The Mistress of the Household: The Camarera Mayor at the Habsburg Court of Brussels

• In Event: Ladies-in-Waiting in the Habsburg Courts II

Abstract

In 1598, the Spanish Infanta Isabella and her husband, Archduke Albert, became the new sovereign rulers of the Southern Netherlands. As a Habsburg princess, Isabella had an extensive number of ladies-in-waiting at her disposal at the court of Brussels. Because of their unrestricted access to the Infanta, some of these noblewomen were able to exert significant influence on her, which they did not hesitate to use to their own advantage. This was particularly the case for the camarera mayor, the principal lady-in-waiting, who stood at the head of Isabella’s Bedchamber service. Based on an examination of previously unknown correspondence, this paper explores the lives, careers, and networks of Jeanne de Chassincourt, the Infanta’s first camarera mayor, and her successor, Antonia Wilhelmina d’Arenberg.

Author

• Dries Raeymaekers, Radboud University Nijmegen