Henri de Fleury de Coulan

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Execution of Henri de Fleury de Coulan

Henri de Fleury de Coulan , also known as Rittmeister Buat, (* in France; executed on October 11, 1666 in The Hague ) was a Dutch officer who was involved in a conspiracy to remove the councilor Johan de Witt and reinstate the Orange ( Buat conspiracy), which is why he was beheaded in 1666.

He was Lord (Sieur) of Buat, St. Cyr and La Forest de Gaye and the son of a Huguenot officer (Colonel) in Dutch service (Philippe Henri de Culan) and of Esther de Flins. He grew up as a page at the court of Friedrich Heinrich von Orange and was at the time of Wilhelm II of Orange captain in the guard on horseback of the governor and after his death in 1650 in the guard of the prince, the future Wilhelm III. The garrison was in Bergen op Zoom , but he was mostly in The Hague. The prince looked up to him as a military role model and Buat expressed his affection by calling him his little lord . In 1659 he distinguished himself as a volunteer at the landing on Funen under Admiral de Ruyter during the intervention of the Netherlands in the Northern War . He took care of affairs in the province of Zeeland for the underage Prince Wilhelm II and accompanied the Princess Royale Maria Henrietta Stuart several times on her trips to England. During his second visit in 1662 he received an annual salary of 500 guilders from King Charles II . In 1665 he was involved in the campaign with the help of the French against the Prince-Bishop of Munster, who was associated with England ( Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) ).

Charles II looked for new ways of contacting the Orange Party ( Amalie zu Solms-Braunfels was then considered the leader, but she was also a Dutch patriot who would not act behind the back of the government) and found this in the person of Buat, who was Sylvius first Met in Paris in 1665. In 1666, because of his contacts to England, he was involved in the secret correspondence between Sir Gabriel Sylvius (a personal secretary of Charles II, with the State Secretary Lord Arlington of Charles II in the league) and the Netherlands (which were allied with France), which with Knowledge of statesman and councilor Johan de Witt took place and should anticipate the conditions for peace. But Charles II planned to support a coup d'état by the Orange even if it failed, and that was also the subject of his correspondence with Buat, who inadvertently handed one of these treacherous letters to Johan de Witt in the other post. He tried to correct his mistake, but Johan de Witt had already read the letter and informed Buat that he had already forwarded the letters to the Council of State. This was possibly an indication that Buat should take flight, but this did not use it. Nine hours passed before he was arrested. In the meantime, however, he had used the time in other ways and burned his co-conspirators' incriminating correspondence, albeit not completely (an even more incriminating letter was found). Buat was indicted before the Hof van Holland in The Hague. Two other defendants ( Johan Kievit and Ewout van der Horst, regents in Rotterdam) escaped and were convicted in absentia. The death sentence was on the brink, but one of the judges (Jacob van der Graef) was pressured to declare himself biased so that the death sentence was passed with 5 to 3 votes. He was beheaded shortly afterwards. This was also a concession to France that they were not negotiating with England behind their backs. For many orangists this increased the hatred of Johan de Witt and one saw in Buat a martyr of their movement. Other people were probably initiated into the conspiracy, for example the former governor of the prince and his uncle Frederik van Nassau-Zuylestein .

In 1664 he married the daughter Elisabeth Maria of the former Secretary of the States General Cornelis Musch .

He was considered a man of pleasant and honest character, was considered brave, but was fond of alcohol. Despite his involvement in a conspiracy, he was essentially apolitical and during the trial he announced that he had only acted out of love for his protégé Prince Wilhelm. He did not betray co-conspirators. Neither he nor Sylvius had been diplomatically or politically adept about the affair. Constantijn Huygens composed a mocking poem on his death (alluding to the fatal mistake he made):

Here light een schuldigh man, van Hooft en Hals berooft, Die, doen hij schuldigh wierd, een 'hals had, maer geen hooft . (Here lies a guilty man, stripped of his neck and head, who when he was guilty had a neck but no head).

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ He was still alive in 1679
  2. ^ Rowen, Johan de Witt, 1986, p. 129
  3. ↑ During this time Sylvius was temporarily in the Netherlands, at first in secret, but then with the knowledge of Johan de Witt, who did not want to meet him personally
  4. ^ Rowen, Johan de Witt, p. 133
  5. ↑ His son tried to murder Johan de Witt in 1672 and was also executed
  6. ^ Rowen, Johan de Witt, p. 134
personal data
SURNAME Fleury de Coulan, Henri de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Captain Buat
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch officer
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1666
Place of death The hague