Jan Baptist Christyn the Elder or Joannes Baptista Christyn the Elder (22 February 1630 – 25 October 1690), 1st baron of Meerbeek, was a jurist, a diplomat in the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

, and

Chancellor of Brabant The Chancellor of Brabant was the head of the civilian government of the late medieval and early-modern Duchy of Brabant as president of the Council of Brabant. List of chancellors Late Middle Ages 16th century 17th century 18th centu ...

from 1687 to 1690.Paul F. State, Historical Dictionary of Brussels, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, p. 107 He was regarded as the Flemish authority on all matters relating to the aristocracy.Catharina Lis, Hugo Soly, Worthy Efforts: Attitudes to Work and Workers in Pre-Industrial Europe, BRILL, 2012, p. 383

Early life

Christyn was born in Brussels in 1622, the son of Pieter Christyn and Maria van den Hove. He was educated at the Augustine college in Brussels and at the

University of Douai The University of Douai (; ) was a historic university in Douai, France. With a medieval tradition of scholarly activity in the city, the university was established in 1559, and lectures began in 1562. It ceased operations from 1795 to 1808. In ...

, graduating as a Licentiate in both

civil Civil may refer to: *Civility, orderly behavior and politeness *Civic virtue, the cultivation of habits important for the success of a society *Civil (journalism) ''The Colorado Sun'' is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It lau ...

and

church law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. Canon law includes the ...

in 1651.

Career

Christyn practiced as a lawyer before the

Council of Brabant The Council of Brabant was the highest law court in the historic Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, a ...

. Between 1660 and 1667, he worked as

assessor An assessor may be: * ''Assessor'' (fish), a genus of fishes * Assessor (law), the assistant to a judge or magistrate * Assessor (Oxford), a senior officer of the University of Oxford * Assessor (property), an expert who calculates the value of p ...

to the Drossard of Brabant. Christyn was appointed master of requests to the

Great Council of Mechelen From the 15th century onwards, the Great Council of the Netherlands at Mechelen (Dutch: ; French: ; German: ) was the highest court in the Burgundian Netherlands. It was responsible for the Dutch-, French- and German-speaking areas. In Luxembourg ...

in 1667, and privy councillor in 1671. In 1675 he was called to Madrid to serve on the Royal and High Councils of the Netherlands and Burgundy. He was one of the envoys of King

Charles II of Spain Charles II (6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700) was King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. The last monarch from the House of Habsburg, which had ruled Spain since 1516, he died without an heir, leading to a European Great Power conflict over the succ ...

at the Congress of Nijmegen in 1678. Implementation of the treaties was very difficult and led to follow-up negotiations in

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

in 1681. Against the expansionist claims of the French king

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, Christyn published ''La Flandre défendue des fausses prétentions de la France'' (Flanders defended against France's false claims) in 1684. He believed he had an ex officio seat on the Brussels Council of State, but the pro-French chief president Leo-Jan de Pape refused it in order to block all claims to priority from the Madrid body. In 1685 Christyn was appointed first intendant of the High Military Council. Two years later, the lordship of Meerbeek, which he had purchased and was elevated to a barony. In 1687, Christyn was appointed Chancellor of Brabant, the highest position in the civilian administration of the

duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

. Christyn died in Brussels on 25 October 1690, and was buried in the Augustinian church.

Family

Christyn married Catharina de Pretere on 7 June 1652 in Brussels. They had a son called Johannes Baptista Clemens Christyn. Other well-known relatives were his brother Libertus Franciscus Christyn and his cousin and godson Jan Baptist Christyn the Younger.

Publications

Christyn wrote a number of works on jurisprudence, genealogy and heraldry. ''Les délices des Pays-Bas: ou Description géographique et historique des XVII. provinces belgiques'', a historical

chorography Chorography (from χῶρος ''khōros'', "place" and γράφειν ''graphein'', "to write") is the art of describing or mapping a region or district, and by extension such a description or map. This term derives from the writings of the anc ...

of the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

that was published after his death, has been attributed to him, but also to his nephew, Jan Baptist Christyn the Younger.

Selected publications

Christyn's works include: * Placcaeten ende Ordonnantien van de Hertoghen van Brabandt, vol. 3, 1664 en vermoedelijk ook vol. 4, 1677 (voortzetting van Antonius Anselmo) * Jvrisprvdentia heroica sive De jure Belgarum circa nobilitatem et insignia demonstrato in commentario ad edictum serenissimorum Belgii principum Alberti et Isabellæ emulgatum 14. decembris 1616, 1668 * Les tombeaux des hommes illustres qui ont paru au Conseil Privé du Roy Catholique, 1674 (attributed) * Observationes eugeniales et heroicae, 1678 (attributed) * La Flandre défendue des fausses prétentions de la France, ou le conseiller Dupuy, historien français, pris dans ses propres filets, 1684 * Les delices des Païs-Bas, contenant une Description générale des XVII provinces, 1711 (possibly)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christyn, Jan Baptiste 1630 births 1690 deaths People from the Spanish Netherlands Diplomats for Spain Chancellors of Brabant Flemish nobility University of Douai alumni Old University of Leuven alumni