stock, the Zandpoort (Sand Gate), brought repairable damage to the palace. It was owned by the city until 1561. That year, it received a new calling as the residence of Granvelle, the first Archbishop of Mechelen, and right-hand man of Philip II.

In 1609 the building was bought back by the city and served as the headquarters of the Great Council of the Netherlands from 1616 until 1795.

The Hof van Savoye became known as the Gerechtshof (Court of Justice), because it houses the lower courts (Criminal and Civil Court, Justice of the Peace, and Police Court).

See also

Notes

  1. Ives, E. W. (2004). The life and death of Anne Boleyn : 'the most happy'. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. ISBN   978-0-631-23479-1. OCLC   53144651.
  2. Ives, Eric William (2004). The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: 'The Most Happy'. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-631-23479-1 . Retrieved 2011-09-19.

Footnotes

  1. It is not uncommon for Dutch language street names to distinct a shorter from a longer stretch. Less usual, the short Korte Maagdenstraat held its name when the corresponding name for a longer street was abandoned.
  2. Ives holds Anne's uncertain birth year at about 1501, in which case Anne had nearly Charles' age and young teenagers lived at the Hof van Savoye. If she was born approximately 6 years later, around 1507, she would have stayed at the Palace of (the late) Margaret of York across the street that already referred to an emperor long before Charles came to that title.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Boleyn</span> Queen of England from 1533 to 1536

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechelen</span> City in Antwerp Province, Belgium

Mechelen is a city and municipality in the province of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the city of Mechelen proper, some quarters at its outskirts, the hamlets of Nekkerspoel (adjacent) and Battel, as well as the villages of Walem, Heffen, Leest, Hombeek, and Muizen. The river Dyle (Dijle) flows through the city, hence it is often referred to as the Dijlestad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Rumbold's Cathedral</span> Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium

St. Rumbold's Cathedral is the Roman Catholic metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium, dedicated to Saint Rumbold, Christian missionary and martyr who founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics honoured as Saint Rumbold's and kept in a shrine in the retro-choir, showed a life span of about 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy</span> Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands

Margaret of Austria was Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1507 to 1515 and again from 1519 until her death in 1530. She was the first of many female regents in the Netherlands. She was variously the Princess of Asturias, Duchess of Savoy, and was born an Archduchess of Austria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eustace Chapuys</span> Savoyard diplomat

Eustace Chapuys, the son of Louis Chapuys and Guigonne Dupuys, was a Savoyard diplomat who served Charles V as Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detailed correspondence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollandse Synagoge</span> Orthodox synagogue in Antwerp, Belgium

The Hollandse Synagoge, officially the Synagogue Shomré Hadas, and also known as the Bouwmeester Synagoge, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Bouwmeestersstraat 7, in Antwerp, Belgium. Whilst the first Jews arrived in Antwerp in the 14th century, the congregation was not officially established until 1816. Descendants of Jews who came to Antwerp from the Netherlands in the early 19th century, built the synagogue in 1893 and it was the first large synagogue in Antwerp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechelen transit camp</span> Former Nazi transit camp and a current museum in Belgium

The Mechelen transit camp, officially SS-Sammellager Mecheln in German, also known as the Dossin barracks, was a detention and deportation camp established in a former army barracks at Mechelen in German-occupied Belgium. It served as a point to gather Belgian Jews and Romani ahead of their deportation to concentration and extermination camps in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Council of Mechelen</span> Supreme court in the Burgundian Netherlands

From the 15th century onwards, the Great Council of the Netherlands at Mechelen was the highest court in the Burgundian Netherlands. It was responsible for the Dutch-, French- and German-speaking areas. In Luxembourgish the phrase "mir ginn op Mechelen" still means playing one's last trump card. The Grote Raad first sat in the Schepenhuis in Mechelen then, from 1616, in the (old) palace of Margaretha of Austria on Keizerstraat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabantine Gothic</span> Variant of Gothic architecture that is typical for the Low Countries

Brabantine Gothic, occasionally called Brabantian Gothic, is a significant variant of Gothic architecture that is typical for the Low Countries. It surfaced in the first half of the 14th century at St. Rumbold's Cathedral in the city of Mechelen.

Jean d'Oisy (1310–1377) was the architect of several ecclesiastical buildings in Brabantine Gothic style. He was one of the earliest introducers of northern French Gothic style into the Low Countries and a teacher of the reputed Brabantian architect Jacob van Thienen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechelen-Zuid water tower</span> Water tower, Telecommuncatins tower in Mechelen, Belgium

The Mechelen-Zuid water tower is a 143-metre-high (469 ft), combined water and telecommunications tower constructed in 1978. Since 1979, it has supplied the water to the city of Mechelen, Belgium, while also hosting television and telecommunications aerials. The concrete spire passes through a wide disc holding water fifty metres above the ground. Higher up, a smaller disc supports telecommunications equipment. Topped by a decorative stainless steel tube, it is claimed to be the highest water tower in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beschermd erfgoed</span>

Beschermd erfgoed is the official term to describe Flemish National Heritage Sites listed by law to protect and spread awareness of Belgian cultural heritage, specifically in Flanders. The term is also used nationwide to refer to national heritage sites. Because Belgium is officially a tri-lingual country, the other nationwide terms used in the rest of the country are the French term Bien classé and the German term Kulturdenkmal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flanders Heritage Agency</span>

The Flanders Heritage Agency is a cultural heritage agency sponsored by the Flemish Government. The organisation is split into four subdivisions; the former VIOE, which inventories Beschermd erfgoed in the Flemish Region; the agency "Ruimte en Erfgoed" which executes policy on heritage management and protection; the Ministry department of Town and County Planning, Housing Policy and Immovable Heritage, or Ruimtelijke Ordening, Woonbeleid en Onroerend Erfgoed (RWO), which supports the Minister of Culture on policy decisions; and Inspectie RWO, which is the inspection arm of the RWO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthijs Langhedul</span> Flemish organ builder

Matthijs Langhedul was a Flemish organ-builder who did important work in Paris. He and Crespin Carlier had great influence on the development of the classical seventeenth century French organ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provinciaal Hof</span> Building in Bruges, Belgium

The Provinciaal Hof is a neo-Gothic building on the Markt in Bruges, Belgium. It is the former meeting place for the Provincial Government of West Flanders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ename</span> Place in Flemish Region, Belgium

Ename is a Belgian village in the Flemish province of East Flanders. It stands on the right side of the river Scheldt and it is part of the municipality of Oudenaarde. The territory was inhabited during Prehistoric and Roman times, and became a trade settlement during the 10th century. From the 11th century it was part of the domain of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Salvator, until its 1795 dissolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution. The remains of the Saint Salvator abbey are today part of a major heritage project in Flanders, established by the Province of East-Flanders. The Provincial Archaeological Museum of Ename displays the major finds that have been excavated on the abbey site. Today the village of Ename hosts the Museumnacht in July and the Feeste t' Ename with the traditional horse market that has been held for centuries during the celebrations of the patron hallow Saint Laurentius, on the 10th of August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antwerp Jazz Club</span> Jazz club in Antwerp, Belgium

The Antwerp Jazz Club is an association in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1938 by Hans Philippi, which delivers weekly lectures about and presentations of jazz music, at no cost, open to the public at large. Its sessions are held in Dutch. Other than these sessions, the club organizes concerts, including helping to organize blues concerts; and has aided in the screenings of jazz documentaries.

Elza Severin was a Belgian artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schepenhuis, Mechelen</span>

The Schepenhuis of Mechelen, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, is a building where the city's aldermen held their meetings in the Middle Ages. It is located on the edge of the Grote Markt, between the latter and the IJzerenleen and is considered the first stone 'town hall' of Flanders.

References

51°01′43″N4°29′11″E / 51.0286°N 4.4863°E / 51.0286; 4.4863