Gillis Valckenier

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Gillis Valckenier, painted by Wallerant Vaillant (1671)

Gillis Valckenier (born August 13, 1623 in Amsterdam , † November 6, 1680 there ) was an influential ruler of the Dutch Republic during the Golden Age .

Political start as a Republican

See also: Regent of Amsterdam

Gillis was born the son of Amsterdam Mayor Wouter Valckenier . He was a descendant of the Valckenier patrician family . After studying in Leiden , Valckenier was accepted into the Amsterdam Vroedschap in 1649 , where he soon held the post of Schepen . He made a quick political career when he was appointed head of the Dutch East India Company in 1657 .

Gillis Valckenier has been described as stubborn , cunning , domineering , greedy and harsh , but also as a very hard-working and hard-working person. After the death of Cornelis de Graeff, he succeeded in weakening the supremacy of the powerful De Graeff government in Amsterdam and elevating himself as a new strong man. In 1665, 1666, 1668 and 1670 he succeeded in being appointed governing mayor, depriving the council pensioner Johan de Witt of the vital support of Amsterdam for his politics and at the same time withdrawing his strongest competitor Andries de Graeff in his traditional Pro-De Witt politics to affect significantly.

Valckenier as a faithful Orange statesman

Valckenier experienced his political change from the republican statesman of 1667 - together with De Witt and Gaspar Fagel , he was one of the promoters of the Eeuwig edict ( decree of the century), which included the abolition of governorship and thus the final overthrow of the House of Orange - to the Orange -minded Statesman with a political boycott against the De Witt system.

From the late 1660s Valckenier led in Paris with William III. secret political negotiations, with the aim of overthrowing the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt and their political system in order to bring about Wilhelm III. to put in their place.

In 1671 his political mission seemed to fail when he joined Nicolaas Witsen against the ultra-republican faction of the De Graeff - which included Andries, his two nephews Pieter and Jacob de Graeff and their cousin Lambert Reynst - and Henrick Hooft his position in the Amsterdam politics lost, but was able to regain it in the summer of 1672 through the turmoil of the Rampjaares and the anti-De Witt mood in the republic that arose as a result.

When the Republic's most successful diplomat, Coenraad van Beuningen, was sent to England as envoy, Valckenier, with the help of the new heir (Wilhelm III), was able to become the most powerful politician in Amsterdam in the years after 1672. Together with Henrick Hooft , Valckenier prevented against the efforts of Cornelis Geelvinck and Wilhelm III. a war entry of the republic against France .

The English ambassador Sir Henry Sidney said of Valkenier's position that even the Turkish sultan did not have as much power in his country as Valckenier did in Amsterdam.

literature

  • JE Elias: De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795. 2 parts, 1903-1905, chapters CXIII-CXXX. (Reprint: Amsterdam 1963)
  • J. Israel: The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477-1806. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-873072-1 , pp. 791-792.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ biography
  2. ^ Thimo de Nijs, Eelco Beukers: Geschiedenis van Holland. Part 2, Volume 2, Verloren, Hilversum 2003, p. 227.
predecessor Office successor
Andries de Graeff Regent and Mayor of Amsterdam
1665–1679 together with Coenraad van Beuningen (1669–1684), Johann van Waveren Hudde (1672–1703) and Joan (II) Huydecoper van Maarsseveen (1673–1693) 		Johann van Waveren Hudde
personal data
SURNAME Valckenier, Gillis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mayor of Amsterdam
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1623
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1680
Place of death Amsterdam