House of Ligne

Château de Belœil

The lords of Ligne belonged to the entourage of the Count of Hainaut at the time of the Crusades.[3] 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, then princes of Amblise in 1608.[1] The family became Imperial counts on 18 December 1544, then Lamoral I received from Emperor Rudolf II the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire as Prince de Ligne on 20 March 1601,[1] for all of his agnatic descendants, both male and female.

Compensation for loss of the Imperial County of Ligne (Fagnolles, since that barony had become seat of the county in 1789) as a result of the Peace of Lunéville consisted of substitution of the secularized Imperial abbey of Edelstetten, with an individual vote guaranteed in the Imperial College of Princes in 1803.[1] That principality was, however, sold to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy on 22 May 1804,[1] before the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire, of which Edelstetten had been a constituent Imperial state, in 1806.

The style of Highness was confirmed for all members of extant branches of the family on 31 May 1923, and the titles of Prince d'Amblise and Prince d'Epinoy recognized for the head of the house on 22 October of the same year by the Belgian Crown.[1]

There have been cadet branches of this house: Barbançon, Barbançon-Arenberg, Moÿ, Ham and Arenberg, La Trémoïlle.

Within this family, there were the following abbots and abbesses:

• Gérard de Ligne (†1270) Abbot de Cambrai
• Mahaut de Ligne (c. 1275) Abbess d'Epinlieu
• Marie de Ligne (c. 1500) Abbess de Mons
• Marie de Ligne (c. 1550) Abbess de Cambrai
• Catherine de Ligne (†1581) Abbess de Thorn (La Thure)