Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience
Item
Country
BE
Name of institution (English)
General Archives of the Kingdom (State Archives in Belgium)
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
fra
Contact information: postal address
Rue de Ruysbroeck, 2, 1000 Bruxelles
Contact information: phone number
0032 025137680
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
archives.generales@arch.be
Reference number
BE-A0510 / T 098
BE-A0510 / T 105
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
State Papers and Audience Papers
Title (official language of the state)
Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience
Language of title
fra
Creator / accumulator
Audience
Conseil d'État
Date(s)
1400/1795
Language(s)
fra
Extent
377.10 linear meters
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
The Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience fonds comprises documentation related to the internal government and external relations of the Netherlands, including religious and military matters, and diplomatic relations with other European powers. The current organisation of this fonds is complex. It comprises diverse reference codes and is catalogued in different inventories.
A part of this fonds is divided into three major series of documentation. The first (Affaires de l'intérieur) concerns internal affairs and it includes extensive correspondence and information on a wide range of other topics, including instructions given to officials, financial and economic documentation, passports and letters of pardon, edicts and ordinances, city laws, etc. The second (Affaires de l'extérieur) relates to foreign affairs and contains information regarding diplomatic relations with other European states. The third (Affaires Diverses) concerns various affairs and contains a small group of documents including, for instance, supplements, information on restitutions, and papers that could not be stored anywhere else.
The fonds contains valuable information regarding Iberian New Christians and Sephardic Jews. Of special interest is the Affaires Ecclésiastiques et Religieuses (Religious and Ecclesiastic Affairs) series (1177), in particular the units entitled "Documents concernant les hérésies", comprising records regarding suspects of heresy from 1530 to 1574. Among these records, it is possible to find cases involving Portuguese and Spanish New Christians in Flanders who were accused of Judaising. Some examples are de following:
1177/2, no. 3: documentation regarding Gabriel de Negro and Emanuel Serrano, wealthy merchants of Portuguese origin, who were favoured by the city authorities of Antwerp, while they were being investigated for Judaism.
1177/2, no. 19: interrogation of four New Christians who had arrived in Arnemuiden via Madeira and London. One of them, born in Spain, disclosed that Brianda de Luna was her husband's niece. Another, also born in Spain, claims to have been Diogo Mendes' wet nurse at his uncle's house. March 15-16, 1541.
The Passeports et sauvegards (Passports and safeguards) series is also of particular importance for the study of the circulation of Iberian New Christians in Flanders, in particular in the 1530s-1540s.
Another part of the fonds aggregates correspondence from sovereigns arranged by periods. The letters regarding the period of Charles V (1531-1555) cover the heyday of the Portuguese New Christians in Flanders. Thus, they are usually mentioned in this correspondence. Here are some examples:
1626: Queen Mary of Hungary (1505-1558) writes to the vice-governor of Naples, telling that she had been informed that the Portuguese merchant Sebastião Rodrigues Pinto had been involved in a quarrel. She asks for a rapid resolution of his trial. January 9, 1539.
1631: Spanish ambassador Diogo Hurtado de Mendonza recommends Duarte Pinto, a Portuguese New Christian, to Queen Mary. March 4, 1545.
1632: Letters from Charles V to his sister, Queen Mary of Hungary, where he refers to the negotiating with João Micas. April to July 1547.
1635: Queen Mary gives permission to Pedro Fernandes, the factor of the Mendes family, to leave Antwerp with his family and move to Venice. April 4, 1548. Another similar permission is given to Bras Reinel, Thomas Rodrigues e João Álvares to leave Antwerp on August 30, 1548.
The core archive of the Audience (BE-A0510 / I 425) constitutes another part of the Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience that contains information of interest regarding Portuguese New Christians and the Western Sephardic Diaspora. Particularly rich is the collection of letters regarding heresy matters (Briefwisseling over ketterij, met bijlagen), covering a period from 1525 to 1573. For instance, there are records on the arrest of Portuguese New Christian Diogo Mendes in Antwerp in 1532, including his hearing, providing precious information on his life path, family, business, and social network (1504). See the transcription of part of Diogo Mendes's hearings in Salomon and Leoni (1998).
A part of this fonds is divided into three major series of documentation. The first (Affaires de l'intérieur) concerns internal affairs and it includes extensive correspondence and information on a wide range of other topics, including instructions given to officials, financial and economic documentation, passports and letters of pardon, edicts and ordinances, city laws, etc. The second (Affaires de l'extérieur) relates to foreign affairs and contains information regarding diplomatic relations with other European states. The third (Affaires Diverses) concerns various affairs and contains a small group of documents including, for instance, supplements, information on restitutions, and papers that could not be stored anywhere else.
The fonds contains valuable information regarding Iberian New Christians and Sephardic Jews. Of special interest is the Affaires Ecclésiastiques et Religieuses (Religious and Ecclesiastic Affairs) series (1177), in particular the units entitled "Documents concernant les hérésies", comprising records regarding suspects of heresy from 1530 to 1574. Among these records, it is possible to find cases involving Portuguese and Spanish New Christians in Flanders who were accused of Judaising. Some examples are de following:
1177/2, no. 3: documentation regarding Gabriel de Negro and Emanuel Serrano, wealthy merchants of Portuguese origin, who were favoured by the city authorities of Antwerp, while they were being investigated for Judaism.
1177/2, no. 19: interrogation of four New Christians who had arrived in Arnemuiden via Madeira and London. One of them, born in Spain, disclosed that Brianda de Luna was her husband's niece. Another, also born in Spain, claims to have been Diogo Mendes' wet nurse at his uncle's house. March 15-16, 1541.
The Passeports et sauvegards (Passports and safeguards) series is also of particular importance for the study of the circulation of Iberian New Christians in Flanders, in particular in the 1530s-1540s.
Another part of the fonds aggregates correspondence from sovereigns arranged by periods. The letters regarding the period of Charles V (1531-1555) cover the heyday of the Portuguese New Christians in Flanders. Thus, they are usually mentioned in this correspondence. Here are some examples:
1626: Queen Mary of Hungary (1505-1558) writes to the vice-governor of Naples, telling that she had been informed that the Portuguese merchant Sebastião Rodrigues Pinto had been involved in a quarrel. She asks for a rapid resolution of his trial. January 9, 1539.
1631: Spanish ambassador Diogo Hurtado de Mendonza recommends Duarte Pinto, a Portuguese New Christian, to Queen Mary. March 4, 1545.
1632: Letters from Charles V to his sister, Queen Mary of Hungary, where he refers to the negotiating with João Micas. April to July 1547.
1635: Queen Mary gives permission to Pedro Fernandes, the factor of the Mendes family, to leave Antwerp with his family and move to Venice. April 4, 1548. Another similar permission is given to Bras Reinel, Thomas Rodrigues e João Álvares to leave Antwerp on August 30, 1548.
The core archive of the Audience (BE-A0510 / I 425) constitutes another part of the Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience that contains information of interest regarding Portuguese New Christians and the Western Sephardic Diaspora. Particularly rich is the collection of letters regarding heresy matters (Briefwisseling over ketterij, met bijlagen), covering a period from 1525 to 1573. For instance, there are records on the arrest of Portuguese New Christian Diogo Mendes in Antwerp in 1532, including his hearing, providing precious information on his life path, family, business, and social network (1504). See the transcription of part of Diogo Mendes's hearings in Salomon and Leoni (1998).
Archival history
In the early 18th century, the archives of the Audience and the Conseil d'État (Council of State) were based in a building on Namur street. Then, the archives were not preserved with due care. In 1703, the Conseil Royal (Royal Council) issued an ordinance to reorganise the archive, but later documentation showed that the disorder continued.
In 1744, the archive of the Audience was transported to two rooms of an old tower located at the primitive ramparts of Antwerp. At the time, the first classification of the documentation and a partial inventory began to be produced. This first catalogue shows that there was no care to maintain a distinction between the documents of the Audience and those of the Conseil d'Etat. The archive did not stay long in the old tower. The building suddenly began to threaten ruin, leading to the decision to withdraw the documentation and demolish it in May 1761. The archive was moved to the attics of a building in the Hôtel de la Chambre des Comptes, called "Bâtiment de la Monnaie", where conditions were still poor.
It was only during the Habsburg period (1759-1791) that the fate of the royal archives became a real concern. The Brabant councillor, Count de Wynants, was entrusted with the task of organising the various collections of the royal archive. He died in 1762, leaving the work incomplete, and his nephew, Jean-Baptiste de Wynants, who replaced him in this task, did not complete the organisation of the archive either.
After the expulsion of the Society of Jesus (1773), it was thought to move the archive to the former Jesuit convent. However, this project was abandoned in favour of another one. It was decided to build a new building for the Chambre des comptes (Audit office) next to the Council of Brabant building (nowadays the Palais de la Nation). The building was completed in 1782, and the state papers were transferred there.
When the Austrians withdrew from the country in 1794, they took with them some of the Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience. The rest was left in the Chambre des comptes. During the French government, the archive remained there. The French concentrated in the Chambre des Comptes all the papers they had managed to collect. This repository had also been maintained under the Dutch regime and had then been considerably increased as a result of restitutions made by France. It was only in 1822 that the archive was transferred to a wing of the Palais de Justice (former Jesuit convent) at rue de la Paille in Brussels. In 1890-1, the Archives générales du Royaume was moved into the building of the former Cour (Court), behind the Palace of Nassau. The building was destroyed in 1958, and the archives were then distributed in five different locations in Brussels.
The construction of the current building, on rue de Ruysbroeck, began in 1961. The archives were moved to the new premises in 1974. The construction of an extension began in 1980. Around 2010, faced with a chronic lack of space, certain contemporary collections were transferred to the Archives générales du Royaume 2 – dépôt Joseph Cuvelier.
In 1744, the archive of the Audience was transported to two rooms of an old tower located at the primitive ramparts of Antwerp. At the time, the first classification of the documentation and a partial inventory began to be produced. This first catalogue shows that there was no care to maintain a distinction between the documents of the Audience and those of the Conseil d'Etat. The archive did not stay long in the old tower. The building suddenly began to threaten ruin, leading to the decision to withdraw the documentation and demolish it in May 1761. The archive was moved to the attics of a building in the Hôtel de la Chambre des Comptes, called "Bâtiment de la Monnaie", where conditions were still poor.
It was only during the Habsburg period (1759-1791) that the fate of the royal archives became a real concern. The Brabant councillor, Count de Wynants, was entrusted with the task of organising the various collections of the royal archive. He died in 1762, leaving the work incomplete, and his nephew, Jean-Baptiste de Wynants, who replaced him in this task, did not complete the organisation of the archive either.
After the expulsion of the Society of Jesus (1773), it was thought to move the archive to the former Jesuit convent. However, this project was abandoned in favour of another one. It was decided to build a new building for the Chambre des comptes (Audit office) next to the Council of Brabant building (nowadays the Palais de la Nation). The building was completed in 1782, and the state papers were transferred there.
When the Austrians withdrew from the country in 1794, they took with them some of the Papiers de l'Etat et de l'Audience. The rest was left in the Chambre des comptes. During the French government, the archive remained there. The French concentrated in the Chambre des Comptes all the papers they had managed to collect. This repository had also been maintained under the Dutch regime and had then been considerably increased as a result of restitutions made by France. It was only in 1822 that the archive was transferred to a wing of the Palais de Justice (former Jesuit convent) at rue de la Paille in Brussels. In 1890-1, the Archives générales du Royaume was moved into the building of the former Cour (Court), behind the Palace of Nassau. The building was destroyed in 1958, and the archives were then distributed in five different locations in Brussels.
The construction of the current building, on rue de Ruysbroeck, began in 1961. The archives were moved to the new premises in 1974. The construction of an extension began in 1980. Around 2010, faced with a chronic lack of space, certain contemporary collections were transferred to the Archives générales du Royaume 2 – dépôt Joseph Cuvelier.
Sources:
Administrative / Biographical history
The Audience is an institution of French origin, which was introduced into the Netherlands by the Dukes of Burgundy. According to the ordinance of July 23, 1517, there were at that time, in addition to the "audencier", seven "secrétaires subalternes" (junior secretaries). The ordinance of October 1, 1531, reduced this number to six.
In 1531, at the time of the creation of the Conseil d'État (Council of State), the figure of the "Secrétaire d'État" (Secretary of State) emerged. At first, he was alone, but he was later supported by an assistant secretary. From 1579 there were two Secretaries of State of equal rank. In addition, a special secretary was appointed for German affairs. The mission of the Secretary of State was to decipher the encrypted letters, a mission that he performed with the assistance of a clerk. He also attended the meetings of the Council of State and recorded the deliberations which were taken. Finally, he despatched acts according to the decision taken by the Audience or by the "chef président du Conseil privé" (Chief President of the Privy Council).
In 1531, at the time of the creation of the Conseil d'État (Council of State), the figure of the "Secrétaire d'État" (Secretary of State) emerged. At first, he was alone, but he was later supported by an assistant secretary. From 1579 there were two Secretaries of State of equal rank. In addition, a special secretary was appointed for German affairs. The mission of the Secretary of State was to decipher the encrypted letters, a mission that he performed with the assistance of a clerk. He also attended the meetings of the Council of State and recorded the deliberations which were taken. Finally, he despatched acts according to the decision taken by the Audience or by the "chef président du Conseil privé" (Chief President of the Privy Council).
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The documentation is organised by document type. Sub-collections are organised either by institutions/officials or general themes.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Kevin Soares, 2022
Bibliography
Published primary sources
Linked resources
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| Title | Alternate label | Class |
|---|---|---|
| Archives générales du Royaume (Les archives de l'État en Belgique) | Collections (official language of the state) |