Family and early life

Princess Marie de Brimeu of Chimay was the niece of Charles de Brimeu, Count of Meghem (1556–1572). He was her paternal uncle and she inherited his titles when he died without direct descendants. She thus became, among other titles, Countess of Meghem. She was born in 1550 in Megen (Meghem), a small town on the river Meuse, in the Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands (it is now in the province of North Brabant, the Netherlands). She was the younger daughter of George de Brimeu, Lord of Quierieu (d. c. 1572), Charles' younger brother, by his second wife, Anna van Walthausen; her older sister was Marguerite de Brimeu.^{[lower-alpha 1]} She spent much of her early life in Mechelen, where her family had a large house behind the cloth hall. From her early life she developed an interest in gardens and plants, and in February 1571 sent a letter and plant material from Antwerp to the botanist Carolus Clusius in Mechelen, whom she had recently met there, suggesting that she had already established a garden in Antwerp. Another botanist, Matthaeus Lobelius, also refers to her Antwerp garden.^[2]

Marriages

Her first marriage, shortly before the end of January 1572, in Megen, was to Lancelot de Berlaymont, Lord of Beauraing (c.1550–1578), second son of Charles de Berlaymont,^{[lower-alpha 2]} who styled himself Count of Meghem in his wife's right. His father was an important public figure in the Netherlands, being a counsellor of Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands (1559–1567). As a fellow Catholic, he supported the Spanish Habsburgs in their struggle against the northern insurgents following the Dutch revolt of 1568. From 1570 he fought as a captain in a number of campaigns, and he was made governor of the fortress of Charlemont at Givet. In 1578 both he and his father died during the siege of Philippeville.^[3][1] She had two children from this marriage, both of whom died in infancy.

Following her first husband's death, she adopted Calvinism, but remarried into another Catholic noble family, this time of higher rank. On 3 September 1580, in Aachen, she married Charles III de Croÿ (1560–1612), Prince of Chimay, at 20 years old ten years her junior. She persuaded her husband to convert to Protestantism. On 12 June 1582, the couple were forced to flee from Liège, due to persecution of Protestants, eventually reaching the Protestant stronghold of Sedan, where they found refuge with Françoise de Bourbon, sister of Charlotte de Bourbon, William I of Orange's wife.^[4] It was at Sedan that Charles formally adopted Protestantism. From there the couple moved to Calais, Vlissingen and finally Antwerp, where they joined William I. Marie de Brimeu separated from her husband in 1584, when he returned to Catholicism. When they separated the States General on 13 September 1584 ruled that she had the rights to all her possessions, but this led to lengthy legal proceedings. From 1584 she resided in a number of Dutch cities, including Middelburg, Delft, Utrecht, Leiden and The Hague. She led a very independent life as a wealthy woman, even though her estranged husband unsuccessfully attempted to poison her in 1586. She found herself in good standing with the Earl of Leicester, whom Elizabeth I appointed as Governor General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1585–1587), and his followers, including Anna Walburgis van Nieuwenaer.^[5]

Single life

She spent much of her time on hunting and cultivated her gardens and special plants. Her family position placed her in the highest circle of the nobility of Southern Netherlands, but spent much of her life in the Northern Netherlands. In 1593, the States General requested that she move to The Hague to be closer to the court. Efforts continued to achieve a reconciliation between her and her husband, and an agreement was reached in 1600, by which she returned to the south, settling in Liège, where she also established a garden. Her last years were spent in ill health, and despite frequenting spas she died in Liège in 1605 at the age of 55, and was buried at the church in Megen.^[5]

Life and times

Marie de Brumeu was born into a French-speaking aristocratic Catholic family, the house of Meghem, in the Duchy of Brabant, which was one of the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands. Her family had been faithful adherents of the Dukes of Burgundy who had been the rulers of the Duchy, and at the time of her birth, the Duke was Charles II (Emperor Charles V). Before she reached adulthood, Philip II had succeeded his father and the Netherlands had become plunged into turmoil in the Dutch Revolt. Calvinism was gaining ground, and the authorities were becoming increasingly repressive, introducing a local inquisition. Shortly after her second marriage, the northern provinces declared independence as the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) and the Duchy of Brabant was split between the two sides, with Megen in the new Protestant republic.

Her life and work took place during a tumultuous time in the Low Countries, the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648),^[4] but also a time of great intellectual development in the world of botany, referred to as a botanical Renaissance.^[6][7] Botany also provided one of the few areas at the time where men and women could both participate, and women could be acknowledged as experts.^[8]