Over the centuries, the archives of the central institutions of the Ancien Régime have been stored in a wide variety of locations. The French laws of 7 Messidor Year II (25 June 1794) laid the foundations for the Archives Nationales by bringing together all the state titles found in our country.
The reunion of the former Netherlands with France in 1796 made this law applicable to our territory, and 5 Brumaire an V (26 October 1796) organised things at departmental level:
Art. I. The central administrations of the departments will bring together in the county town of the department, all the titles and papers belonging to the repositories of the republic.
Art. II. The Directoire exécutif may authorise their temporary relocation to national buildings, on condition that they report back within three months to the Corps Législatif, which will make the final decision. This relocation will be made, as far as possible, in the buildings intended for the meetings of the central administrations of the department.
The different archive collections in Belgium
Audit Chambers
Brabant Charters
Council of State
Private advice
Finance Council
General Government Council
Audience
Secretariat of State and War
Austrian Chancellery in the Netherlands
Church archives
Scabinal grafts
Notary
Brabant Council
Grand Council of the Netherlands
States of Brabant
To find out more, click here: https://arch.arch.be/index.php?l=fr&m=ressources-en-ligne&r=archives-en-ligne&sr=moyen-age
Sources : Les archives centrales et le quartier de la cour, AR & AGR, exhibition organised to mark the bicentenary of the State Archives, 1996, page 7
