Patronage and brokerage in the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands: The case of the chapter of Saint-Gudule and Saint-Michael in Brussels (1430-1559)

The present article scrutinizes the role of late medieval and early modern canonical prebendaries within a sovereign's strategy of governance. By studying the careers of 79 secular canons, that populated the Brussels chapter of Saint-Gudule and Saint-Michael between 1430 and 1555, the article shows that similar ecclesiastical benefices no longer qualify as endowments awarded to intellectually, morally, and spiritually deserving individuals. Instead, they serve different goals. Until 1520, the canonries of the chapter primarily functioned as a means of remuneration of the sovereign's servants (secretaries, counsellors, chaplains and court physicians) in the context of late medieval bastard feudalism, and thus, with respect for the satisfaction of reciprocal interests. From the 1520s onwards, the Brussels prebendaries have been reduced to a mere means to generate income for the client with little respect for two-way obligations. Instead of servants, professionally and personally affiliated to the patron, the chapter is now being populated with relatives of these servants, whereby the latter act as mediators or brokers. Such a shift towards patrimonial patronage became possible through the acquisition by Charles V of several papal indults that granted him the ius patronatus as regards hundreds of ecclesiastical benefices.