Seven Noble Houses of Brussels

Seven Noble Houses of Brussels Aristocratic form of government
Country	Duchy of Brabant  Burgundian Netherlands Spanish Netherlands  Austrian Netherlands
Place of origin	Duchy of Brabant
Founded	1306 (restored) by John II
Traditions	Civil, military, political and economic leadership
Dissolution	1794[1]
Cadet branches	Sleeus, Sweerts, Serhuyghs, Steenweeghs, Coudenbergh, Serroelofs, Roodenbeke
Website	http://www.lignagesdebruxelles.be

The Seven Noble Houses of Brussels (also called the Seven Lineages or Seven Patrician families of Brussels; French: Sept lignages de Bruxelles, Dutch: Zeven geslachten van Brussel, Latin: Septem nobiles familiae Bruxellarum) were the seven families or clans whose descendants formed the patrician class and urban aristocracy of Brussels, Belgium.

They formed, since the Middle Ages, a social class with a monopoly, on the civil, military and economic leadership of the urban administration. This institution existed until the end of the Ancien Régime. However, as of the urban revolution of 1421, the representatives of the Guilds also exercised similar offices. Still, the offices of aldermen and captains of the urban militias were always reserved exclusively for members of the Lignages.

The long lived and rarely threatened supremacy of the Seven Houses of Brussels was based on a multitude of common interests they shared with the ducal dynasty of Brabant,^[2] as well as the successive Houses of Louvain, Burgundy and Habsburg. Together with the Guilds of Brussels, they formed the freemen of the city.