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Joyous Entry

A Joyous Entry ("Blijde Intrede", "Blijde Inkomst", or "Blijde Intocht" in Dutch, "Joyeuse Entrée" in French) was the first official peaceable visit of a reigning monarch, prince, duke or governor into a medieval city, mainly in the Duchy of Brabant or the County of Flanders and occasionally in France, Luxembourg or Hungary, often coinciding with granting more rights or privileges to the city. They are a particular form of, and title for, the general phenomenon of ceremonial entries into cities by rulers or their representatives, which were celebrated with enormous pageantry and festivities throughout Europe from at least the late Middle Ages on. The leading artists available designed temporary decorated constructions such as triumphal arches, groups of musicians and actors performed on stands at which the procession halted, the houses on the processional route decorated themselves with hangings, flowers were thrown, and fountains flowed with wine. The custom began in the Middle Ages and continued until the French Revolution, although less often in Protestant counties after the Reformation. A formal first visit of a city by an inheritor of the throne of Belgium upon coronation and since 1900 for a crown prince upon marriage, is still referred to as a "Joyous Entry", a reminder of this tradition of the rule of law.

Some notable Joyous Entries

In 1356, the Joyous Entry into Brussels, by Joanna and her husband Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg, upon her becoming Duchess of Brabant when her father John the Triumphant deceased — the origin of a charter described in a section hereunder.
In 1407?, a Joyous Entry, by John the Fearless.
In 142?, a Joyous Entry, by Philip the Good.
In 1464, the Joyous Entry into Sopron, by King Matthias of Hungary — atypically mainly celebrating the return of the object of the Crown.
In 1467, the (not so very) 'Joyous' Entry into Ghent, by Charles the Bold.
In 1468, the Joyous Entry into Bruges, by Charles the Bold and Margaret of York.
In 1478, the Joyous Entry into Antwerp, by Maximilian of Austria.
In 1493?, the Joyous Entry into Mechelen, by Maximilian of Austria (and his young daughter Margarete)
In 1496, the Joyous Entry into Brussels, by Joanna the Mad.
In 1501, a tour of Joyous Entries throughout Hainaut, Picardy, Île-de-France, Champagne, Burgundy and Franche-Comté, by Philibert II, Duke of Savoy and Margarete of Austria upon their marriage, and the following year into Bourg-en-Bresse.
In 1507, the Joyous Entry into Mechelen, by Philibert's widow Margarete, returning as Regent of the Low Countries.
In 1515, the Joyous Entries into Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Leiden, by young Prince Charles.
In 1520, the Joyous Entry into Bruges, by young King Charles
In 1548, the Joyous Entry into Lyon, by Henri II of Valois.
In 154?, the Joyous' Entry into Brussels, by William the Silent.
In 1549, the Joyous Entries into Bruges and Antwerp, by Philip II of Spain.
In 1550, the Joyous Entry into Rouen, by Henri II of Valois.
In 1561?, the (not so very) Joyous Entry into Mechelen, by Granvelle, as Archbishop.
In 1577, the (not so very) 'Joyous' Entry into Brussels, by Don John, as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
In 1578, the Joyous Entry into Brussels, by Prince Matthias, later the Magnificent.
In 1582, the Joyous Entry into Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent, by François, Duke of Anjou.-->
In 1635, the Joyous Entry into Antwerp, by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand (decorations designed by P.P. Rubens).
In 1891, the Joyous Entry into Luxembourg, by Grand Duke Adolphe and his wife Adelheid.

The Joyous Entry of 1356, or a new 'Brabantian Constitution'

This Joyous Entry of 1356 into Brussels implies the charter of liberties granted to the Duchy of Brabant following the death in 1355 of Duke John III, by his daughter Joanna, the new Duchess, and her husband Wenceslaus, since 1354 the first Duke of Luxembourg ; the document is dated 3 January 1356 (NS). On 5 April, Wenceslaus' half-brother Charles (born also Wenceslaus) became Holy Roman Emperor ; he presided the Reichstag which decreed the Golden Bull of 1356, fixing an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire, mainly restricting the freedoms of cities and civilians.

By August 1356, the Brabantian document was a dead letter in practice, owing to the military occupation of Brabant by Louis, count of Flanders, and the following February, when Emperor Charles IV, Joanna and Wenceslaus, and representatives of the Brabantian towns all met at Maastricht: to satisfy the Luxembourg dynasty it was officially denigrated by all parties, especially its chapter vii, which stipulated that the Duchess Joanna, if childless, should be succeeded by her natural heirs—her sisters. Thus it was by abrogation of the Joyous Entry of 1356 that the Habsburgs eventually inherited Brabant. The defeat of Wencelas in 1371 was a victory for the towns over the feudal nobility, and in supporting Anton of Burgundy as Duke, the towns wrung from him a new constitution or Inauguration Charter (1406). What remained of the Joyous Entry charter would nevertheless be referred to for centuries.

The charter had not been completely new. A custom of "landcharters" originating in Brabant during the previous century, had already produced the Charter of Kortenberg, granted by John II in 1312 and also considered a Babantian Constitution, or the "Walloon Charter" of 1314. The six specific freedoms or "privileges" detailed powers granted to the church, the towns and some nobles, by means of which Duke John III's heiress, Joanna, Duchess of Brabant and her consort Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, could collect taxes.

The Joyous Entry of 1356 has been viewed an equivalent to the rechtsstaat in the Low Countries of Magna Carta's establishment for England of a rule of law, the only other medieval document with claims to comprising a written basis of governance, in the other early successful example of a nation-state. In common with Magna Carta its functioning significance was exaggerated by the Romantic historians of the 19th century.

Annually the Dukes of Brabant pledged to adhere to the text in the document by making a ceremonial entry into the main cities of Brabant. In the midst of the Eighty Years' War in the Low Countries, a book was repeatedly published (the 1578 edition safely from Cologne) with the Latin title Laetus introitus, with the view of reminding Philip II and his military commanders of the constitutional restraints of the Blijde Inkomst and giving heart to the insurgents in Brabant.

This Joyous Entry charter was declared null and void when the Revolutionary French forces took possession of the Austrian Netherlands in 1794. Nevertheless, it became one of the elements that formed the Belgian Constitution of 1831.