Cornelis de Graeff
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| Cornelis de Graeff | |
 Cornelis de Graeff by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy - Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
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| Preceded by | Andries Bicker |
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| Born | October 15, 1599 Amsterdam |
| Died | May 4, 1664 Amsterdam |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Spouse | 1) Geertruid Overlander 2) Catharina Hooft |
| Relations | Jacob de Graeff Dircksz. (father) Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (cousin (?) via Catharina) Frans Banning Cocq (1st wife's brother-in-law) |
| Children | Jacob and Cornelis |
| Residence | Herengracht 216, Amsterdam, castle in Ilpendam, country house in Baarn |
| Occupation | mayor |
| Profession | merchant |
| Religion | - |
Cornelis de Graeff (Oct 15, 1599 - May 4, 1664) was a famous mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the sudden death of stadholder William II of the Netherlands. In the mid 17th century he controlled the city's finances and politics, in close cooperation with his uncle Johan de Witt. He opposed the house of Orange and was the moderate successor to the republican Andries Bicker. De Graeff was also the founder of a regent family that retained power and influence for centuries and produced a number of ministers. He was a freeman of Zuidpolsbroek and an Ambachtsheer (Lord of the Manor) in Sloten, near Amsterdam.
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[edit] Family
Cornelis de Graeff was the son of Jacob de Graeff Dircksz., and grew up in the Niezel, a small street not far from the Oude Kerk. He was crippled for life in the left arm by a childhood accident, as can be seen in his painting. At twenty he went to Paris and in 1633 he married Geertruid Overlander (1609-1634), whose brother-in-law was Frans Banning Cocq, the captain in Rembrandt's Night Watch. She died only a few months later and he remarried with Catharina Hooft, nineteen years younger and his first wife's cousin (her mother was another Geertruid Overlander, 1577-1653, the sister of Catharina's father).[1] The married couple inhabited a fine building with precious woodwork, not far from the city hall, at what is now Herengracht 216. Cornelis de Graeff and his younger brother Andries the Graeff - who after Cornelis's death succeeded him as mayor - busied themselves with art and genealogy, working on their lineage. Of his five brothers and sisters, four married a Bicker, who also originated from the Niezel. Around 1650, De Graeff founded a country house, now known as the Palace Soestdijk, which was later sold by his son to stadholder William III of the Netherland in 1674.
[edit] Career
Cornelis was a merchant and administrator of the VOC, and from 1639 a member of the vroedschap and from 1643-62 mayor ten times (by turn as magnificus, or chairing mayor with the deciding vote) in the difficult times of the First Stadhouderless Era.
He began as a captain at the schutterij, and it was his company was that painted in 1642 by Jacob Adriaenszoon Backer (to be seen in the Rijkmuseum Amsterdam). In the failed attack on Amsterdam in 1650, De Graeff realised that Andries, Cornelis and the other Bickers had to leave the vroedschap. De Graeff was one of the prime movers behind the Act of Seclusion, in which William III, Prince of Orange was excluded from the office of Stadtholder.
In 1648 De Graeff was one of the main figures behind the building of a new city hall on the Dam, that was inaugurated in 1655. He reached the height of his power as chairing mayor of Amsterdam, together with Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen. Cornelis de Graeff was brilliant not only in living languages, but also in Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, Syrian and Arabic. He never went to church, but only for political reasons. It was probably due to his influence that Nieuwe Kerk was built without a tower. He was the patron of Vondel and Jan Vos and commissioned eight paintings from Govert Flinck for the city hall.
Amsterdam was at the high point of her power and in 1656 mounted an expedition under Michiel de Ruyter to the Mediterranean Sea and - in Charles X Gustaaf of Sweden's war against Poland - another under Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam to the Baltic Sea. Fortunately for the Netherlands, this war ended in Danzig being declared neutral. The four strong-headed mayors decided to send Coenraad van Beuningen to Copenhagen to incite Denmark into a war against Sweden. To everyone's amazement, in the middle of the winter the Swedish king crossed over from Jutland, across the Great Belt, to Copenhagen. In a second expedition to relieve Copenhagen, Witte de With participated in the Battle of the Sound. Amsterdam - under de Graeff - was prepared to begin the fight against Sweden, against the advice of the Grand Pensionarys. When Charles X unexpectedly died in 1660, Sweden made peace. Amsterdam sent also admiral Michiel de Ruyter against the English, against the orders of the parliament of the Netherlands. Despite these differences in approach with De Witt, he and De Graeff stayed on good terms. De Witt in 1660 observed of Cornelis: "with the gentleman of Zuidpolsbroek, in nothing was to do something".
[edit] Historiography
De Graeff communicated in a soft and exemplary way and was honest and open, a novelty for the young republic, and felt that it was De Witt who had brought Amsterdam and its interests to their present good fortune. Also De Graeff never drove Amsterdam's affairs onto the rocks, but had a good eye for the interests of the other towns of Holland and avoided a mode of power- politics that would have left Amsterdam isolated.
[edit] Aims
Brugmans states that De Graeff's aims were nearly always administrative and political - the power of Amsterdam in Holland, and the power of the Republic, was only as great as their social power, including the limitation of the power of the house of Orange.[1] One point, however, is emphasised by Brugmans - that only De Graeff (out of all Amsterdam's politicians) was ever elected grand pensionary and then entirely successful in pleasing Amsterdam. The regent's descendent Adriaen Pauw was also elected as such in 1651.
[edit] Death
Cornelis's tomb chapel is to be found of in the Oude Kerk, and on his death the cunning Gillis Valckenier took over his role on the council.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Brugmans, H. (1973) Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Deel III Bloeitijd, 1621-1697, p. 159-67.
[edit] Literature
- Dudok van Heel, S.A.C.(1995) Op zoek naar Romulus & Remus. Een zeventiende-eeuws onderzoek naar de oudste magistraten van Amsterdam. Jaarboek Amstelodamum, p. 43-70.
- Kernkamp, G.W. (1977) Prins Willem II 1626-1650, p. 107-110.
