Antoon van Croy

Antoine I de Croÿ (the Great), Seigneur de Croÿ, Renty and Le Roeulx, Count of Porcéan (c. 1383 – September 21, 1475) was a member of the House of Croÿ.

Antoine was the eldest surviving son and heir of Jean I de Croÿ and Marie de Craon, and was a key figure in 15th-century French politics. In 1452, he secured for himself the post of Governor General of the Netherlands and Luxembourg and presided over the pro-French party at the court of Philip the Good. He was also one of the judges at the trial for treason in 1458 of John II of Alençon.

Like his father, he led French and Burgundian armies against Liege and distinguished himself at the Battle of Brouwershaven fighting against the English. While on a mission to the court of Duke of Berry, he was implicated in the assassination of Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans and as a consequence suffered torture in the Château de Blois.

Having extricated himself from this predicament, Antoine used his power to expand his family's possessions: in 1429 he obtained the lordship and peerage of Le Rœulx; three years later he married Margaret of Lorraine-Vaudémont, daughter of Antoine of Vaudémont and Marie of Harcourt (1398-1476), who brought Aarschot to his family as her dowry; in 1446 he purchased the Château of Montcornet and completely rebuilt it. In 1438 he acquired the castle of Porcien and was made Count of Porcéan and Guînes by Charles VII in 1455. A year earlier, he had married his daughter to Count Louis I of Pfalz-Zweibrücken in order to increase his influence in the orbit of the Holy Roman Empire.

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