 In other parts of Europe, as it is now in Switzerland (Swiss bourgeoisie), this system has endured.In Germany it was slowly abolished, and only Hamburg and Bremen retain the Hanseatic designation "freie Stadt" from their days as free imperial cities.The following is a chronological list of surviving Brussels bourgeois families with the date of admission and of which of the Seven Noble Houses (Lignages in French) they currently descend from, if any.