Nicolas de Montmorency

Nicolas de Montmorency

Count of Estaires
Bornby 1556
Died16 May 1617
Ghent, County of Flanders, Spanish Netherlands
OccupationChief of the Council of Finance
LanguageFrench
Period1597–1614
Genresprayerbooks, meditations
SpouseAnne de Croy

Nicolas de Montmorency (ca. 1556–1617), count of Estaires, was an office holder and spiritual author in the Spanish Netherlands.

Life

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Nicolas de Montmorency was born in by 1556, the third son of François de Montmorency, lord of Wastines, and Hélène Villain. In his youth he served in the household of Philip II of Spain. In 1583 he was appointed as Chief of Finances (president of the Council of Finance) for the Spanish Netherlands and a councillor of state. On 8 August 1611 he was made count of Estaires.

In 1604 he founded a Bridgettine convent in Lille that was early struck by a notorious case of demonic possession.[1] The Neo-Latin poet Maximiliaan de Vriendt addressed two epigrams to him, one of which attests to his reputation for piety. He married Anne de Croy (died 12 April 1618), lady of Bermeraing, but remained childless.[2]

He died in Ghent on 16 May 1617. His entrails were buried in the city, his heart in the family vault in Estaires, and the rest of his remains in the Bridgettine convent he had founded.[3]

Works

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References

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  1. ^ Jean Le Normant, Histoire veritable et memorable de ce qui c'est passé sous l'exorcisme de trois filles possedées és pais de Flandre, en la descouverte & confession de Marie de Sains, soy disant princesse de la magie; & Simone Dourlet complice, & autres, vol. 1 (Paris, 1623).
  2. ^ Paul Bergmans, "Montmorency, Nicolas de", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 15 (Brussels, 1899), 198-203.
  3. ^ Jean-Noël Paquot, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces de Pays-Bas, de la Principauté de Liége, et de quelques contrées voisines, vol. 3 (Louvain, 1764), 165-168.