Events in the year 1654 in the Spanish Netherlands and Prince-bishopric of Liège (predecessor states of modern Belgium).
Incumbents
Habsburg Netherlands Monarch – Philip IV, King of Spain and Duke of Brabant, of Luxembourg, etc.
Governor General – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
Prince-Bishopric of Liège Prince-Bishop – Maximilian Henry of Bavaria
Events 26 February – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, placed under arrest in Brussels.Alain de Gueldre (ed.), Kroniek van België (Antwerp and Zaventem, 1987), p. 398. 13 March – Magistrates of Antwerp issue regulations to limit the spread of plague 17 March – Treaty of Tienen agreed between representatives of Philip IV and Maximilian Henry of Bavaria, formally recognising the neutrality of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège 25 August – French forces defeat the Army of Flanders in the Battle of Arras 13 September – Ambrosius Capello consecrated as bishop of Antwerp 28 September – Artist Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger executed in Ghent under the sodomy laws for having sexually abused two children 3 November – Prince-bishop of Liège posthumously rehabilitates Pierre de Bex, executed in 1651Ulysse Capitaine, "Bex (Pierre de)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 2 (1868), 395-398.Félix Magnette, "L'acte de réhabilitation du bourgmestre Pierre de Bex (1654)", Chronique archéologique du pays de Liège, vol. 25 (1934), pp. 58-60. 13 December – Jean de Wachtendonck consecrated as bishop of Namur
Date uncertain Martino Martini demonstrates a magic lantern in Leuven
Art and architecture
Lucas van Uden, Landscape with the Flight into Egypt Michaelina Wautier, Portrait of Martino Martini
Publications Martino Martini, De Bello Tartarico (Antwerp, Plantin Press).De Bello Tartarico on Google Books
Newspapers Nieuwe Tydinghen uyt verscheyde ghewesten (Bruges, Nicolaes Breyghel)Paul Arblaster, From Ghent to Aix: How They Brought the News in the Habsburg Netherlands (Leiden and Boston, 2014), p. 191. Partial view on Google Books.
Births 23 November – Jan van Kessel the Younger, painter (died 1708)
Date uncertain – Ferdinand de Berlo de Brus, clergyman (died 1725)
Deaths 2 January – Anthoine Brun (born 1599), diplomat 23 January – Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert (born 1613), painter 6 May – Louis-François Verreycken (born 1588), public official 28 September – Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger (born 1602), sculptor
References