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- BIOGRAPHY
Jean was the eldest of the children of Michel III de Ligne, seigneur de Barbancon and Bonné d'Abbeville, daughter of Edmund d'Abbeville, seigneur de Boubers and Jeanne de Rely. On 16 May 1472 Jean married Jacqueline de Croÿ, daughter of Antoine 'le Grand' de Croÿ, seigneur de Croÿ et de Renty et du Roeulx and Marguerite de Lorraine, dame d'Aerschot et de Bierbeke. Jean and Marguerite had one son, Antoine.
Jean was a faithful and valued counsellor and chamberlain to the dukes of Burgundy, to Philip 'the Handsome' and to his father and tutor, Maximilian of Austria. Until 1468 he held the title seigneur de Rely, which came to him through his mother from a family in Artois which had fallen to the female line. Shortly before his death, his uncle Jean ceded to him the lordships of Ligne, Montoeil-sur-Haine and Stamburges, and that of Beloeil, a peerage of the county of Namur. They were additional to the many properties in Hainault inherited from his father.
In 1490 he obtained from Maximilian and Philip the right to hold a free weekly market at Ligne. He attended many sessions of the General Estates, from 1473 to 1479, in 1482, and in 1485 when he had become captain-general of the principality. He was in close contact with regional and local representatives in the critical period of the last years of Charles 'the Bold', the short reign of Marie of Burgundy and the Habsburg rule. He was involved in all the major negotiations when he was not engaged in fighting.
In 1465 he was involved in Burgundy's battles with Liège and Louis XI; in 1474 he was with Charles 'the Bold' at the siege of Neuss; he was involved in the pursuit of the French at the battle won by Maximilian at Guinegate on 7 August 1479, though he had the misfortune to be captured. His wife Jacqueline and his family obtained his freedom after negotiating the payment of a large ransom to Philippe de Crèvecoeur, who had become a supporter of Louis XI and led his army at Guinegate.
Jean became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece at its 14th chapter held at Bois-le-Duc in 1481, where Philip, the very young son of Maximilian and Marie, was also taken into the order. He remained among the close counsellors of Maximilian after he became a widower a few months later. They included Baudouin de Lannoy, Pierre de Henin, who also became knights of the order in 1481, and the grand bailiff of Hainault, Antoine Rolin. On 23 December 1482 Jean accompanied Marguerite of Austria, betrothed to the dauphin (the future Charles VIII) through the peace treaty with Louis XI at Arras, and delivered her to the representatives of the king of France. He took part in the campaign led by Maximilian to subdue Bruges, Ghent and other cities contesting his rights and those of his young heir Philip to rule the principalities. In 1485 Jean defended Ath, and reported to the Estates of Hainault the capture of Grammont, which had been sacked despite its neutrality.
In November 1490 Jean was at Anvers (Antwerp) with forces from Hainault in the days preceding the submission of Bruges to Maximilian. In February 1491, at his mansion in Mons, he presided at the marriage of his ward Gilette de Berlaymont with Louis Rolin, son of the grand bailiff. Jean died on 15 May 1491 at Beloeuil.
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