Michel Routart

Michel Routart (c.1580–1653) was a government official in the Spanish Monarchy of the 17th century, active in the Low Countries, Germany and Italy.

Life Born around 1580 at Arras, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, Routart studied at Leuven University, graduating Licentiate of Law. He entered the service of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella as a clerk in the secretariat of state. In 1623 he was sent on a mission to the royal court in Spain, where Philip IV of Spain awarded him the title of royal secretary in Castile, apparently as a purely honorary function. Routart soon left Spain and worked as secretary to Ambrogio Spinola, commander of the royal armies in the Low Countries and the Lower Palatinate. In that capacity he was involved in the negotiations for the capitulation of Breda in 1625. He died in Brussels on 19 October 1653.

His manuscript "Relation de la famille du surnom de Routart" was the basis for his son's La maison et famille de Routart (Brussels, Jan Mommaert, 1668)