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Steven Thiry studied History and Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Leuven (KULeuven) where he graduated in 2010 with a master’s thesis on princely baptisms in the Netherlands (1430-1505). He recently finished a Ph.D dissertation at the University of Antwerp (Power in History. Centre for Political History) dealing with the appropriation of royal heraldry and the representative power of the regal coat of arms in early modern political culture (ca. 1480-1650). He has published research on the visual strategies of rulers and political pretenders, and on heraldic iconoclasm during the French Wars of Religion (1588-95).