Michiel de Ruyter

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Michiel de Ruyter, 1667
Signature Michiel de Ruyter.PNG

Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (born March 24, 1607 in Vlissingen , † April 29, 1676 as a result of being wounded on board his ship in the Bay of Syracuse , buried March 18, 1677 in the Nieuwe Kerk , Amsterdam ) was a Dutch admiral .

Life

As the fourth of 13 children of a poor brewery man, he only attended a few schools. As early as 1617 his father gave him a rope apprenticeship at the shipping company of the Lampsen brothers . Since de Ruyter wanted to go to sea rather than learn this trade, he went in 1618 with the consent of his parents and the master as a cabin boy on board a ship of the shipping company of the Lampsins family , where he learned the seaman's trade from scratch in the following years. As early as 1622 at the age of 15 he became a seaman . Instead of going further at sea, he joined the army of Prince Moritz of Orange to fight the Spaniards. He then signed on to a Dutch warship, received his baptism of fire in the fight against the Spaniards and was slightly injured in the head by a lance stab during boarding. It was to remain his only wound until he was mortally wounded in 1676.

A little later, de Ruyter was captured by Spain, but was able to escape in an adventurous way and returned home penniless. He got a job as a student helmsman on a ship belonging to the Lampsen shipping company. On March 16, 1631, de Ruyter married his first wife, Maria Velters, who died on December 31, 1631 when a daughter was stillborn. After successfully completing his helmsman studies, de Ruyter entered the service of Captain Jochem Janssen on board the whaling ship De Groene Leeuw of the Greenland Company in 1633 and proved himself on fishing trips to Greenland and Spitsbergen .

On July 1, 1636 de Ruyter married his second wife Kornelia Engels. From this marriage there were four children. Because of his experience as a seaman and soldier, in 1637 the shipowners and merchants of Vlissingens handed him command of a small warship with ten cannons for the fight against the Dunkirk pirates. He led the fight against these pirates with great success. He then took over as captain of a merchant ship for the Lampsen shipping company and made two trips to Brazil and the West Indies in 1640 . On these trips he also corrected the often imprecise nautical charts of these waters.

Navy

When the war between the Netherlands and Portugal and Spain broke out in 1641 , de Ruyter was in the fleet of Admiral Gysel as Schout-bij-Nacht ( German  rear admiral ) in command of the rearguard. In the sea battle near St. Vincent , de Ruyter prevented the destruction of the Dutch fleet through his efforts. After the war he worked again for ten years as a merchant ship captain and merchant for the Lampsen shipping company, mainly in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Several times he was able to save the ship and crew in severe storms through his seafaring skills. He made a considerable fortune in his travels. His wife Kornelia died around 1650. In 1652 de Ruyter married Anna van Gelder, the widow of a captain who had stayed at sea. The couple had two daughters.

First Anglo-Dutch War

De Ruyter's actual military career began as a squadron commander in 1652 with the first Anglo-Dutch naval war . He led successful battles among others in 1652 at Plymouth , at Kentish Knock and at Dungeness and in 1653 during the three-day battle , at Ouder Gabbard and at Katwijk-Terheide . After the end of the war in 1654 he fought again against French and North African pirates in the Mediterranean. He captured the Portuguese sugar fleet coming from Brazil. In 1655 de Ruyter moved with his family from Vlissingen to Amsterdam .

Second Northern War

Under Admiral Wassenaer Obdam he fought in 1656 in the Second Northern War with the Poles in front of Danzig against the hostile Swedes . In alliance with Denmark against the Swedes, he occupied the Danish fortress of Nyborg in November 1659 . The Danish King Friedrich III awarded him for his services . a coat of arms.

Against England

In the fighting with England after the first sea war, de Ruyter recaptured the Dutch colony of Guinea (West Africa) from the English, captured in the Caribbean and captured an English fishing fleet off Newfoundland . After the battle in the Bay of Bergen , he led a convoy from Bergen to the Netherlands. He also improved the training of Dutch ship crews and his own tactics between the first and second naval wars.

Praalgraf (pomp grave) in place of a high altar in the Nieuwe Kerk (Amsterdam) in Amsterdam, of Rombout Verhulst made

When the Second Anglo-Dutch Sea War broke out in 1665, de Ruyter was appointed "Admiral Lieutenant" by the Dutch Admiralty and appointed "Commander of the Fleet of the States General". The four-day battle from June 11 to June 14, 1666 between the coast of Flanders and the mouth of the Thames became one of De Ruyter's greatest victories. He led the battle from his famous flagship De Zeven Provinciën . The Dutch lost four ships, the English 23. In 1667, a daring advance into the Thames ( Medway ) to Chatham followed . The Dutch sank several English warships and destroyed many of the land batteries covering the fairway. The ship of the line Royal Charles was captured and carried as booty. In nearby London , panic broke out at the proximity of the Dutch.

From the end of the Second Sea War in 1667 until the beginning of the Third Sea War against England in 1672, de Ruyter lived with his family in Amsterdam. In the third Anglo-Dutch naval war he was again in command of the Dutch fleet. He won the battles in the Solebay on June 7th, 1672 and off Texel on August 21st, 1673.

After the end of the third naval war in 1674, France intervened on the side of the English in the fighting. De Ruyter was promoted to lieutenant general in 1675 . During the undecided naval battle at Augusta  - his 39th naval battle - against the superior French fleet under Admiral Duquesne on April 22, 1676, de Ruyter's right foot was shot through with a cannonball. As a result of this wounding, he died on April 29, 1676 on board his flagship Eendracht .

When the body was brought home, all ships that encountered the Dutch fleet paid their last respects to the fallen with gun salutes and flag dips . Amsterdam experienced one of the greatest funerals in its history.

Character image

Michiel de Ruyter is described by historians as a humble person who never aspired to a career in the Navy. Against promotions, he argued that he was "unsuitable and absolutely incapable of the job". The historian Christoph Driessen judges him: "Although de Ruyter was richly rewarded for his services, he remained a simple and above all deeply religious man who was only interested in three things throughout his life: the Bible, his family and the sea." Fleet commander he acted cautiously and avoided any unnecessary risk, which brought him into conflict with the more offensive Vice Admiral Cornelis Tromp .

memory

Admiral M. de Ruyter on a medal to commemorate the 300th year of his death after the naval battle of Augusta
  • Petrus Francius gave a funeral speech on de Ruyter during the funeral ceremonies in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.
  • de Ruyter is a traditional name in the Dutch navy.
  • There are monuments to him in Vlissingen and in Debrecen, Hungary .
  • There is a bust in the Walhalla near Regensburg .
  • His portrait is shown on NLG 100 banknotes issued from 1970–1977 .
  • The Dutch composer Gerard Boedijn set a sounding monument to Michiel de Ruyter in his concert overture for wind orchestra Michiel Adriaanszoon , published in 1950 .
  • The Admiral belongs to the new official Canon History in Dutch school lessons.
  • In 2004, de Ruyter was voted the seventh largest Dutchman in a vote by the Dutch television station "Katholieke Radio Omroep" .
  • 3 hospitals and medical supply centers in the Dutch province of Zeeland were named after him, the Admiraal De Ruyter Ziekenhuis Vlissingen, the Admiraal De Ruyter Ziekenhuis Goes and the Admiraal De Ruyter Ziekenhuis Zierikzee [1]

filming

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kjeld Hillingsø: Broderstrid. Danmark mod Sverige 1657-60. Gyldendal, Copenhagen 2009, ISBN 978-87-02-07899-2 , p. 206.
  2. ↑ Christoph Driessen: History of the Netherlands. From sea power to trend land. Regensburg 2009, p. 127.
  3. ↑ Epicedium in funere herois invicti Michaelis Adriani Ruteri, Hollandiae ac Westfrisiae Archithalassi, Ducis, Equitis, etc. Trustworthy van Petri Franci uitgesproken op April 14, 1677 in de Nieuwe Kerk te Amsterdam by Petrus Francius, hoogleraar in de Latijneumse letterkunde en divorced Illustrate Amsterdam. Printed by Jodoci Plumeri te Amsterdam 1677, (proof in the Nationaal Archief The Hague) .
  4. ↑ https://www.bis-ans-ende-der-welt.net/Niederlande-B.htm

literature

Web links

Commons : Michiel de Ruyter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ruyter, Michiel de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruyter, Michiel Adriaanszoon de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch admiral
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1607
PLACE OF BIRTH Vlissingen
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1676
Place of death Syracuse