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Lot Essay
The monogram 'ALB' is that of Albrecht (1559-1621), 10th son of the Emperor Maximilian II and his wife, Marie, sister of King Philip II of Spain. In 1577 he was created a cardinal, eventually becoming Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo. In 1595 King Philip made him Governor of the Spanish Netherlands and on 11 February 1596, he made his first official entry into Brussels. The date and the monogram indicate that this halberd must have been carried by a member of his bodyguard when he entered the city, which he did as a secular prince, and not as a cardinal, which accounts for its only bearing his archducal arms
The only other recorded examples of state halberds of 16th-century Governors of the Spanish Netherlands relate to two Archdukes, and similarly bear their arms, monograms and dates of appointment: Matthias (1578) and Ernst (1593). The first is represented by a single example in the Kienbusch Collection, Philadelphia, and the second by seven, divided between various museums, including the Wallace Collection
See The Kretschmar von Kienbusch Collection of Armor and Arms, 1963, no. 563; Mann & Norman, Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour and Supplement, no. A953; L. Duerloo & W. Thomas, Albert & Isabelle 1598-1621, exhibition catalogue, Brussels and Louvain, 1998, passim
The only other recorded examples of state halberds of 16th-century Governors of the Spanish Netherlands relate to two Archdukes, and similarly bear their arms, monograms and dates of appointment: Matthias (1578) and Ernst (1593). The first is represented by a single example in the Kienbusch Collection, Philadelphia, and the second by seven, divided between various museums, including the Wallace Collection
See The Kretschmar von Kienbusch Collection of Armor and Arms, 1963, no. 563; Mann & Norman, Wallace Collection Catalogues. European Arms and Armour and Supplement, no. A953; L. Duerloo & W. Thomas, Albert & Isabelle 1598-1621, exhibition catalogue, Brussels and Louvain, 1998, passim