Arenberg family

Certain prominent families have left their mark on our past and our cultural heritage. The House of Arenberg was one of them. The Arenberg lineage had a significant influence on political decision-making from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century. In the 16th century, this European dynasty moved its centre of power to the Southern Netherlands. Its fidelity to the Habsburgs was rewarded in that same period (in 1576) when a member of the Arenberg family was raised to the rank of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. The lineage received further recognition in 1644, when it was elevated to the status of Duchy. The House of Arenberg has produced many generations of political, military and ecclesiastical dignitaries and patrons of the arts. Today still, palaces, gardens, works of art, etc. are the tangible witnesses to this glorious past. The Duchy of Arenberg or Aremberg was a state in western Germany that was created in 1803 for the Dukes of Arenberg. The House of Arenberg is a noble family from the German Eifel, named after the Burg Aremberg near Ahrweiler. 

Over the centuries, the family acquired properties all over the Southern Netherlands as well as in Holland. These included the Arenberg Palace in Brussels, now called the Egmont Palace, and the castles of Aigremont, Barbançon (Beaumont), Beersel, Beveren (Prosperpolder), Bouchout (Meise), Écaussinnes-Lalaing, Enghien, Hautepenne (Flémalle), Heverlee, Loenhout, Marche-les-Dames, Mirwart (Saint-Hubert), Opprebais (Incourt), Rotselaar, Vorselaar, Wedde (Groningen) and Wisbecq (Rebecq). Following the annexation of the left bank of the Rhine by Napoleon Bonaparte, Duke Louis Engelbert of Arenberg lost many of his family's possessions. The Duchy of Arenberg was formally annexed to France by the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801. After the First World War, the French and Belgian possessions of Duke Engelbert Marie of Arenberg, including the forests Heverleebos and Meerdaalwoud, were seized, in 1919 and 1921 respectively. The house Arenberg is still a well-known noble family in Belgium.

Photo: vault key to the southern tower