Events in the year 1653 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 24 January – Prohibition on recruitment for foreign armies in LiègeCommission royale pour la publication des anciennes lois et ordonnances de la Belgique, Liste chronologique des édits et ordonnances de la principauté de Liége de 1507 à 1684 (Brussels, 1860) February – Prince of Condé invades the neutral Prince-Bishopric of Liège in support of Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, sacking Couvin and CineyAlain de Gueldre (ed.), Kroniek van België (Antwerp and Zaventem, 1987), p. 397. 27 May – Discovery of the tomb of Childeric I near Tournai 31 May – Pope Innocent X's bull Cum occasione published in the Spanish Netherlands 4 July – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria prohibits soldiers from lodging with family instead of in their assigned quartersRené Vermeir, ed., Recueil des ordonnances des Pays-Bas: Règne de Philippe IV (1621-1665), vol. 3 (Brussels, 2023) 7 July – Council of Guelders prohibits gypsies and vagrants from congregating around the pilgrimage site Kevelaer 11 August – Brussels Privy Council prohibits the exportation of grain to territory not under the control of friendly or neutral states 23 August – Brussels Privy Council permits the limited importation of English textiles through the ports of the County of Flanders for a period of four years 1 October – Orders in Liège to raise 500 cavalry and 1,000 infantry to guarantee the territory's neutrality 17 November – Departure times for the boat service between Liège and Huy published 17 December – Unlicensed exportation of arms, gunpowder, or other munitions of war from the city of Liège prohibited 23 December – Charles de Hovyne replaces Pieter Roose as president of the Brussels Privy Council
Art and architecture
Paintings Jacob Jordaens, The Banquet of Cleopatra Pieter Neefs the Younger, Interior of Antwerp Cathedral David Teniers the Younger, Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Brussels
Buildings Farmhouse in Destelbergen, now listed built heritage Tower of the Church of Our Lady, Alsemberg burns down
Publications Jean Jacques Chifflet, Pulvis febrifugus orbis AmericaniPulvis febrifugus at Munich Digitization Center Claude de Grieck, Liefde zonder zien verwekt, bly-spel (Brussels, Claudius de Grieck)Liefde zonder zien verwekt on Google Books Albertus Ignatius d'Hanins, Het bevel van Cupido (Brussels, Guillaume Scheybels)Het bevel van Cupido at Digital Library for Dutch Literature Libertus Fromondus, Brevis commentarius in Canticum canticorum (Leuven, Hieronymus Nempaeus) Jesuit College, Ghent, Tragedie Jephte, rechter des Volckx Israel (Ghent, Maximiliaan Graet) Pierre Marchant, Expositio mystico-litteralis SSmi. Incruenti sacrificii missae (Ghent, Alexander Sersanders) (Nuns of Oosteeklo Abbey), Institution de la Confrérie du méliflue docteur S. Bernard, signale favori de la Vierge-Mère, en l'abbaye d'Oost-Eecloo l'an M.DC.LIII (Ghent, Maximiliaan Graet)Institution de la Confrérie on Google Books Livinus Vaentkens, Sancti Bernardi doctoris melliflui vitae medulla quinquaginta quatuor iconibus representata (Antwerp, Willem Lesteens and Engelbert Gymnicus)Sancti Bernardi doctoris melliflui vitae on Google Books Michael van Langren, Description particuliere du grand changement que la sable ou banc de Mardyck a fait depuis l'an 1624 jusques au temps present 1653 (Brussels, François Schovardts)Description particuliere on Google Books
Periodicals Relations veritables, edited by Pierre Hugonet (Brussels, printed by Guillaume Scheybels to be sold by Guillaume Hacquebaud)
Births 28 January (baptism) – Joannes Chrysostomus Teniers, abbot (died 1709) 26 April – Jan Vaerman, mathematician (died 1731)
Date uncertain Artus Quellinus III, sculotor (died 1686)
Deaths 1 February – Henricus Calenus (born 1583), clergyman 12 June – Ernestine of Arenberg (born 1589), noblewoman 4 September – Sidronius Hosschius (born 1596), Jesuit poet 16 October – Jan Wildens (born 1586), painter 19 October – Michel Routart (born c.1580), government official 28 October – Libert Froidmont (born 1587), theologian and scientist
Date uncertain Jan Dirven (born 1625), painter Antoon Faydherbe (active from 1598), sculptor Gillis Peeters the Elder (born 1612), painter Jan van Belcamp (born 1610), painter
References