Willem Boreel (diplomat, 1591)

Willem Baron Boreel (born March 2, 1591 in Middelburg , † September 29, 1668 in Paris ) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and lawyer . He was Peer von England , Baron von Vreendijk and Vreenhove, Heer von Duynbeke, Westhoven, Steeland and Perenboom.

biography

Willem Boreel came from the family of Boreels , his parents were Jacob Boreel (1552-1636) and Maria Gremminck. Boreel made various trips to the Middle East, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine from where he took valuable books and manuscripts with him. In 1613 he established himself as a lawyer in Middelburg. In 1618 he was hired as a lawyer for the Dutch East India Company . Afterwards he went into the diplomatic service to England, where he in 1622 by King James I to the knight was struck. When he returned to the Netherlands , he settled in Amsterdam . There he married the merchant's daughter Jacoba Carel (1607–1657) and fathered ten children with her. One son was the Dutch diplomat Jacob Boreel . One of his brothers-in-law was the politician and regent Gillis Valckenier . In 1627 Willem Boreel was appointed pensioner of Amsterdam. He held this office until 1649.

In the following years he made various diplomatic trips to Sweden and in 1643/1644 he was in England to mediate between the King and Parliament. At Oxford he was appointed English baron. In 1650 he was sent to Venice. In 1653, Boreel was promoted to Peer of England. Another diplomatic mission of the Netherlands in Paris was followed by various financial transactions with the English kings Charles I and Charles II. In 1657 he dealt with the French cardinal and statesman Jules Mazarin . Willem Boreel died in Paris in 1668; his grave is in the Grote Kerk in The Hague.

source

• Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, part 7