Johann Wilhelm Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland

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Johann Wilhelm (Hans Willem) Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland KG , PC (born July 20, 1648 in Diepenheim , † November 23, 1709 in Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire ) was a Dutch - English courtier and diplomat under Wilhelm III. of Orange , one of whose closest confidants he was.

Life

Johann Wilhelm (Hans Willem) Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, oil painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud around 1699

He came from the Geldrischen noble family Bentinck and was the third son of Baron Bernard Bentinck (1597-1668), Lord of Diepenheim and Schoonheten (in the Dutch province of Overijssel ), and his wife Anna van Bloemendaal (1622-1685). He was brought up at the Binnenhof in The Hague together with William of Orange, who was one year his junior (later King William III of England ). From 1659 the two studied together for seven years at the University of Leiden . When Wilhelm got smallpox in 1675 , Bentinck took care of him. Both of them had a special friendship throughout their lives. He also studied at Oxford University , where he obtained a Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1670 .

From 1668 he served as a cornet in a Dutch cavalry regiment and rose to colonel of his own cavalry regiment in 1675, during the Dutch-French War . In 1675 he bought the Catshuis in The Hague . In 1677 he went to England for the first time on behalf of Wilhelm in order to mediate the marriage with Mary , Jacob's daughter , Duke of York , who later became King James II. In the following years further visits to England followed.

In the years 1687/1688 he prepared the landing of Wilhelm through further visits, which then led to the Glorious Revolution . Bentinck was also responsible for the logistical preparation of the invasion and accompanied Wilhelm to England in 1688. In February 1689 he became a member of the Privy Council and on April 9, 1689 he was raised to the English nobility as Earl of Portland , Viscount Woodstock and Baron Cirencester . In the Battle of the Boyne , Bentinck commanded part of the cavalry. He also took part in several battles in the War of the Palatinate Succession , such as the Battle of Neerwind , where he was wounded, and in 1695 at the Siege of Namur . Two years later he helped to bring about the peace of Rijswijk .

After going to Paris as ambassador in 1698 , he resigned his court posts in the spring of 1699 out of jealousy of another favorite of Wilhelm, Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle , and only negotiated with France by concluding the second partition treaty over the Spanish monarchy to an end. Despite Albemarle's preference, the king continued to shower him with gifts, so he received almost 550 km² of land in Ireland . Because of this, and because he remained a foreigner in England throughout his life, he was extremely unpopular in the country. He was charged by the House of Commons for this in 1701 , but the charges were later dropped. It seems that Bentinck and Wilhelm had a homosexual (or bisexual ) relationship, or at least a common inclination, as is also assumed by Albemarle; Liselotte von der Pfalz , the sister-in-law of the Sun King and herself the wife of a gay, wrote in 1705: “Nothing is ordinarier (more normal) in Engellandt than this vice, as I know from Englander myself. Also all those who came to Paris with my lord Portlandt have led a hideous life with the desbauchen (debauchery) to Paris. "

Bentinck later reconciled himself with King Wilhelm, who in March 1702 took a touching farewell to him because of his terminal illness. After Wilhelm's death he withdrew from all business and died on his estate in Buckinghamshire .

Marriages and offspring

In his first marriage he married Anne Villiers († 1688) in 1678. He had five children with her:

In his second marriage, he married in 1700 Jane Martha Temple (1672-1751), widow of Admiral John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1663-1697). He had six children with her:

His son from his first marriage, Henry , inherited him in 1709 as 2nd Earl of Portland and was raised to Duke of Portland in 1716 . His eldest son from his second marriage, Wilhelm , was raised to the rank of German imperial count in 1732 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage . Volume 3, Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, Wilmington 2003, p. 3183.
  2. ^ Frederick M. Powicke, Edmund B. Fryde (Eds.): Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society, London 1961, p. 445.
  3. ↑ Quoted from: Dirk Van der Cruysse, Madame sein ist ein ellendes Handwerck, Liselotte von der Pfalz. A German princess at the court of the Sun King. From the French by Inge Leipold. 14th edition, Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 3-492-22141-6 , p. 196.

Web links

Commons : William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
predecessor Office successor
New title created Earl of Portland
1689-1709 		Henry Bentinck
personal data
SURNAME Bentinck, Johann Wilhelm, 1st Earl of Portland
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Portland, Johann Wilhelm Bentinck, 1st Earl of (full name); Portland, Hans Willem Bentinck, 1st Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch-English courtier and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1648
PLACE OF BIRTH Diepenheim
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1709
Place of death Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire