The Seven Noble Houses of Brussels (also called the Seven Lineages or Seven Patrician families of Brussels; French: Sept lignages de Bruxelles, Dutch: Zeven geslachten van Brussel, Latin: Septem nobiles familiae Bruxellarum) were the seven families or clans whose descendants formed the patrician class and urban aristocracy of Brussels, Belgium.
They formed, since the Middle Ages, a social class with a monopoly, on the civil, military and economic leadership of the urban administration. This institution existed until the end of the Ancien Régime. However, as of the urban revolution of 1421, the representatives of the Guilds also exercised similar offices. Still, the offices of aldermen and captains of the urban militias were always reserved exclusively for members of the Lignages.
Coats of arms of the Seven noble houses of Brussels, engraved by Jacques Harrewyn, 1697.
The seven families were first named in a document from 1306 in which John II, Duke of Brabant restores and asserts the existing privileges of the seven families after the citizens of Brussels had violently demanded participation in the city's government. The families named in the document are:
All the members of the city council were exclusively recruited and elected from the families who could prove patrilinear or matrilinear descent from the original seven families. However, tradesmen formed the Nations of Brussels to counter this oligarchical system and in 1421, after violent confrontations, gained some political rights. The rule of the Seven Houses remained predominant until the end of the Ancien Régime, when these special privileges were definitively abolished, along with those of the Guilds. This meant the end of this aristocratic system of government.
Membership
Membership and descent of the seven families was carefully recorded in special registers. Applicants needed to provide genealogical evidence that they were descendants of one of the Seven Noble Houses. In addition they needed to be citizens of Brussels, adult, male, catholic, and not earn a living through a trade; instead they were expected to live off the interest of their wealth. Illegitimate children were excluded. Since these criteria were very stringent, few men were accepted to the ranks of this particular patriciate.
Rosette of the seven noble houses of Brussels, from Erycius Puteanus, Bruxella Septenaria, 1656.
Guardians of the gates and city walls
Members of the Seven Houses were responsible for defending the gates and city walls of Brussels.[3] Starting in 1383, each House had the task of defending one of the seven gates of the Brussels wall along with a section of that wall. Houses could also use this gate (tower) to imprison members of their own House who had engaged in blameworthy conduct. In 1422, following the bloody events of 1421 that led to a new balance of power between the Brussels patriciate of the Seven Houses and representatives of the trades that will then constitute the Guilds or Nations, this defence of the gates and walls was shared
Cologne Gate was defended by the House of Coudenbergh, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Géry.
Anderlecht Gate was defended by the House of t’Serroelofs, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Christophe.
Laeken Gate was defended by the House of Sleeus, from 1422 together with the Nation of Notre-Dame.
Leuven Gate was defended by the House of Steenweghe, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Jean.
Halle Gate was defended by the House of Serhuyghs, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Laurent.
Flanders Gate was defended by the House of Sweerts, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Gilles.
Namur Gate was defended by the House of Rodenbeke, from 1422 together with the Nation of Saint-Jacques.
Gilles van Hamme, alderman of Bruxelles in 1389 and 1399, admitted to the House of Roodenbeke.
Charitable activities
In addition to their judicial, administrative and military functions, the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels were also benevolent and concerned about the needs and well-being of the population.
Thus, the urban administration created an administrative relief service for the indigent, called the "Supreme Charity", whose masters-general were chosen only among the members of the Houses at the end of their offices in the urban magistracy.
Between the 12th and 18th centuries, the magistrates of the Noble Houses of the city of Brussels founded numerous official institutions, including schools, orphanages, pilgrim hostels, infirmaries and almshouses.
Alongside this, members of the Houses have also had, over the centuries, in their personal capacity, important private charitable activities[4] and created many foundations and hospitals to relieve the misery of the population or members of the Houses that had fallen into poverty. These private foundations continued to exist until the end of the Ancien Régime and were after the French Revolution grouped in the Hospices Réunis, that still exist today.
Among these charitable foundations founded in a personal capacity by members of the Seven Houses, we can mention:
1128: Hospice of Saint-Nicholas, mentioned as early as 1128, next to the church of the same name.
1263: Hospice of Ter Arken, Rue Salazar 17, founded before 1263 by a member of the Clutinc family.
1356: Hospice of the Holy Trinity, founded before 1356 by the famous mystic Heilwige Bloemart called Bloemardine.
1388: Foundation of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, or Landuyt Foundation, founded in 1388 by the bishop Jean t'Serclaes.
1522: Hospice of the Holy Cross, Rue Haute, founded in 1522 by Charles t'Seraerts.
1622: Hospice of t'Serclaes or of Saint-Anne, Rue de la Fiancée, founded in 1622 by Anne t'Serclaes.
1656-1658: Hospice of the Nine Choirs of Angels, Rue des Chevaux founded in 1656-1658 by Louise van der Noot.
The Seven Noble Houses and the Ommegang
Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon, powerful protector of Brussels, standing on her boat. It is under her aegis and in her honour that every year the Ommegang takes place, in which the Seven Noble Houses still participate.
The annual Ommegang, Brussels' most important lustral procession, celebrated in honor of Our Blessed Lady of the Sablon, the powerful protector of the City of Brussels, is one of the most important moments of the history of the Seven Houses to this day.[5]
It took place on the Sunday before Pentecost, which was also the day of the festival of the city of Brussels.
The magistrates and members of the Seven Noble Houses, dressed in red scarlet - the famous Brussels scarlet[6] stained in the blood of a bull - preceded by the magistrate of the statue of the Virgin Mary, participate as they always have, in this sacred procession.
Were members of the Seven Houses noble? As the historian, editor and genealogist François de Cacamp writes:
this question does not make much sense since there does not ever seem to have been a legal definition or status of nobility in Brabant, during the period of the national Dukes. Members of the Seven Houses were free men, descendants of free men, and it is more or less certain that in the 12th and even 13th centuries, the notions of freemen and noblemen were almost identical. During that time, being master and lord of land was being noble in a certain way, and this nobility of blood and land, of social rather than legal character, was transmitted to all children, male and female, by their mothers just as much as their fathers, the same way that land ownership, of which it was the corollary (...this is why) members of the Seven Houses, at least until the 16th century considered themselves, and were considered by others, as nobles,[7] issued from "de nobilibus progeniebus ", "uit adellijke geslachten".[8]
Historian and genealogist Christophe Butkens similarly wrote around 1600 that "In this city of Brussels there is an officer of the Duke called Amman and seven aldermen, which have always been elected from the seven patrician families - noble and privileged - in a way that nobody is elected as alderman or magistrate if he is not a descendent, either way, of any of those families."[9]
Louis Hymans, historian of Brussels, also notes that this nobility was transmissible in the female line. Adages, told by historians, testify that: "the women, in the lineages, ennobled their husbands: Feminœ quia nobiles, etiam maritos nuptiis nobiles reddunt. They brought nobility in dowry: In dotem familiam ac nobilitatem afferunt."[10]
Nicolas Joseph Stevens concluded that: "even though under the Austrian regime, which in terms of prerogatives devolving to the nobility, we know the essentially formalistic spirit, the quality of Noble was denied to members of the Seven Houses, init is not any less true that they had, by the seniority of their existence and by their services rendered to the City, rights to a certain illustrious standing, which distinguished them from the rest of the bourgeoisie".[11]
Moreover, even in the Austrian period, in 1743, the description of the city of Brussels published by George Frix[12] reads: "These Noble families called Patrician are those of Steenweghe, Sleews, Serhuyghs, Coudenbergh, Serroelofs, Swerts and of Rodenbeeck; whose descendants subsist still encore without having derogated from either the nobility or the virtues of their ancestors. Numerous rulers of Brabant among which I will cite John II and Charles I, recognised them as illustrious and wise in authentic charters of 1360 and 1469 where they gave titles of Chevaliers (Knights), Ecuiers (squires) and of d'Amis aux Sujets de leur tems (Friends to the Subjects of their tems) issued from these Noble families"[13] and he continues "The privilege particular to these Noble families is worthy of remark. The women carry the name and the rights of their Houses into those they enter through marriage, being Nobles , they ennoble their husbands; and as daughters of patricians , they give the rank, the quality and all the rights to those they choose as husbands; in a way that, Patrician families, being very multiplied, gave a high number of subjects to the magistrature".[14] Another half a century later, Aubin-Louis Millin de Grandmaison estimates that: "These families benefited from wide ranging privileges. The most beautiful of all gave women the faculty to pull out of the shadows the families to which they allied themselves. As nobles, they ennobled their husbands, and as daughters of patricians, they gave them rank, quality and all the rights."[15]
Thus, members of the Seven Houses were originally Nobles and recognised as such[16] undeniably by the inhabitants of the City of Brussels and beyond. But, as Alfred De Ridder writes in 1896[17] the fact that for members of the Lineages, the women conferred nobility to their husbands and, according to the old saying, "the womb ennobles", damaged the nobiliary principles of the Austrian Netherlands. However, this belief that nobility was only transmitted by men in this region is a grave historical error, as many authors have since shown.[18] Empress Maria Theresa, in Article XIV of her edict of 11 December 1754 "regarding titles and marks of honour or nobility, bearing of arms, coats of arms and other distinctions" tried to give, by law, a definitive solution to this question: it was then forbidden to the Members to give to themselves and their wives titles and marks of nobility: "XIV Those admitted to patrician families or lineages of our cities, will not be allowed to carry swords, or to give themselves or their wives titles or marks of nobility, failure to respect this will result in a fine of 200 florins".[19] Thus, following the entry into force of this edict in the southern Netherlands, the Lineages of Brussels were no longer able, legally, to take advantage of external marks of nobility, although the nobility was not formally denied to them by this edict. On this point, the state of the question remained unchanged in the legal order of the southern Netherlands, for the next forty years, until the abolition of all nobility and the lineage regime of Brussels by the French Revolutionary Power during the invasion of Belgian Provinces. Under the First Empire, Napoleon I gradually recreated from 1804 a new nobility, somewhat similar, all to his devotion and supposed to be a faithful supporter of his regime. The Brussels Houses had no place. Under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, from 1815 to 1830, with a constitution that gave extensive powers to William I, members of the nobility of each province were united in the provincial equestrian bodies to which were attributed political powers.[20] This is why, following a decree of 26 January 1822 forcing the former nobility to be recognised, only the nobles who were willing to collaborate and to support the policies of King William were recognised.[21] But none of the numerous decrees of King William suggests that all the ancient nobility, even if not recognized by King William, would have been annihilated.[22] Finally, the Belgian Constitution of 1831 made a clean sweep of the Loi Fondamentale of 1815 and therefore also of this decree of 1822.[23] The Belgian National Congress intended to maintain the old nobility[24] and by Article 75 of the Constitution, allowed the King of the Belgians to create new nobles for the future. Nothing distinct was resolved by the National Congress for the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels.
As can be seen by looking at the List and Arms of the persons admitted to the Lineages of Brussels, if many Brussels Lignagers were, during the Old Regime, legally noble to have been ennobled by the Prince or to descend from the family of which the nobility was legally recognized, the fact remains that all the members of the Noble Houses of Brussels and their descendants enjoyed, at the time, a sui generis legal status conferring on them, in Brussels, in law, important privileges, and indeed, a very high prestige that has continued to this day.
Concerning representation of the Houses' arms in the following list, the choice was made to use the ones most often admitted. In reality, a personal armorial would be needed as, very often, members of the Houses modified and personalised their arms up to the 18th century, either by adding charges or by changing tinctures, etc. This practice was necessary because of the very nature of this system; there were numerous members of the magistrate who were member of the same house and even had the same family name, thus it was necessary to differentiate arms so as not to confuse them with other members of the family. The study of aldermen seals shows the high number of patrician arms.
Arms of the Seven Houses
Arms of the Seven Houses, in an 18th Century manuscript.
Sleeus: Gules that is Brussels, a lion rampant argent.
Coudenbergh: Gules that is Brussels, three towers argent windows gules and gated azure.
Steenweeghs: Gules that is Brussels, five escallops in a cross.
Serroelofs: Gules that is Brussels, nine billets argent, positioned 4, 3 and 2.
Today, an organization has been formed to bring descendants of the Seven Houses together. This organization plans certain traditional events such as the Ommegang ceremony.
Descendants of the Seven Houses do not enjoy special political privileges any longer.
Descendants of the seven nobles house of Brussels are entitled to place the post-nominal initialsPB (for the Latin Patricius Bruxellensis) or - in case they hold a title of nobility - NPB (Nobilis Patricius Bruxellensis) after their name. This custom is already found in the writings of Jan-Baptist Hauwaert, NPB (1533–1599).
Families whose members were admitted to the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels in the Ancien Régime
Joseph de Roovere, NPB, Le manuscrit de Roovere conservé au Fonds Général du Cabinet des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique. Filiations reconnues sous l'Ancien Régime pour l'admission aux Lignages de Bruxelles, ed. M. Paternostre de La Mairieu, avec une introduction d'Henri-Charles van Parys, Grandmetz, 2 vol., 1981-1982 (Tablettes du Brabant, Recueils X et XI).
N. J. Stevens, Recueil généalogique de la famille de Cock, Brussels, 1855.
Viscount Terlinden, "Coup d'oeil sur l'histoire des lignages de Bruxelles", in Présence du passé, vol. 2, 1949.
Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a social class of patrician families, whose members were initially the only people allowed to exercise many political functions. In the rise of European towns in the 12th and 13th century, the patriciate, a limited group of families with a special constitutional position, in Henri Pirenne's view, was the motive force. In 19th century Central Europe, the term had become synonymous with the upper Bourgeoisie and cannot be interchanged with the medieval patriciate in Central Europe. In German-speaking parts of Europe as well as in the maritime republics of the Italian Peninsula, the patricians were as a matter of fact the ruling body of the medieval town. Particularly in Italy, they were part of the nobility.
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a collection of semi-autonomous cantons. As membership of the confederation has fluctuated throughout history, each of these cantons has its own unique history and nobility. Typically, each canton had its own constitution, currency, jurisdiction, habits, customs, history, and nobility.
The Guilds of Brussels, grouped in the Nine Nations of Brussels, were associations of craft guilds that dominated the economic life of Brussels, Belgium, in the late medieval and early modern periods. From 1421 onwards, they were represented in the city government alongside the patrician lineages of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, later also in the States of Brabant as members of the Third Estate. As of 1421, they were also able to become members of the Drapery Court of Brussels. Together with the Seven Noble Houses, they formed the bourgeoisie of the city. Some of their guildhouses can still be seen as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Grand-Place/Grote Markt in Brussels.
Joseph Norbert Leon François Marie Ghislain "José" Anne de Molina was a Belgian magistrate, heraldist, and historian.
In Brussels, as in most European cities, one needed the capacity of bourgeois in order to not only exercise political rights, but also to practice a trade, which, in Brussels, meant to be a member of the Guilds or of the Seven Noble Houses. The charter of Brussels, as codified in 1570 in articles 206 and following, provided the conditions of admission to the bourgeoisie of the city. The Bourgeois were the patrician class of the city. This social class was abolished by Napoleon during the French occupation.
The Leyniers family (/lɛnɪjɛ/) is a bourgeois family that appeared in Brussels in the 15th century and produced many high-level tapestry makers and dyers, experts in the art of dyeing in subtle shades the woolen threads destined for this trade.
The House ofSweerts or Sweerts Lineage is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Sleeus, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Coudenbergh, Serroelofs and Roodenbeke.
The Pipenpoy family (/pɪpɒ̃pwə/), was an old and influential patrician family of Brussels which exercised public functions in the capital of the Duchy of Brabant until the end of the Ancien Régime. It died in 1832 with Catherine de Pipenpoy, who was 100 years old. Several of its members were admitted to the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels.
The Drapery Court also called the Chamber of Commerce in the 18th Century, was one of the oldest and most influential institutions of the City of Brussels during the Ancien Régime and was abolished during the French occupation of Brussels.
Belgian heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in the Kingdom of Belgium and the Belgian colonial empire but also in the historical territories that make up modern-day Belgium. Today, coats of arms in Belgium are regulated and granted by different bodies depending on the nature, status, and location of the armiger.
The House or Lineage ofCoudenbergh or Coudenberg is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Sleeus, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Sweerts, Serroelofs, and Roodenbeke.
The House or Lineage ofSerroelofs or t’Serroelofs is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Sleeus, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Sweerts, Coudenberg, and Roodenbeke.
The House ofRoodenbeke or Roodenbeke Lineage is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Sleeus, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Sweerts, Serroelofs, and Coudenberg.
The House ofSleeus or Sleeus Lineage is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Roodenbeke, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Sweerts, Serroelofs, and Coudenberg.
The House ofSerhuyghs or Serhuyghs Lineage is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels along with the Houses of: Sleeus, Roodenbeke, Sweerts, Serroelofs, Steenweeghs, and Coudenberg.
The House ofSteenweeghs or Steenweeghs Lineage is one of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels, along with Roodenbeke, Sleeus, Serhuyghs, Sweerts, Serroelofs and Coudenberg.
The de Muyser Lantwyck family is an old Belgian family dating back to the beginning of the 15th century, tracing its roots to Jean Moyser, alderman of Vaelbeek, who held lands in Héverlé in 1451, censier of the Groenendael Priory, lord holding the lands and manor of Cockelberg by lease dated 19 June 1438, husband of Aleyde Crabbé.
The Poot family is a family that was admitted to the bourgeoisie of Brussels and from 1753 was registered among the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels.
The Association Royale des Descendants des Lignages de Bruxelles (French) is a hereditary organization of individuals who have documented their descent from at least one member of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels.
Georges Dansaert PB, was a Belgian lawyer, historian, poet, heraldist, genealogist, and writer from Brussels. In 1938, he received the Hercule-Catenacci prize from the Académie française along with Baudouin de Lannoy for their book Jean de Lannoy le Bâtisseur, 1410-1493. He descended from the Houses of Sleeus and Sweerts of the Seven Noble Houses of Brussels. The Dansaert family, now extinct, was an old and prominent ship-owning family from Brussels. He was a director of the Association Royale des Descendants des Lignages de Bruxelles. He was a donat of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
References
↑ The last session of the Serroelofs lineage took place on 15 June 1794: Henry-Charles van Parys, Les registres du lignage Serroelofs. Admissions et résolutions, texte établi par Monique Marchal-Verdoodt, Brussels, 2002, p. 188: "Dernière séance: 15 juin 1794".
↑ Arlette Smolar-Maynart, "Ducs de Brabant et Lignages bruxellois. De la stabilité d'une alliance d'affinité soutenue par l'intérêt", Les Lignages de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1995, no. 139-140, p. 199. (In French)
↑ Roel Jacobs, "Lignages de Bruxelles", "Coudenberg", "t’Serroelofs, lignage", "Sleeus, lignage", "Steenweghs, lignage", "Serhuygs, lignage", "Sweerts, lignage", "Rodenbeke, lignage", in Dictionnaire d’Histoire de Bruxelles, under the direction of Serge Jaumain, Brussels, 2013, s.v.
↑ See Stéphane Demeter and David Guilardian, "Implantation des hospices et hôpitaux à Bruxelles (XIIe-XVIIIe siècles)", in Hôpitaux du Moyen Âge et des Temps Modernes: actes; Archaeologia Mediaevalis 25; Bruxelles-Brussel, Gent, Namur, 14, 15, 16, 03, 2002, edited by Ann Degraeve (Brussels, 2007), pp. 53-60; also Claire Dickstein-Bernard, "Sens de l'hospitalité à Bruxelles au Moyen Âge", ibidem, pp. 69-80.
↑ Claire Dickstein-Bernard, "Une ville en expansion", in Histoire de Bruxelles, edited by Mina Martens, Toulouse, Privat, 1976, p. 111: "The cloth who makes the fortune of Brussels, which the clothier puts in front of him at the Halle, is the 'scarlet' (scaerlaken), shorn and rolled cloth (scaeren) but that is frequently dyed in seed red (hence the current meaning of the word scarlet). To a length of 48 ells (33.36 meters), it is made with English wool only by the brothers of the Drapery Court who hold the monopoly. The other clothiers can only manufacture the single-colored "marbled" or "mixed" of 42 yards, and the shorter sheets."
↑ See, a recognition of nobility by the Magistracy of the City of Brussels in 1606 according to which (French) "Ceux nez hors lesdits lignagers sont reputez pour escuyers", (Those born in the said lineages are reputed squires), cited in Michel De Ro, "Une attestation des échevins de Bruxelles au Conseil provincial de Namur en 1606", in Les Lignages de Bruxelles, bulletin de l'A.R.D.L.B., 2017, no. 178, pp. 1-10.
↑ François de Cacamp, "Note sur les Lignages de Bruxelles", Les Cahiers du Genealogicum Belgicum, no. 1, Les Familles Goossens, Brussels, 1963, pp. 19—24. And also according to Hervé Douxchamps, "La famille de la Kethulle", Recueil de l’Office Généalogique et Héraldique de Belgique, 1996, p. 179, in the Middle Ages, "Noble was he who was considered as such".
↑ Christophore Butkens, Trophées de Brabant, Volume II, p. 425, cited by Félicien Favresse, L'avènement du régime démocratique à Bruxelles pendant le Moyen Age (1306 - 1423), Brussels, 1932, p. 29.
↑ Louis Hymans, Bruxelles à travers les âges, Brussels, Bruylant-Christophe et Cie, editors, 1882, Volume I, Chapter III, page 130.
↑ Nicolas Joseph Stevens, Recueil généalogique de la famille de Cock, "Des sept lignages ou familles patriciennes de Bruxelles", Printed by P. Parent, Brussels, 1855, pages 147 to 157, and mainly page 157.
↑ Description de la ville de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1743.
↑ Aubin-Louis Millin, Antiquités nationales ou recueil de momumens, vol. 5, Paris, year VII, "Chapitre LXI, Bibliothèque de Saint-Pierre à Lille", pages 57 et 58.
↑ Léo Verriest writes on page 180 of his cited book, "that one could not explain why the right to be lineage could be lost by derogance and eventually be restored by rehabilitation, if the lineage condition had not been traditionally considered as noble of essence".
↑ Léon Arendt and Alfred De Ridder, Législation héraldique de la Belgique, 1595-1895: Jurisprudence du Conseil héraldique, 1844–1895, Brussels, Société belge de Librairie, pp. 24-25. It is also worth noting that it is erroneous, as both these authors do, to treat the Seven Noble Houses in the Ennobling Office section of their book, since it was the membership to the Lineages that gave access to the scabinale function of Brussels and not the inverse.
↑ Léo Verriest, Noblesse. Chevalerie. Lignages. Conditions des biens et des personnes, Brussels, 1959; Octave le Maire, La situation légale de la noblesse ancienne en Belgique et dans les anciennes provinces belges annexées à la France, Brussels, 1970; E. van Reeth, "Transmission de la noblesse par les femmes", Intermédiaire des Généalogistes, 1962, page 145.
↑ Léon Arendt and Alfred De Ridder, cited, pp. 210-211.
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