1651’s celebrations commemorating the successful crossbow shot of Leopold William and their ideological significance

In 1651, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Leopold William of Habsburg, was invited by a crossbow guild to take part in a shooting competition, where he successfully shot the popinjay. This event has been commemorated by different celebrations, to which the students of the Brussels Jesuit College contributed actively. During the Ommegang, they re-enacted the shot in a symbolical way. Then in July, month of the “college open day”, the students organised a display of emblems about the successful shot of Leopold William. We have preserved a manuscript of this emblematic exhibition informing us about the shot, the Ommegang’s performance and the significance assigned to the governor’s success. It is then possible to reconstruct these festivities and to disclose their ideological meaning to understand their importance in the political eulogy devoted to Leopold William