ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands and also the principality of Liege, a territory almost identical with modern-day Belgium. The period considered essentially concerns the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. During seventeenth century aside from the ancient military nobility, a new 'noblesse de robe' appeared. A growing number of personalities who played a key role in economic development were admitted to the titled nobility. The diversification of the nobles continued during eighteenth century: titles were not reserved any longer for families holding public functions. In every generation the family patrimony began a new life cycle. At the start the family fortune was limited to the marriage portions that the newly married couple received from their parents. As the most important spending only occurred at the apex of the fortune, the Antwerp nobility avoided indebtedness. The composition of noble fortunes shows that it is not sufficient to consider long-term rental trends in order to study the evolution of noble revenues.
