Nicolas de Montmorency
Nicolas de Montmorency (ca. 1556–1617), count of Estaires, was an office holder and spiritual author in the Spanish Netherlands. Life. Nicolas de Montmorency was born in by 1556, the third son of François de Montmorency, lord of Wastines, and Hélène Villain. In his youth he served in the household of Philip II of Spain. In 1583 he was appointed as Chief of Finances (president of the Council of Finance) for the Spanish Netherlands and a councillor of state. On 8 August 1611 he was made count of Estaires. In 1604 he founded a Bridgettine convent in Lille  that was early struck by a notorious case of demonic possession. The new Latin poet Maximiliaan de Vriendt addressed two epigrams to him, one of which attests to his reputation for piety. He married Anne de Croy (died 12 April 1618), lady of Bermeraing, but remained childless. He died in Ghent on 16 May 1617. His entrails were buried in the city, his heart in the family vault in Estaires, and the rest of his remains in the Bridgettine convent he had founded.