Events in the year 1656 in the Spanish Netherlands and Prince-bishopric of Liège (predecessor states of modern Belgium).
Incumbents
Habsburg Netherlands Monarch – Philip IV, King of Spain and Duke of Brabant, of Luxembourg, etc.
Governor General – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (until May); John of Austria the Younger (from May)
Prince-Bishopric of Liège Prince-Bishop – Maximilian Henry of Bavaria
Events
13 March – Dunkirkers fight with English ships near Goodwin Sands.Alain de Gueldre (ed.), Kroniek van België (Antwerp and Zaventem, 1987). 2 April – Treaty of Brussels concluded between representatives of Philip IV of Spain and the exiled Charles II of Great Britain 11 May – John of Austria the Younger enters Brussels as Governor General. 12 July – Battle of Valenciennes
Art and architecture
Sebastiaen van den Eynde, Bust of Cornelis II Landschot (c. 1656) St. James' Church, Antwerp completed
Publications Emanuel d'Aranda, Relation de la captivité et liberté du sieur Emanuel de Aranda, mené esclave à Alger en l'an 1640, et mis en liberté l'an 1642 (Brussels, Jan Mommaert the Younger)Relation de la captivité on Google Books André Tacquet, Arithmeticae theoria et praxis (Leuven) Valencenae obsidione liberatae a Ioanne principe Austriaco (Antwerp)Valencenae obsidione liberatae on Google Books
Births 21 May – Bernard Bartholomeus Désirant, ecclesiastical writer (died 1725)
Date uncertain Lodewijk de Deyster, engraver and instrument maker (died 1711)
Deaths 23 January – Jean Du Blocq (born 1583), Jesuit architect 22 March – Alexander I of Bournonville (born 1585), noble conspirator
References