Paulus Buys

Paulus Buys between the years 1570 and 1580

Paulus Buys or Pauwels Buys , Herr von Zevenhoven and (from 1592) von Capelle ter Vliet , (* 1531 in Amersfoort , † May 4, 1594 in "Huis Capelle ter Vliet" near IJsselstein ) was a Dutch statesman from the Eighty Years' War who held the office of state advocate for Holland and West Friesland between 1572 and 1585 .

Biographical

Paulus Buys was born into a well-to-do family in Amersfoort . He studied at numerous important universities in France and then took the rank of lawyer at the Hof van Holland . In 1561 he was appointed as a pensioner for the city of Leiden and was also the Hoogheemraad of the Dutch Rhineland . He was finally appointed state advocate in 1572.

Buys political concept and work

Buys was against the so-called Tiende Penning , which a recent tax burden by the Spanish Governor , the Duke of Alva figured. Buys traveled to Arnstadt , Germany, where Wilhelm von Oranien was staying after his unsuccessful attempt at liberation in 1568. Paulus Buys and Wilhelm von Orange spoke about the untenable circumstances caused by the Spanish troops in the Netherlands. Buys soon returned to his home in the Netherlands in order to be able to find support in the form of money for the Orange and his colleagues.

In 1572 Leiden, led by Paulus Buys, refused to supply a Spanish garrison in the city. The following year Buys was appointed head of the State Council of the Netherlands, the " Raad van State ". But this was in the balance with the risk of a military defeat of Orange against the Spaniards. In 1574, Buys, as the Hoogheemraad of the Rhineland, was responsible for the dikes around Leiden being pierced and flooded. This made it impossible for the Spaniards to penetrate the city of Leiden any further. Finally, on October 3rd, Leiden was liberated by the Wassergeusen .

In December 1575, Buys in England tried to make a covenant with Queen Elisabeth Tudor , but this did not come about in the end. Buys had taken part in the establishment of the Union of Utrecht . After the murder of William of Orange, Buys left the "Raad van State". When the English plenipotentiary Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester came to the Netherlands in 1585, the politically pro-English minded Paulus Buys became his counsel.

Buy's political end

After an argument with the Earl of Leicester, Buys was accused of intrigue at the Earl's back, he was imprisoned for half a year. He was eventually released for the sum of 25,000 Dutch guilders . This sum was provided by various Dutch cities and Queen Elisabeth of England. Buy's successor in office as state advocate was Johan van Oldenbarnevelt , who "revolutionized" this office.

In 1591 Paulus Buys was deposed as curator of the University of Leiden . He moved from Leiden to IJsselstein, where he died in 1594.

Trivia

• His son Cornelis Buys (* 1559) was a member of the Dutch county administration. He owned the country estate "Capelle ter Vliet" and another in Zevenhoven . It cannot be determined when Cornelius died.
• One of Buy's descendants (?), Willem Buys , also held the highest government office in Holland in 1745/46.

literature

• John Bruce: Correspondence of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leycester, during his Government of the Low Countries, in the Years 1585 and 1586. Camden Society, 1844. (American Libraries)

predecessor	Office	successor
Jacob van den Eynde	State advocate (council pensioner) of Holland 1572–1585	Johan van Oldenbarnevelt

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