Ambroise-Joseph de Herzelles

Ambroise-Joseph, marquis de Herzelles

Ambroise-Joseph Marquis de Herzelles (born February 14, 1680 in Fauquez ( Ittre ), † August 4, 1759 ibid) was the third Marquis of Fauquez and Ittre and a Belgian military and politician in Spanish and Austrian services.

timeline

Ambroise-Joseph de Herzelles was the 3rd marquis of the Van Herzeele family . He was the son of the 2nd Marquis Jean-Baptiste de Herzelles , dragoon rider in the service of the King of Spain, and Anne-Marie van Couwenhoven. His older brother was Guillaume-Philippe de Herzelles , the bishop of Antwerp. Ambroise-Joseph was also the nephew of Guillaume Philip Herzelles , Chancellor of Brabant.

After studying law at the University of Leuven , he reported to the Walloon Guards of King Philip V of Spain , with whom he took part in the campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula. He returned home in 1705 and, because of his noble status, became a member of the Brabant States.

In 1736, the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, appointed him superintendent of finances in the Austrian Netherlands . He fulfilled this office to the complete satisfaction of Maria Theresa , who, among other things, did not attach any weight to the slanderings of Karl Alexander von Lothringen .

In 1753 the office of President , General Manager and Treasurer for Finances of the Austrian Netherlands was created for Ambroise-Joseph de Herzelles . This office united all financial and economic authorities and was dissolved again after the death of the Marquis in 1759.

Herzelles had two later legitimized sons from a premarital relationship during his time in the military. In 1706 he secretly married the Spanish princess María Catalina Vicenta de Austria. He married Marie-Claire de Croÿ , daughter of the Duke of Havré , in 1722 . In 1749 he married a third time with Christine-Philippine de Trazegnies (1728–1793), 48 years his junior . After his death in Vienna, she became chief steward of two archduchesses . There, Emperor Joseph II, who was twelve years her junior, possibly proposed a marriage to her, which she refused. On her return to Belgium, Maria Theresa wrote her extremely frank letters from 1771–1773, some of which were published in the mémoires of the Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique . After the marquise withdrew to the Benedictine monastery in Namur in 1775 , Joseph II visited her there in 1781 on his journey through the Austrian Netherlands.

predecessor	Office	successor
Jean-Baptiste de Herzelles	3. Marquis of Fauquez and Ittre –1759