Johan II de Witt

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Johan de Witt (also Jan de Witt ; born May 27, 1662 in The Hague , † January 24, 1701 in Dordrecht ) was the eldest son of the Dutch statesman and councilor Johan de Witt . His mother was Wendela Bicker , who died prematurely. As an inheritance from his father, he bore the title of an army from Zuid- and Noord-Linschoten , Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and Ijsselveere.

Life

Johan de Witt came from the Dordrecht family De Witt , one of the oldest patrician families in Holland ; he grew up in The Hague, his father's capital. After the murder of his father and his uncle Cornelis de Witt in 1672 was he along with his four siblings and her grandfather Jacob de Witt on Ilpenstein brought to safety. Until he came of age, the young De Witt siblings were in the care of their great-uncle Pieter de Graeff .

Johan de Witt studied law at the University of Leiden . After graduating, he traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Greece. In 1688 he was named secretary ( Greffier ) of the hometown of his sex. Due to his ancestry, however, he could not hold any important offices in the Oranic period of the 1680 / 1690s.

On March 25, 1692 De Witt married his cousin Wilhelmina de Witt (* July 3, 1671, † February 7, 1701), the youngest daughter of his uncle Cornelis. This marriage resulted in the sons Johan and Cornelis (1696–1769) and the daughter Wendela Maria (1693–1709). The portraits of the De Witt couple are now in the Huis ten Bosch and in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague.

De Witt as a scholar and collector

De Witt was a recognized scholar of his time, even if, as a contemporary remarked, because of his family background, he was not so highly regarded in his home country as in the learned world abroad. He took part in the scientific exchange through trips to France and Italy in 1685/1686 and through his correspondence - with Claude Nicaise and Pierre Bayle , among others .

He made a special contribution by collecting books and manuscripts. His father, not only an influential Dutch politician of his time, but also a versatile scholar and well-known mathematician, had already put together an important collection of books, manuscripts, drawings and antiques, which then also gave a political opponent the opportunity to buy one under the name his friend and colleague Nicolaas Vivien published diatribes, which presented itself as the auction catalog of this library. As heir to his father's library, the son Johan de Witt continued his collecting activities through his own acquisitions and bought, among other things, one of the most important Lukian manuscripts for research today in terms of text history, which later came into the possession of Robert Harley and is now known as Codex Harleianus 5694 is kept in the British Museum . While he was still alive, in September 1696, this collection or its holdings were offered for sale in Dordrecht, with a catalog describing the collection as “collecta a Jano Albino JVD” (“collected by Janus Albinus, doctor of both rights”). The pseudonym Janus Albinus can easily be recognized as the Latinization of the name "J (oh) an" and "de Witt" (nl. Wit and Latin albinus are designations of the color "white"). In research, however, it is disputed whether this pseudonym refers to the son Johan de Witt or to the father, who was also known under the Latin name "Janus de Witt". However, it is undisputed that the son at least expanded his father's collection through his own acquisitions and was also involved in the editing of the catalog from 1696.

When Johan de Witt died on January 24, 1701 and his wife two weeks later, the remaining holdings of his library were sold in October and November of the same year to ensure the maintenance of their underage children. The catalog, provided by Johann Georg Graevius with an introduction and an appreciation of his services, recorded 7878 items, including 269 manuscripts.

Catalogs of the Bibliotheca Wittiana

  • Catalogus van boecken in de byblioteque van Mr. Jan de Witt, door sijn discipel den pensionaris van Vivien [without year, without indication of printer and place]; Appendix van t Catalogus van de boecken van Mr. Jan de Wit. Have a party curieuse en secrete manuscripts. Wholk cooked sullen are op de Zael van 's Graven-Hage, Maendagh the 5th of September. [or July ] 1672 en de volgende dagen. Vermeerdert met een tweede deel , The Hague: bij de Druckers van de Historie van Wisquevort [without year]: no real catalog, but a collection of invented book titles printed under a false name, intended as a political diatribe against his father Johan de Wit.
  • Catalogus Librorum in omni studiorum genere, facultate, et lingua: inter quos excellence Patres, Historici, Literatores, Antiquarii, & Numismatici; tam Manuscripti quam impressi; ut & multi a Jano Parrhasio, Jos. Scaligero, CL Salmasio, Fulv. Ursino, Nic. Rigaltio, Dan. & Nic. Heinsiis, aliisque viris doctiss. emendati, & eorum manibus notati. Collectio plurimarum Iconum, Tabularumque chartacearum. Virorum illustrorum Effigies. Item Thesaurus Numismatum antiquorum. Omnia assiduo laboratories ac studio collecta a Jano Albino JVD: Quae publica auctione distrahentur Dordraci in aedibus Cornelii Willegaerts […] on diem 24 September, & sequentibus, stylo Gregoriano; 1696 [Dordrecht: Cornelis Willegaerts, 1696]
  • Catalogus Bibliothecae luculentissimae, & exquisitissimis ac rarissimis in omni disciplinarum & linguarum genere libris, magno studio, dilectu & Sumptu quaesitis, instructissimae, a Joanne de Witt, Joannis Hollandiae Consiliarii & Syndici, magnique Sigilli Custodis, Filio. Illius Auctio habebitur Dordraci, in aedibus defuncti, 20 Octobris 1701. [Dordrecht: Apud Theodorum Goris, & Joannem van Braam, Bibliopolas, 1701] ( online version / PDF at Google Books)
  • Bibliothecae Wittianae pars secunda; sive numismatum ac operis prisci thesaurus: Prout eum, indefesso labore & magnis sumptibus, collegit nobilissimus Jo. de Witt, Dordrac. Reip. à Secretis; & c. Juxta Catalogi seriem publicè distrahetur, in aedibus Domini defuncti, Die mensis 1701 [Amsterdam: Ex Typographia Franciscus Halma, 1701] ( online version / PDF at Google Books)

literature

  • Hans Peter Fölting: De landsadvocaten en raadpensionarissen der Staten van Holland en West-Friesland 1480–1795. Een genealogical benadering. Deel III . In: Jaarboek Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie 29 (1975), pp. 210-269, here p. 214
  • Jan Albert Gruys: The library of "Janus Albinus" at auction (1696): mystification, misunderstanding and reality . In: Lias 12 (1985), pp. 137-146; again in ders., Ne quid periret: 35 jaar boekhistorische artikelen , Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Den Haag 2007, pp. 9–17
  • Luc Panhuysen: De ware vrijheid: de levens van Johan en Cornelis de Witt. Atlas, Amsterdam [u. a.] 2005, ISBN 90-450-1422-X ; 7th edition, Olympus, Amsterdam 2009, ISBN 978-90-467-0267-3
  • Marcel Roethlisberger: Vente de Johan de Witt, Dordrecht 1696: quarante-cinq dessins de Claude Lorrain. In: Gazette des Beaux-Arts 128 (1996), pp. 277-288
  • Herbert H. Rowen: John de Witt, Statesman of the True Freedom . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [u. a.] 1986, ISBN 0-521-30391-5 , new edition ibid 2002, ISBN 0-521-52708-2 , p. 220
  • Govaert CJJ van den Bergh: Two letters of Cornelis van Bijnkershoek (1673-1743), concerning his acquisition of a manuscript of the Digestum Vetus (now University Library Leiden BPL 6C) and a new source for the study of Johan de Witt. In: Lias 11 (1984), pp. 277-284
  • Govaert CJJ van den Bergh: What became of the library of grand pensionary Johan de Witt (1625–1672)? With special reference to law books. In: Tijdschrift voor rechtsgeschiedenis 66 (1998), pp. 151–170
  • CA van Sypesteyn: De geslachten de Witt te Dordrecht en te Amsterdam . In: De Nederlandsche Heraut, Vol. 3 (1886), pp. 177-185, here pp. 183f. (Online version, with incorrect information on the year, on Google Books: [2] )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Van Sypesteyn, De Geslachten de Witt (1886), p 183
  2. ↑ The memoirs of an anonymous French contemporary, ed. by Frederik Jan Louis Krämer, Mémoires de Monsieur de B. ou anecdotes, tant de la cour du prince d'Orange Guillaume III, que des principaux seigneurs de la république de ce temps , in: Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap , Volume 19 , 1898, pp. 62–124, describe it as "un homme d'un mérite connu parmi tout ce qu'il y avait de gens savans dans l'Europe… admiré à Rome et en France, et négligé dans sa propre patrie par le malheur de sa famille "(p. 120;" a man whose merit was known throughout the learned world of Europe ... admired in Rome and France, and neglected in his own fatherland as a result of the misfortunes of his family ")
  3. ↑ Anna Frank van West Rienen: De groote tour. Tekening van de educatiereis of the Nederlanders in de zeventiende eeuw . DBNL, 2006, online , p. 120, note 94, deals with his French visa for Italy and gives Johan de Witt's description: “groot postuur, zwarte pruik”.
  4. ↑ A letter from Bayle to Graevius dated January 17, 1686 mentions a personal visit by de Witt, Richard G. Maber: Publishing in the Republic of Letters: The Ménage – Grævius – Wetstein Correspondence 1679–1692 , Rodopi, Amsterdam / New York 2005, ISBN 90-420-1685-X , p. 93f., P. 94 Note 1 [1]
  5. ^ A letter from Bayle to Nicaise dated February 26, 1699 mentions a letter from the latter that Bayle had received through de Witt: Léon-G. Pélissier, Lettres de divers écrivains français , in: Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire 1906, pp. 114–132, here pp. 121ff., P. 122 Note 1 online version
  6. ^ Theo Verbeek, Erik-Jan Bos, Jeroen van de Ven (eds.): The Correspondence of Rene Descartes 1643 , Zeno Institute for Philosophy - The Leiden – Utrecht Research Institute, 2003, ISBN 90-393-3583-0 , pp. xxvi, online ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / igitur-archive.library.uu.nl
  7. ↑ Catalogus van de Boecken in byblioteque van Mr. Jan de Witt and Appendix van t Catalogus van de Boecken van Mr. Jan de Wit , 1672
  8. ^ Gruys, The library of "Janus Albinus" at auction (1985)
  9. ^ Van den Bergh, Two letters of Cornelis van Bijnkershoek (1984), followed by Roethlisberger, Vente de Johan de Witt, Dordrecht 1696 (1996); in a critical examination of Gruys again Van den Bergh, What became of the library of grand pensionary Johan de Witt (1625–1672)? (1998)
  10. ↑ So z. B. by Pieter Vlaming (Petrus Vlamingius) in the preface to the posthumous edition of the Poëmata David van Hoogstratens , Amsterdam 1728, p. IX: "Janus de Witt, Judicum Praeses & Senator" ( online version )
  11. ↑ Brief description of the catalog  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on vialibri.net@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.vialibri.net  
personal data
SURNAME Witt, Johan de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Witt, Jan de; Witt, Jean de; Witt, Joannes de; Witt, Johannes de; Witt, Joanne de (Latin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch patrician and bibliophile
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1662
PLACE OF BIRTH The Hague , Holland , Republic of the Seven United Provinces
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1701
Place of death Dordrecht , Holland , Republic of the Seven United Provinces