Pieter de Graeff

Wedding portraits of Pieter de Graeff and Jacoba Bicker, painted in 1662 by Caspar Netscher ( Rijksmuseum Amsterdam )

Pieter de Graeff , Vrijheer of the High Glory of Zuid-Polsbroek , vrijheer / heer van Purmerland en Ilpendam (born August 15, 1638 in Amsterdam , † June 3, 1707 ) was a Dutch aristocrat of the Golden Age of the Netherlands . He came from the De Graeff family , the city ​​lords of Amsterdam .

Before the Rampjaar in 1672, Pieter de Graeff was one of the most influential state-minded, republican politicians in Amsterdam. As a wind lifter of the Dutch East India Company , he was one of the most important representatives and head of the same after the Rampjaar. His political attitude was characteristic of his family: on the one hand libertine and state-minded, on the other hand, if only to a limited extent, loyal to the Orange people . De Graeff had intimate contact with statesmen Johan de Witt and Wilhelm III. von Orange and the artists Joost van den Vondel and Jan Lievens .

biography

Childhood and youth

Pieter de Graeff was the first-born son of the statesman and Amsterdam regent Cornelis de Graeff and Catharina Hooft ; with Jacob de Graeff he had a younger brother. In his youth, Pieter enjoyed upbringing and private lessons from Johann Amos Comenius . At the age of 16, Pieter accompanied the Mayor of Amsterdam, Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, on a diplomatic mission to Berlin. The city acted as the official godfather of the son of the Great Elector Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm . This sponsorship was organized by Pieter's father Cornelis and later led to the intervention of the Elector as an ally in the Dutch War .

In the years 1658 to 1660 traveled Pieter by Britain and France and received at the University of Orléans , the licentiate for civil and canon law. The various travel reports were all recorded by Pieter in his diaries, of which only the reports about the Berlin trip have survived. In 1660 a consortium was founded by Pieter's father Cornelis, his cousin Johan de Witt and Gillis Valckenier , which took over the guardianship of the young Orange prince Wilhelm III. of Orange-Nassau , the child of the state . The brothers Pieter and Jacob de Graeff spent the summers with Wilhelm, who later became King of England, on the De Graeff estate on the Soestdijk , which Wilhelm later acquired and expanded into the Palais Soestdijk for the Dutch hereditary owners and kings.

Offices and work

In 1662, Pieter received his first public office as captain of the Amsterdam Civil Guard . In the same year he married his cousin Jacoba Bicker (1640–1695), daughter of Johan Bicker and Agneta de Graeff van Polsbroek (1603–1656) and sister of Johan de Witt's wife Wendela Bicker . At their wedding at Ilpenstein Castle , De Witt gave the wedding speech. The present poets Gerard Brandt , Jan Vos and Joost van den Vondel "sang" about this wedding. With the death of his father Cornelis in 1664, Pieter became Vrijheer van Zuid-Polsbroek . He also took over his father's role as a windlass for the Dutch East India Company (one of the heads of this trading company, which is also known as VOC for short ). Pieter had a great deal of interest in soil culture , which he was also able to eagerly pursue as a vigilante of the VOC and as sovereign . He gathered and archived the genealogical facts and information about his gender. (The De Graeff family archive in Amsterdam still contained many of these pieces in 1912.)

In 1666, Pieter was appointed commissioner of maritime trade in Amsterdam and military commander of Amsterdam. In 1668 he joined the Amsterdam city government as a lay judge (Dutch: schepen ) . He also became a member of the Amsterdam magistrate (Dutch: vroedschap ). Politically, he was on the side of his relative and friend Johan de Witt, whose trusted councilor he was and with whom he was linked by intensive correspondence. The relationship between the two is described as very good and intimate. Some letters between the two have the training of the Orange prince Wilhelm III. Go to content. He also corresponded with Joost van den Vondel, the artist Jan Lievens , the polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the diplomat Jacob Boreel and the natural scientist Christiaan Huygens . At the beginning of the 1670s, an anti-De Witt faction emerged in the Amsterdam city government under the influence of the Orange-minded mayors Gillis Valckenier and Coenraad van Beuningen . In the course of 1671, the Republican State Party, under the leadership of Pieter, regained the upper hand in the Amsterdam city government. For a short while, it looked as if De Witt's republican system could be consolidated.

Dismissal and activity as a merchant

In Rampjaar 1672 the republican-minded faction De Graeff , including Pieter, his brother Jacob, their uncle Andries de Graeff and their cousin Mayor Lambert Reynst , was excluded from the government. This was one of the prerequisites for the reinstatement of a Dutch governor. After the proclamation of the Orange William III. The brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt , who, together with Andries de Graeff, were instrumental in the abolition of the governorship in 1667, were murdered in The Hague . After the death of his relative Johan de Witt, Pieter took over the guardianship of his five orphaned children (including Johan II. De Witt ).

Pieter de Graeff remained only the function of a head (Dutch: "bewindhebber") of the VOC , which he held until his death. Between 1671 and 1678, Pieter, who increasingly emerged as one of the heads of the VOC , worked intensively with Joan Maetsuycker , Governor General of the Dutch East Indies . Especially in the years 1673/74, the brothers Pieter and Jacob tried unsuccessfully with Wilhelm III. to come into favor. In 1674, Pieter had active cash assets of 130,000 guilders , making him one of the 250 richest people of the Golden Age . After the death of his brother and mother, Pieter de Graeff became Lord of the High Glory of Purmerland and Ilpendam in 1691 .

Paintings, Diaries, and Genealogy

Cornelis de Graeff with his family on arrival in Soestdijk. The landscape painting is probably by Jacob van Ruisdael , the portraits of the family by Thomas de Keyser . Cornelis de Graeff and Catharina Hooft sit in the carriage. Pieter de Graeff rides the black horse, next to him his brother Jacob. The people standing are from left to right Willem Schrijver, Pieter Trip and Andries de Graeff . (Made between 1656 and 1660, National Museum of Ireland )

Several paintings come from Pieter de Graeff's estate, in which he can be seen in different phases of his life. In 1675 it was painted by Gerard Terborch ; furthermore by Jan Lievens , Caspar Netscher , and Wallerant Vaillant and together with his brother Jacob by Karel Dujardin . There are also two group portraits with his parents and close relatives. The first dates from 1652 and was painted by Jan Victors . It shows them as the biblical persons Archfather Isaac and Rebekah and their children Esau and Jacob . The second by Jacob van Ruisdael and Thomas de Keyser shows the family arriving at Landhaus Soestdijk .

Pieter de Graeff also employed the engraver Romeyn de Hooghe , who made engravings of his various homes. Pieter made several notes about negotiations and payments in connection with the surveying of his property. He consulted with De Hooghe, who should engrave an artistic map of De Graeff's country house in Valkenburg . Jeanine Otten published under the title Kaarttekenaars en kaartafzetters in de dagboeken van Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707) a work on Pieter's activities to represent his possessions.

Between the years 1664 and 1706, Pieter wrote diaries with almost 1,600 pages. Pieter lived in the town house on Amsterdam's Herengracht No. 573, today's Hendrikje Bag Museum , the Valckenburg , Vogelsang and Bronstee country houses and Ilpenstein Castle .

Pieter de Graeff also worked as a genealogist and collector and chronicler of writings and documents from his family. Through him, many details about his ancestors are still archived today. Furthermore, he put together the (older) genealogy of the imperial barons De Petersen , to which he was related as the great cousin of Count Palatine Jakob de Petersen .

Offspring and death

His marriage to Jacoba Bicker had three children, two sons and a daughter. His two sons, Cornelis and Johan, took over from their father's inheritance in Zuid-Polsbroek, Purmerland and Ilpendam. The first-born son Cornelis (1671-1719) received his doctorate from the University of Leiden to become a master of law and was canon in the cathedral chapter of St. Pieter in Utrecht. The second son Johan de Graeff (1673-1714) completed a law degree at the University of Leiden, was city secretary, lay judge and member of the Amsterdam magistrate (Dutch: Magistraat or vroedschap ). Johan was married to Johanna Hooft (1678-1738). This marriage had five children, including Johan's only son Gerrit de Graeff , who took over the De Graeff inheritance.

Pieter de Graeff died as a widower after his wife Jacoba Bicker had died in 1695. He was buried in the family vault in the Oude Kerk .

literature

• JE Elias: De Vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578–1795. Haarlem 1903-1905, p. 422
• HP Moelker: De heerlijkheid Purmerland en Ilpendam. Purmerend 1978, pp 170-172
• Kees Zandvliet: De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw. Capital, power, family en levensstijl. Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2006, pp. 93-94
• P. Burke, Venice and Amsterdam. A study of seventeenth-century élites . 1994

Web links

Commons : Pieter de Graeff  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nederlands adelsboek 1914, p. 15
2. ↑ Pieter de Graeff in Heren van Holland ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2016 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. 
3. ^ ^{A b} Herbert H. Rowen: John de Witt, Statesman of the "True Freedom" . Cambridge University Press, 1983/2002, 179.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} biography of Pieter de Graeff - Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek . Deel 7
5. ↑ Pieter C. Vies: Andries de Graeff (1611–1678) 't Gezagh is heerelyk: but vol get . P. 29/30 ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 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. (PDF; 2.7 MB) 
6. ↑ Google book search: Johann Jakob Redinger: 1619-1688, p. 329
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} biography of Pieter de Graeff - Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek . Deel 2
8. ↑ The report on Catharina Hooft in Vrouwen van Soestdijk also includes her sons Pieter and Jacob de Graeff and their playmates Wilhelm III. von Oranien-Nassau ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Pieter de Graeff in Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste Bezitters . Page 327
10. ↑ Jan Vos' verse Huwelyk van den Eed. Heer Pieter de Graaf, Iongheer van Zuidt-Polsbroek, En Mejuffer Jakoba Bikker
11. ↑ Joost van den Vondel: The bruiloft van den weledelen heer Peter de Graef, Jongkheer van Zuitpolsbroek en de weledele mejoffer Jakoba Bikker
12. ↑ Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie  ( 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.  
13. ↑ Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste Bezitters . Page 329
14. ^ Joost van den Vondels' verse op Pieter de Graeff: Aen den hooghedelen heer Pieter de Graef, vryheer van Zuitpolsbroek, op den oorsprongk van het geslagt der graven
15. ↑ Amsterdams Historisch Museum. An excerpt from the correspondence with Jan Lievens (and Johan de Witt) is under the biography of Pieter's father-in-law Jan Gerritsz. Find Bicker (1591-1653); and here under Klik hier voor meer Gegevens in AHM collectie online research ( Memento of the original from March 15, 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. 
16. ↑ Google Book Search: Studia Leibnitiana , Volumes 21–22, p. 208
17. ↑ Pieter C. Vies: Andries de Graeff (1611–1678) 't Gezagh is heerelyk: but vol get . Page 13 ( Memento of the original from March 1, 2012 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. (PDF; 2.7 MB) 
18. ↑ Pieter de Graeff in the Afscheid speech prof. dr. CW Fock Het stamp van de bewoner . Page 7 (PDF; 1 MB)
19. ^ Biography of Jacob de Graeff in the Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek . Part 2
20. ↑ Amsterdams Historisch Museum. Biography of Pieter de Graeff; Here at Klik hier voor meer gegevens in AHM collectie online research to find  ( page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
21. ↑ Kees Zandvliet: De 250 rijksten van de Gouden Eeuw - capital, power, familie en levensstijl. Pages 93 and 94, Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam 2006
22. ↑ ^{a b} Pieter de Graeff in the Afscheid speech prof. dr. CW Fock Het stamp van de bewoner . Page 9 (PDF; 1 MB)
23. ↑ Pieter de Graeff, painted by Caspar Netscher
24. ↑ ^{a b} Amsterdams Historisch Museum. Biography and illustration of Pieter de Graeff's portrait of Waillant; Here at Klik hier voor meer gegevens in AHM collectie online research to find  ( page no longer available , searching web archives )  Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
25. ↑ Pieter de Graeff in the Afscheid speech prof. dr. CW Fock Het stamp van de bewoner . Page 8 (PDF; 1 MB)
26. ↑ Pieter de Graeff in the Afscheid speech prof. dr. CW Fock Het stamp van de bewoner . Page 10 (PDF; 1 MB)
27. ↑ Caert-Thresoor: Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van de cartography in Nederland ( Memento of 27 September 2006 at the Internet Archive )
28. ↑ Swiss People's Calendar. Rudolf Dekker: Almanacs as diaries in Holland, 16th – 18th centuries ( Memento from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
29. ↑ Het Huis te Ilpendam en deszelfs voornaamste Bezitters . Page 326
30. ↑ Google Book Search: De Nederlandsche leeuw , Volume 116
31. ↑ Pieters son Cornelis de Graeff in Heren van Holland  ( 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.  
32. ^ Pieters son Jan (Johan) de Graeff in Heren van Holland
33. ↑ Biography of Pieter's son Johan de Graeff - Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek . Deel 2
34. ^ Description of his grave in the Graves on the Internet project

predecessor	Office	successor
Cornelis de Graeff	Lord of Zuid-Polsbroek 1664–1707	Johan de Graeff
Catharina Hooft and Jacob de Graeff	Lord of Purmerland and Ilpendam 1690 / 1691–1707	Cornelis de Graeff