Cornelia van Lalaing (1545 - 1610), was a Dutch noblewoman, famous for the role she played in the so-called "Rennenberg Treason" in 1579 during the

Eighty Year's War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exce ...

. She was born to Philip van Lalaing, count of Hoogstraten (1510-1555) and Anna van Rennenberg (1510-1583), and married in 1576 to Willem van Hamal, baron de Monceau (1551-1582). She was the sister of

George de Lalaing George de Lalaing count Rennenberg (c. 1550 – 23 July 1581), was stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel in the service of Philip II of Spain from 1577 to 1581. The Lalaing family came from Hainaut and had a tradition of go ...

, count of Rennenberg, governor of Friesland, Groningen and Overijssel. Her family was Catholic, but originally supported the Protestant

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

. In 1579, her brother was the only member of the family still loyal to

William the Silent William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburg Netherlands, Habsburgs that set off the ...

. the Prince of Orange, and his sudden and unexpected shift of side to the Catholics attracted great attention and became known as the "Rennenberg Treason". Cornelia van Lalaing visited her brother in 1579, and allegedly convinced him to change sides. History has given great attention to this, but there is no confirmation that she was indeed the cause of her brother's change of loyalty.

References

* Erik Swart, "Lalaing, Cornelia van", in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Lalaing 3/01/2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lalaing, Cornelia van 1545 births 1610 deaths 16th-century Dutch people 17th-century Dutch people 16th-century Dutch women 17th-century Dutch women Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War