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Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Lord of Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613) (September 14, 1547, Amersfoort – May 13, 1619, The Hague) was a Dutch statesman who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. Van Oldenbarnevelt studied law at Leuven, Bourges, Heidelberg and Padua, and traveled in France and Italy before settling in The Hague. He was a Calvinist, he supported William the Silent in his revolt against Spain, and fought in William's army. On March 16, 1586, van Oldenbarnevelt, in succession to Paulus Buys, became Land's Advocate of Holland for the States of Holland,
an office he held for 32 years. This great office, given to a man of
commanding ability and industry, offered unbounded influence in a
multi - headed republic without any central executive authority. Though
nominally the servant of the States of Holland, Oldenbarnevelt made
himself the political personification of the province which bore more
than half the entire charge of the union. As mouthpiece of the
States - General, he practically dominated the assembly. In a brief
period, he became entrusted with such large and far - reaching authority
in all details of administration, that he became the virtual Prime minister of the Dutch republic. During
the two critical years following the withdrawal of Leicester, the
Advocate's statesmanship kept the United Provinces from collapsing under
their own inherent separatist tendencies. This prevented the United
Provinces from becoming an easy conquest for the formidable army of Alexander of Parma. Also of good fortune for the Netherlands, the attention of Philip II of Spain was at its greatest weakness, instead focused on a contemplated invasion of England.
Spain's lack of attention coupled with the United Province's lack of
central, organized government allowed Oldenbarnevelt to gain control of
administrative affairs. His task was made easier by receiving
whole - hearted support from Maurice of Nassau, who, after 1589, held the
office of Stadholderate of five provinces. He was also Captain - General and Admiral of the Union. The
interests and ambitions of Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice did not clash.
Indeed, Maurice's thoughts were centered on training and leading armies,
and he had no special capacity as a statesman or desire for politics.
Their first rift between them came in 1600, when Maurice was forced against
his will by the States - General, under the Advocate's influence, to
undertake a military expedition to Flanders. The expedition was saved from disaster by desperate efforts that ended in victory at the Nieuwpoort. In 1598, Oldenbarnevelt took part in special diplomatic missions to Henry IV and Elizabeth, and again in 1605 in a special mission sent to congratulate James I on his accession. The opening of negotiations by Albert and Isabel in 1606 for a peace or long truce led to a great division of opinion in the Netherlands. The
archdukes having consented to treat with the United Provinces as free
provinces and states over which they had no pretensions, Oldenbarnevelt,
who had with him the States of Holland and the majority of the Regenten patriciate throughout the county, was for peace, provided that liberty of trading was conceded. Maurice and his cousin William Louis, stadholder of Friesland,
with the military and naval leaders and the Calvinist clergy, were
opposed to it, on the ground that the Spanish king was merely seeking a
repose to recuperate his strength for a renewed attack on the
independence of the Netherlands. For some three years the negotiations
went on, but at last after endless parleying, on 9 April 1609, a truce
for twelve years was concluded. All the Dutch demands were directly or
indirectly granted, and Maurice felt obliged to give a reluctant and
somewhat sullen assent to the favorable conditions obtained by the firm
and skillful diplomacy of the Advocate. The
immediate effect of the truce was a strengthening of Oldenbarnevelt's
influence in the government of the Dutch Republic, now recognized as a
free and independent state; external peace, however, was to bring with
it internal strife. For some years there had been a war of words between
the religious parties, the strict Calvinist Gomarists (or Contra - Remonstrants) and the more liberal Arminians. In 1610 the Arminians, henceforth known as Remonstrants, drew up a petition, known as the Remonstrance, in which they asked that their tenets (defined in the Five Articles of Remonstrance)
should be submitted to a national synod, summoned by the civil
government. It was no secret that this action of the Arminians was
taken with the approval and connivance of Oldenbarnevelt, who was an
upholder of the principle of toleration in religious opinions. The
Gomarists in reply drew up a Contra - Remonstrance in seven articles,
and called for a purely church synod. The whole land was henceforth
divided into Remonstrants and Contra - Remonstrants; the States of
Holland under the influence of Oldenbarnevelt supported the former, and
refused to sanction the summoning of a purely church synod (1613). They
likewise (1614) forbade the preachers in the Province of Holland to
treat the disputed subjects from their pulpits. Obedience was difficult
to enforce without military help. Riots broke out in certain towns, and
when Maurice was appealed to, as Captain ‐ General, he declined to act.
Though in no sense a theologian, he then declared himself on the side
of the Contra - Remonstrants, and established a preacher of that
persuasion in a church in The Hague (1617). The
Advocate now took a bold step. He proposed that the States of Holland
should, on their own authority, as a sovereign province, raise a local
force of 4000 men (waardgelders) to keep the peace. The
States - General, meanwhile, by a bare majority (4 provinces to 3) agreed
to the summoning of a national church synod. The States of Holland,
also by a narrow majority, refused their assent to this, and passed on
August 4, 1617 a strong resolution (Scherpe Resolutie) by which
all magistrates, officials and soldiers in the pay of the province were
on pain of dismissal required to take an oath of obedience to the States
of Holland, and were to be held accountable not to the ordinary
tribunals, but to the States of Holland. The
States ‐ General of the Republic saw this as a declaration of sovereign
independence on the part of Holland, and decided to take action. A
commission was appointed, with Maurice at its head, to compel the
disbanding of the waardgelders. On 31 July 1618 the Stadholder, at the head of a body of troops,
appeared at Utrecht, which had thrown in its lot with Holland. At his
order the local militias laid down their arms. His
progress through the towns of Holland met with no military opposition.
The States' sovereignty party was crushed without a battle being fought. On 23 August 1618, by order of the States - General, Oldenbarnevelt and his chief supporters, Hugo Grotius, Gilles van Ledenberg, Rombout Hogerbeets and Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, were arrested or lost their political positions in government. Oldenbarnevelt
was, with his friends, kept in strict confinement until November of
that year, and then brought for examination before a commission
appointed by the States - General. He appeared more than 60 times before
the commissioners and the whole course of his official life was severely
examined. During the period of inquest, he was neither allowed to
consult papers nor put his defense in writing. On
20 February 1619, Oldenbarnevelt was arraigned before a special court
of twenty - four members, only half of whom were Hollanders, and nearly
all of whom were personal enemies. This ad hoc judicial
commission was necessary, because, unlike in the individual provinces,
the federal government did not have a judicial branch. Normally the
accused would be brought before the Hof van Holland or the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland, the highest courts in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland; however, in this case, the alleged crime was against the Generaliteit,
or federal government, and required adjudication by the States - General,
acting as highest court in the land. As was customary in similar
cases (for instance, the later trial of the judges in the case of the Amboyna massacre),
the trial was delegated to a commission. Of course, the accused
contested the competence of the court, as they contested the residual
sovereignty of the States - General, but their protest was disregarded. It was in fact a kangaroo court,
and the stacked bench of judges on Sunday, 12 May 1619, pronounced a
death sentence on Oldenbarnevelt. On the following day, the old
statesman, at the age of seventy-one, was beheaded in the Binnenhof, in The Hague. Oldenbarnevelt's last words to the executioner were purportedly: "Make it short, make it short." The
States of Holland noted in their Resolution book on 13 May that
Oldenbarnevelt had been: "…a man of great business, activity, memory and
wisdom – yes, extra - ordinary in every respect." They added the cryptic sentence Die staet siet toe dat hij niet en valle which probably should be understood as a free Dutch translation of the old dictum sic transit gloria mundi, or possibly translated as "pride comes before the fall".
Oldenbarnevelt was married in 1575 to Maria van Utrecht. He left two sons; Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Groeneveld and Willem van Oldenbarnevelt,
lord of Stoutenburg, and two daughters. A conspiracy against the life
of Maurice, in which both sons of Oldenbarnevelt took part, was
discovered in 1623. Stoutenburg, who was the chief accomplice, made his
escape and entered the service of Spain; Groeneveld was executed.
The Nederland Line ship Johan van Oldenbarnevelt carried his name from 1930 to 1963. |