Charles Alexandre de Croÿ, Marquis d’Havré

Charles Alexandre de Croÿ
Marquis of Havré

Portrait by an anonymous artist of the Flemish School
Married (1) Yolande de Ligne (1585–1611)
(2) Geneviève de Lascaris d'Urfé (1597–1656)

Issue

Marie-Claire de Croÿ (1605–1664)

Titles and styles

Marquis of Havré, Count of Fontenoy
Noble family House of Croÿ
Father Charles Philippe de Croÿ, Marquis d’Havré (1549–1613)
Mother Diane de Dammartin, Countess of Fontenoy (1552–1625)
Born 1574
Died 1624
Brussels
Buried Chapel Church, Brussels
Occupation soldier
Charles Alexandre de Croÿ, Marquis d’Havré
Allegiance Spanish Habsburg
Service/branch Army of Flanders
Years of service 1597–1624
Rank cavalry commander
Unit Bandes d'ordonnance
Battles/wars Siege of Amiens (1597)
Siege of Ostend (1601)
Siege of Oldenzaal (1605)
Battle of White Mountain (1620)
Awards Knight of the Golden Fleece (1617)
Other work Memoires geurriers (Antwerp, 1642)

Charles Alexandre de Croÿ (1574–1624), Marquis of Havré, Count of Fontenoy, Knight of the Golden Fleece, was a military commander and memoirist from the Habsburg Netherlands and a murder victim.

Life

Charles Alexander was born in 1574, the son of Charles Philippe de Croÿ, Marquis d’Havré (1549–1613) and Diane de Dammartin, Countess of Fontenoy (1552–1625).

Pursuing a military career, he served in a relief column during the Siege of Amiens (1597). The following year he accompanied Archduke Albert on his journey to Spain to marry the Infanta Isabella, as a gentleman of the court.

In 1601 he became captain of an elite cavalry company serving in the Siege of Ostend, and in 1602 commandant of the fifteen Bandes d'ordonnance. He spent eleven months as a hostage of the mutineers during the Mutiny of Hoogstraten, during which time he started to write his memoirs, which were eventually published posthumously in 1642.

On 27 May 1605 he was appointed to the Archduke's Council of War. In 1606 he represented the Archduke at the wedding of the Duke of Lorraine's son and heir, Henry of Bar, and Margerita Gonzaga.

In 1617, on the occasion of his second marriage, he was invested as a knight of the Golden Fleece.

At the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War he was seconded to the imperial army and served in the Battle of White Mountain, but in 1624 he retired from military service to take up a position in civilian administration. On 10 November 1624 he was shot dead through a window of his own house in Brussels, reputedly by one of his pages in revenge for an insult.[1]

Writings

References

  1. Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 4 (Brussels, 1873), 555–558.
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