ABSTRACT
Advent was a season of particular solemnity at the Court of Brussels. The citizens of Brussels were accustomed to Archduke Albert and Isabella participating in the yearly processions of Corpus Christi and in honour of Brabant's most sacred relic, the Most Holy Sacrament of Miracles. The legacies of a generation of Habsburgs were about to unfold. On the whole, Albert and Isabella were masters at obliging local noblemen, a talent that contributed greatly to the consolidation of Habsburg rule in the Netherlands. Their court offered a wide array of opportunities to serve as pages, ladies-in-waiting, gentlemen of the bedchamber, the table, the palace or the stables. The two Habsburg courts had diametrically opposing interests. Albert and Isabella enjoy a reputation for masterly reaching out to the citizenry. Part of their reputation stems from the fact that they were the last sovereigns of the Habsburg Netherlands to reside in the country.
