Busleyden was born in
Arlon as a son of Jeanne Elisabeth de Mussey, of
Marville, and
Gilles, of an old Luxembourgish family from
Bauschleyden, who lived in Arlon (about 30 km south of Bauschleyden) and could afford a more than decent education for their sons. One of Hieronymus's older brothers, François (1455–1502), filled several political and ecclesiastical functions, including
Archbishop of (the
Imperial City of)
Besançon, under
Philip the Handsome, in the transition period from
Burgundian to Habsburg Netherlands. , city palace in
Mechelen (2006) From around 1485, Hieronymus studied in
Leuven (under the early humanist Leo Outers), then in
Orléans, and finally in
Padua where he met
Cuthbert Tunstall, who would later write to
Henry VIII about his friend. In 1503 or 1504, Busleyden became a
councillor and
master of requests at the
Great Council of the Netherlands at
Mechelen. In his diplomatic function, he visited Pope
Julius II in Rome and in 1508 welcomed the Holy Roman Emperor,
Maxilimilian of Austria, at Mechelen. During
Archduchess Margaret of Austria's regency he led a life of patron and humanist in Mechelen at the
Hof van Busleyden, which city palace he had built in a very early
Renaissance style At the time tutoring Margaret's nephew Charles,
Adriaan Boeyens visited the house, well before he became pope. Busleyden was a friend of
Ferry Carondelet and friend and correspondent of
Thomas More and
Erasmus. While More and Tunstall were in the Low Countries in 1515 and again – meeting Erasmus – in 1516, they are all likely to have stayed at their friend's residence. More started to write his
Utopia there and would later describe Busleyden's house (in
Ad Buslidianum de aedibus magnificis Mechliniae) and his collection of ancient coins (in
Nummis antiquis apud Hieronymum Buslidianum servatis). Hieronymus van Busleyden held positions in the Catholic Church:
archdeacon of
Our Lady's in
Cambrai (1503),
provost of
St. Peter's in
Aire-sur-la-Lys and
canon of
St. Rumbold's in Mechelen,
St. Lambert's in
Liège,
St. Waltrude's in
Mons, and
St. Gudula in
Brussels. In 1515 Margaret's nephew Charles, making his
formal entrance as Archduke into the city where he lived, was greeted by Busleyden representing the clergy, in the welcoming speech putting emphasis on the desirability (for the Netherlands) of a peaceful course of action (by the still youthful Charles). ==Death==