Aagje Deken
Encyclopedia
Amstelveen
' is a suburban municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the following villages and/or districts: Amstelveen, Bovenkerk, Westwijk, Bankras-Kostverloren, Groenelaan, Waardhuizen,...
, 1741 - The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, 14 November 1804) was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
writer.
Agatha Deken was born in 1741. In 1745 her parents died and she went to live in the 'De Oranje Appel' orphanage in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where she remained until 1767. After leaving the orphanage she served in several families and later started a business in coffee and tea. In 1769 she joined the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
community in Amsterdam.
At the age of 29 she moved in with her friend Maria Bosch as a nurse. Maria Bosch died in 1773.
In 1775 she published the collection of poems Stichtelijke gedichten, which she had written together with Maria Bosch.
1776 saw the beginning of a correspondence between Aagje Deken and Betje Wolff
Betje Wolff
Elizabeth Wolff-Bekker was a Dutch writer.On 18 November 1759 she married the 52-year-old clergyman Adriaan Wolff. In 1763 she published her first collection Bespiegelingen over het genoegen...
, who had already published several works by that time. In October of that year they met for the first time.
After the death of Betje's husband, the two women lived together.
In September 1777 they published their first joint work: Brieven ('Letters').
In 1781 Deken inherited a sum of 13.000 guilders and they went to live in a mansion in Beverwijk
Beverwijk
Beverwijk is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast...
. They published the successful novel Sara Burgerhart and Historie van den heer Willem Leevend.
Not quite at ease with the political situation in the Netherlands, when the Patriots (faction)
Patriots (faction)
The Patriots were a political faction in the Dutch Republic in the second half of the 18th century. They were led by Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, gaining power from November 1782....
lost power, they moved to Trëoux in Burgundy in 1788. In 1789 Wandelingen door Bourgogne ('Walks in Burgundy') appeared.
In financial straits, they returned to the Netherlands in 1797 and lived in The Hague.
Aagje Deken died on 14 November 1804, nine days after Betje Wolff. Both were buried in Scheveningen.