Female Authority in the Pietas Nobilita: Habsburg Allegiance during the Dutch Revolt

Abstract

In early modern times, noblewomen played a crucial role in estate management and patronage. Especially in times of crisis, such as during the Dutch Revolt (1568–1648), women could hold important and hitherto underestimated functions within noble families' administration. Anne of Croy (1564–1635), Duchess of Aarschot and Princess-Countess of Arenberg, was such a woman. This article explores the ways in which Anne of Croy was able to exercise authority, against the background of the Counter-Reformation in the Southern Netherlands. The nature of her female authority, during her marriage as well as after the death of her husband, is of particular interest. On the one hand, she was the financial manager of the Arenberg patrimony and, as such, she exercised a legally based managerial authority. On the other, however, as the eldest daughter of the Duke of Aarschot, she extracted a particular authority based on her prestigious Croy identity. Both these managerial and prestigious sides of her authority, culminated in a self-fashioned religious identity. The Pietas Nobilita she consequently shaped was the ideal vehicle for the promotion of female authority.