Dirck Jansz Graeff

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Dirck Jansz Graeff (ca.1578)

Dirck Jansz Graeff , also Diederik Jansz Graeff , Lord of Vredenhof (* 1532 in Amsterdam ; † July 27, 1589 there ) was a wealthy wholesaler, shipowner , politician and landowner. He was also a member of the Reformed Church , a supporter of the Geusen and the Protestant-minded community of wholesale merchants, as well as a confidante of Wilhelm I of Orange ( Wilhelm the Silent ). Dirck Jansz Graeff was the first ruling Amsterdam mayor from the House of De Graeff , and thus laid the foundation for one of the great regent dynasties of the Dutch Golden Age .

biography

Origin and family

Overview of the main family relationships of the Amsterdam oligarchy around the families Boelens Loen , De Graeff , Bicker (van Swieten) , Witsen and Johan de Witt in the Golden Age .

Dirck Jansz was the third son of the patrician Jan Pietersz Graeff (1512–1553) and the stone (Stijntje) Braseman . He was born in "Huis De Keyser" (named after the "Keizerskroon" attached outside the building). His father was a wealthy merchant who traded his goods in Antwerp , which was then the warehouse for English linen. When Jan Pietersz Graeff wanted to establish himself as a trader in North Brabant , his sons intervened for his early return to Amsterdam. There he was named a member of the patrician city government. He fulfilled his function in the Vroedschap in 1542 and the post of Schepen in the following year . Dirck Jansz Graeff was married twice, first to Agniet Pietersdr van Neck , daughter of the mayor Pieter van Neck , and then to Teuwt Jansdr Cat , she was a daughter of the Amsterdam mayor Jan Claes Cat . Graeff had five children from his first marriage, and no further children followed from his second marriage:

  1. Weyntje Dircksdr (de) Graeff , married to Jacob Andriesz. Boelens († 1621)
  2. Jan Dircksz Graeff (? -1627) - died on his country estate Vredenhof near Voorschoten
  3. Jakob Dircksz de Graeff (1570–1638) - Regent of Amsterdam, Vrijheer of the High Glory Zuid-Polsbroek
  4. Pieter Dircksz Graeff (1573–1645) - Councilor of the City of Amsterdam. In 1613 he traveled to Palestine and visited the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem . He also spent part of this trip in the company of the Swiss surgeon and Egypt traveler Hans Jakob Ammann . In contrast to his family, Pieter was devoted to the Catholic faith . In 1620 he came into possession of the glory and the Engelenburg Castle . He lived and died unmarried at the Amsterdam Fluweelenburgwal .
  5. Cornelis Dircksz Graeff , “schepen” van Dorp; married to NN Vercroft (van Crocht)

coat of arms

Dirck Jansz Graeff's coat of arms

The coat of arms of Dirck Jansz Graeff shows on one side the silver shovel on a red background of the Lords of Graben and on the other hand a silver falcon with a red hood on a blue background. The falcon's origins lie in his country estate in Gooiland , which he named in honor of his wife Valckeveen (later the Valckenburg country estate ). The swans that can be seen on his grave coat of arms stand for the splendid rights of the Vredenhof estate . There, the sex held the manorial privilege of breeding swans, among other things.

Political, economic and social ambitions

The armchair on which Wilhelm I of Orange sat when he visited Dirck Jansz Graeff in 1580.
Grave decoration by Dirck Jansz Graeff, Amsterdam, Oude Kerk

Dirck Janz Graeff ran a flourishing iron trade together with his brother Lenaert Jansz de Graeff in "Huis De Keyser" on Damrak . The brothers were important members of the Reformed Church. Together with his brothers Lenaert and Jacob Jansz Graeff, he was one of the "70 aanzienlijke en vermogende Amsterdammers" ( 70 most respected and wealthy people of Amsterdam ). In 1564, this group wrote a letter of complaint to the Habsburg governess Margarethe von Parma , in which they complained of abuse in the composition of the Amsterdam city administration and jurisdiction. In 1566, the Protestant-minded community of wholesale merchants around Graeff, Jan Jacobsz Bal Huydecoper van Wieringen , Jacobsz Reael , Adriaan Pauw and Cornelis Hooft took over the social leadership within the city of Amsterdam in order to hold it in a political sense after the Alteratie of Amsterdam in 1578.

Graeff also enjoyed the friendship of William I of Orange, called Wilhelm the Silent , whose political motives and goals regarding the separation from Spain and religious freedom he represented. When the prince paid him a visit in his Amsterdam town house “De Keyser” in the year of the crisis in 1567, the two discussed in detail the issues of the city and the country . At this time, contracts between the leading Catholics and the Geusen were also concluded in Graeff's house . In 1568 the four Amsterdam mayors and the representatives of the religious groups signed a contract there. Since Graeff also had many other political consultations, the danger for him from the Spaniards increased. But it took a long time before he could decide to leave his hometown. In 1572 he was finally able to decide to emigrate. He emigrated to Emden with his wife and five children for religious reasons .

In 1576 Dirck Jansz Graeff worked together with Pieter Bicker as a delegate of the Dutch States General in Hamburg and Bremen , where he was able to take out a loan of 600,000 guilders for the Dutch government . He then spent some time in Hoorn , only to return to his hometown in 1578 - after the "Alteratie von Amsterdam". In the same year Dirck Jansz Graeff was appointed the first new mayor of Amsterdam - also at the request of his friend Wilhelm von Orange. That year he was responsible for the fate of the city together with Adriaen Pauw, who died that same year. Graeff was also friends with Cornelis Andriesz Boelens Loen , who later became the father-in-law of his son Jakob Dircksz de Graeff.

Since the additional tasks as mayor were difficult for him, he turned down another appointment and moved to Haarlem in the summer of 1580 . But already in the next year he returned to Amsterdam, and there fulfilled his other duties as one of the city regents. In the same year Graeff again hosted Wilhelm von Oranien in his house "De Keyser". Graeff was also a rich shipowner who was involved in the voyage of over 100 merchant ships, through which he traded mainly with Portugal . In the years 1584/1585 Dirck Jansz de Graeff was the richest inhabitant of Amsterdam with a fortune of 140,000 guilders. He invested his fortune in buying a large country estate, called Vredenhof , near Voorschoten. Together with Jan Jacobsz Bal Huydecoper van Wieringen, Frans Hendricksz Oetgens van Waveren and Hendrick Hudde , Graeff was considered to be the greatest landowner in the Amsterdam patriciate. The Vredenhof estate, devastated by the Spanish troops, was completely revitalized by his son Jan Dirksz Graeff after his death in 1589. Dirck Jansz Graeff's bones were transferred to the family grave in Amsterdam's Oude Kerk in the middle of the 17th century .

literature

  • P. de Graeff Gerritsz., Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek : Genealogy van de family De Graeff van Polsbroek. Amsterdam 1882.
  • JH De Bruijn: Genealogy van het geslacht De Graeff van Polsbroek 1529/1827.
  • Hajo Brugmans: Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. 1973.

Web links

Commons : Diederik Janszoon Graeff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nederland's Adelsboek (1993) Volume 83, page 429
  2. ↑ a b c d e Dirk Jansz Graeff's biography in the Biographisch woordenboek der Nederlanden . Deel 7 (1862)
  3. ↑ Israel, J .: The Dutch Republic, Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806. 1995, p. 159.
  4. ↑ Stamboom van Jan Pieterszoon de Graeff
  5. ↑ Nederlands adelsboek 1914. P. 14 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  6. ^ Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 2: Jan Pietersz Graeff
  7. ↑ Voorouders (s nakomelingen) van Dirck Janszoon de Graeff
  8. ↑ Joost Van den Vondel: Al de sealing works. Naar tijdsorde gerangschikt en in de… Volume 2. Roelants, Schiedam 1866, p. 645 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h Dirk Jansz Graeff's biography in the Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek . Deel 2 (1912)
  10. ↑ Tear into the Promised Land… Hardmeyer, Zurich 1618 ( online ).
  11. ↑ In older sources takes place mentioning that Pieter Graeff a son of the in-Holland 1483 (1484 *) Wolfgang von Graben († 1521), was born into the the Meinhardi formers sprung Carniolian Uradelsgeschlecht the From digging stone was. Article about the De Graeff family in the Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek (DBNL), Deel 2 That Pieter Graeff was the grandfather of Dirck Jansz Graeff. The current sources according to today's genealogy exclude this origin. [SAC Dudok van Heel: Van Amsterdamse burgers dead Europese aristocrats . Volume 2, 2008, p. 974] The De Graeff family still has the Graben coat of arms in theirs today.
  12. ↑ Joost van den Vondel .: De werken van Vondel connected with zijn leven, en voorzien van… 12th volume. Binger, Amsterdam 1896, pp. 245 and 246 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  13. ^ Benjamin Roberts: Through the keyhole: Dutch child-rearing practices in the 17th and 18th century. Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum 1998, ISBN 90-6550-586-5 , p. 51 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  14. ↑ Jakob van Lennep: De werken van Vondel. 3rd volume. Binger, Amsterdam 1857, p. 467 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  15. ^ Kroniek van de Historisch Genootschap. Volumes 11-12. Kemink, Utrecht 1855, p. 139 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  16. ^ Kroniek van de Historisch Genootschap. Volumes 11-12. Kemink, Utrecht 1855, p. 135 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  17. ^ SAC Dudok van Heel-Van Amsterdamse burgers tot Europese aristocrats, Volume 22008, page 974
  18. ↑ Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste Bezitters.
  19. ^ De works by J. van den Vondel. Volumes 19-20. P. 85/86 ( digitized in the Google book search; Vondel's poem on Boelens and a short biography of the same)
  20. ↑ Joost van den Vondel, Jakob van Lennep: De werken van Vondel, brought into association with zijn leven, en voorzien van… 3rd volume. Binger, Amsterdam 1857, p. 468 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  21. ^ IH Eeghen: De restauratie van Herengracht 77. In: Maandblad Genootschap Amstelodamum (1968) p. 235.
  22. ↑ Clé Lesger: trade in Amsterdam th tijde van de Opstand: kooplieden, commerciële ... Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum 2001, ISBN 90-6550-686-1 , p 171 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  23. ↑ De Oude Kerk: Familiegraf De Graeff ( Memento of October 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Graeff, Dirck Jansz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Graeff, Diederik Jansz; Graeff, Dirck Janszoon de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mayor of Amsterdam
DATE OF BIRTH 1532
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1589
Place of death Amsterdam