The House of Ligne is one of the oldest Belgian noble families, dating back to the eleventh century. Its name comes from the village in which it originated, between Ath and Tournai. The lords of Ligne belonged to the entourage of the Count of Hainaut at the time of the Crusades. With the battle of Bouvines in 1214, they were described as "great name and men of honour" by the chroniclers of the time. Their progressive rise in the nobility began as barons in the twelfth century, counts of Fauquemberg and princes of Épinoy in the sixteenth century. Lamoral I received from the emperor Rudolf II the titles of Prince of Ligne and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. There are cadet branches of this house: Brabançon, Brabançon-Arenberg, Moy, Ham and Arenberg.
Read more about House Of Ligne: Abbots and Abbesses, Princes De Ligne, Other Members of The House of Ligne, Arms of The House
Famous quotes containing the words house of and/or house:
“A severe though not unfriendly critic of our institutions said that “the cure for admiring the House of Lords was to go and look at it.””
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“The night in prison was novel and interesting enough.... I found that even here there was a history and a gossip which never circulated beyond the walls of the jail. Probably this is the only house in the town where verses are composed, which are afterward printed in a circular form, but not published. I was shown quite a long list of verses which were composed by some young men who had been detected in an attempt to escape, who avenged themselves by singing them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)