William de Croÿ

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William II de Croÿ, Lord of Chièvres (also known as: Guillaume II de Croÿ, sieur de Chièvres in French; Guillermo II de Croÿ, señor de Chièvres, Xevres or Xebres in Spanish; Willem II van Croÿ, heer van Chièvres in Dutch), later Duke of Sora and Arce, Baron of Roccaguglielma (all three in Kingdom of Naples, now in Frosinone province), 1st count of Beaumont, 1st Marquess of Aerschot, Lord of Temse; (Born 1458 – January 11, 1521, in Worms) was the chief tutor and First Chamberlain to Charles V.

William was the second son of Philippe de Croÿ, Lord of Aerschot and Jacoba of Luxembourg. William married Maria-Magdalena of Hamal, widow of Adolf van der Marck. William bought the lordships of Beaumont and Chièvres from his father in 1485. In 1489 he was one of those lords who tried to reason with Philip of Cleves during his rebellion against Maximilian of Austria. William was also elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1491. He became part of the court of Philip the Handsome in 1494, but didn't accompany Philip on his first voyage to Spain in 1501-1503. After Philip's death in 1506, William became part of the regency council and held chief responsibility for the finances of the Low Countries, as well as being supreme commander. He was confirmed in his tasks by Emperor Maximilian in 1510.

In 1509 he also became chief tutor of the infant Archduke Charles as replacement of Charles de Croÿ, prince of Chimay. Charles V made him part of his first council in 1515 and rewarded him with Sora, Arce and Rocca Guglielma in 1516. For his merits Charles also raised Beaumont to a county and Aerschot (which William inherited from his father in 1511) to a margraviate between 1517 and 1519. Other functions William acquired were:

Grand-Bailli of Hainaut (1497-1503)
Stadtholder of Namur (since 1503)
Admiral of the Kingdom of Naples and Chief Admiral of all countries (in 1516)
Chief of the Spanish treasury (contador mayor) (since 1517)

William insisted that Charles became candidate for the Imperial election in 1519 and was present at the Diet of Worms in 1521, where he was opposed to the violent persecution of Martin Luther and his followers. However, Charles finally broke with his advisor's influence when he went to war against France, something which William had tried to prevent.