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- BIOGRAPHY
Philippe III de Croÿ, 3.duc d'Aerschot, prince de Chimay, comte de Porcean, was born at Valenciennes on 10 July 1526, the second son of Philippe II de Croÿ, duc d'Aerschot, 1.marquis de Renty and Anne de Croÿ, princesse de Chimay. His elder brother Charles had no children from his two marriages. After the assassination of Charles on 24 June 1551, Philippe succeeded to the title of Duc d'Aerschot. In 1555 he became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
On 24 January 1558 Philippe married Johanna Henriette van Halewyn, daughter of Jean III van Halewyn, vicomte de Nieuwpoort, and Jossine de Lannoy. They had three children of whom Charles and Anne would have progeny. After the death of Johanna Henriette, Philippe married Jeanne de Blois-Treslon, widow of Philippe de Lannoy, seigneur de Beauvoir, admiral of Zeeland, but there were no children from this marriage.
Philippe was governor-general of Flanders, and lieutenant governor, captain general and grand bailiff of the county of Hainault and the city of Valenciennes. Closely involved in the political events of his time, he played an important military and diplomatic role in the reign of Philip II of Spain.
He took part in the troubles in the Netherlands, and in 1563 refused to join Willem the Silent and others in their efforts to remove Cardinal Granvelle from his post. This attitude, together with Philippe's devotion to the Catholic Church, which he expressed by showing his delight at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, led Philip II of Spain to regard him with still greater favour. However, this was withdrawn in consequence of Philippe's ambiguous conduct when welcoming the new governor, Don Juan of Austria, to the Netherlands in 1576.
In spite of being generally distrusted by the inhabitants of the Netherlands, Philippe was appointed governor of the citadel of Antwerp when the Spanish troops withdrew in 1577. After a period of vacillation he deserted Don Juan towards the end of that year. Jealous of the prince of Orange, he was then the head of the party which induced Archduke Matthias (afterwards emperor) to undertake the sovereignty of the Netherlands, and soon afterwards Philippe was appointed governor of Flanders by the state council. A strong party, including the burghers of Ghent, distrusted the new governor, and Philippe, who was taken prisoner during the riots at Ghent, was only released on promising to resign his office. He then sought to regain the favour of Philip of Spain, and having been pardoned by the king in 1580 he again shared in the government of the Netherlands; but he refused to serve under the count of Fuentes when he became governor-general in 1594, and retired to Venice, where he died on 11 December 1595.
Philippe's son Charles married three times but had no legitimate issue. On the death of Charles, his sister Anne succeeded him as duchesse d'Aerschot et de Croÿ. She had married Prince Charles d'Arenberg in 1587. The duchy of Aerschot thereby passed to the house of Arenberg.
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