Isabelle Brunelle (3 September 1724– 8 May 1805), countess d'Harscamp, was a German refugee and philanthropist.

Life

Brunelle was born in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

on 3 September 1724, the daughter of Herman Brunelle and Jeanne-Marie Tilmans. She was educated in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, Belgium, and in 1748 married François-Pontian d'Harscamp, a member of the noble house d'Harscamp, who had extensive interests in arms manufacturing. Jean Bovesse, "Brunelle (Isabelle)", ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (; ) is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ''Nouvelle Biographie Nationale'' (, ...

''
vol. 41
(Brussels, 1979), 53–57. Their early married life was spent in Hungary, where they had considerable property. Friedrich Haagen,
d'Harskamps, Maria Isabella
, ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

'', vol. 10 (Leipzig, 1879), 646–647. Three children were born to them there, all of whom died young. After 1765 the couple moved to

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

, in the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

, where they became part of Belgian high society. Pontian d'Harscamp died at Fernelmont lol in May 1794 and was buried in Noville-les-Bois. Isabelle inherited his fortune but left the Low Countries due to the French invasion, finding refuge first in Bavaria and later in Prussia. She briefly returned to the Low Countries in 1797, before again becoming a refugee in Germany and then Poland. Finally returning to the Low Countries again, on 24 November 1800 she took an oath of loyalty to the Constitution of the French Republic in Liège. She died in Namur on 8 May 1805 and was buried beside her husband in Noville-les-Bois.

Foundations

By her will, first drawn up in Fernelmont on 28 April 1788, and modified in 1784 and 1805, Brunelle established four foundations for the poor in

and an almshouse in Namur. The almshouse, named Hospice d'Harscamp, was opened in 1812 in the buildings of the former Recollect convent. On 15 May 1872 a stone statue of Brunelle, sculpted by

Guillaume Geefs Guillaume Geefs (10 September 1805 – 19 January 1883), also Willem Geefs, was a Belgian sculptor. Although known primarily for his monumental works and public portraits of statesmen and nationalist figures, he also explored mythological s ...

, was unveiled in the almshouse garden. In Aachen, a street was named Harscampstrasse in her memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunelle, Isabelle 1724 births 1805 deaths People from Aachen German refugees 18th-century German philanthropists German women philanthropists 18th-century nobility from the Holy Roman Empire