Hieronymus van Beverningh
Encyclopedia
Gouda
Gouda is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes, and 15th-century city hall....
, April 25, 1614 – Oud Teylingen,October 30, 1690) was a prominent 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...
regent
Regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...
, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, amateur botanist, and maecenas, who lived during the Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...
.
Early life
Beverningh was the son of Melchior Beverningh, a captain in the army of the Dutch RepublicDutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
and Sibilla Standert. His grandfather, Johan Beverningh, was a Prussian officer who had taken a commission in the Dutch army and reached the rank of lt.-general of artillery.
He studied at the Latin school in his birthplace Gouda under Jacobus Hovius and at the University of Leiden. After his studies he made the usual "grand tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
" of a Dutch gentleman to France. He married Johanna le Gillon on April 4, 1655, a marriage that was to remain childless.
Beverningh was coopted in the Gouda vroedschap
Vroedschap
The vroedschap was the name for the city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a vroedman, literally a "wise man"...
and elected schepen
Schepen
A schepen is a Dutch word referring to a municipal civic office in Dutch-speaking countries. The term is still in use in Belgium, but it has been replaced by wethouder in the Netherlands. The closest English terms are alderman, member of the municipal executive, councillor and magistrate,...
in 1645. The very next year he was sent as a deputy to the States of Holland
States of Holland
The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates to the court of the Count of Holland...
. In 1651 he represented the province of Holland in the Groote Vergadering (the "Great Assembly", a kind of constitutional assembly) of that year, which inaugurated the First Stadtholderless Period
First Stadtholderless Period
The First Stadtholderless Period or Era is the period in the history of the Dutch Republic in which the office of a Stadtholder was absent in five of the seven Dutch provinces...
in the Republic. In 1653 (the year in which Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid 17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age...
became Grand Pensionary
Grand Pensionary
The Grand Pensionary was the most important Dutch official during the time of the United Provinces. In theory he was only a civil servant of the Estates of the dominant province among the Seven United Provinces: the county of Holland...
) Beverningh was made a member of the Holland delegation in the States-General of the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
. De Witt and he were to become close associates.
The Peace of Westminster and the Act of Seclusion
De Witt would have been happy to have a sent a single negotiator, but the other provinces would not agree, so together with another Holland Regent, Willem Nieuwpoort, and representatives of the provinces of Zeeland (Paulus van der Perre) and Friesland (Allard Pieter Jongestal), Beverningh was sent as a plenipotentiaryPlenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
to the English Commonwealth to negotiate the Treaty of Westminster (1654)
Treaty of Westminster (1654)
The Treaty of Westminster was signed on 8 May 1654, which ended the First Anglo-Dutch War . Based on the terms of the accord, the United Provinces recognized Oliver Cromwell's Navigation Acts, which required that imports to the Commonwealth of England must be carried in English ships, or ships from...
that was to end the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
. The already complicated negotiations were made more difficult when they reached an apparent impasse over the English demand that the young Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
(three years of age at the time) would be excluded from the offices that his father and other ancestors had held in the Republic, like that of Stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Holland and Zeeland, and Captain general
Captain General
Captain general is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...
of the Union. To De Witt, and his States-Party faction of Holland regents this demand was not unacceptable, but they knew that the other provinces would consider it an intolerable intervention in Dutch internal affairs. To overcome this obstacle to a peace that both parties by now strongly desired De Witt therefore engaged in a brazen intrigue. He secretly arranged that the two Holland negotiators would engage in surreptitious parallel negotiations with Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
behind the back of Jongestal (Van der Perre had died by that time).
Cromwell and Beverningh agreed to a secret annex to the draft treaty, that would become known as the Act of Seclusion
Act of Seclusion
The Act of Seclusion is a secret annex in the Treaty of Westminster between the United Provinces and the Commonwealth of England in which William III, Prince of Orange, was excluded from the office of Stadtholder...
. This Act was to be solely signed and ratified by the States of Holland, without the knowledge of the other Dutch provinces. It contained the solemn undertaking of the States of Holland that they would never appoint William stadtholder in their province, and would bar his appointment to high federal office in the Republic. After the States General ratified the treaty, without the secret annex, the States of Holland convened in secret session a few days later to discuss the secret annex. It was ratified over the objection of five Orangist
Orangism (Netherlands)
Orangism is a monarchist political support for the House of Orange-Nassau as monarchy of the Netherlands. It played a significant role in the political history of the Netherlands since the Dutch revolt...
cities by the States, and the instrument of ratification was sent to Beverningh in London, however with the instruction not to hand it over, unless it was absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, the clerk of De Witt, Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van Polsbroek was the most illustrious member of the De Graeff family. He was a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the sudden death of stadholder William II of Orange...
and Jan van Messem, betrayed the secret existence of the Act to the stadtholder of Friesland, William's kinsman Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz
Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz
Willem Frederik , Count of Nassau-Dietz, Stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe.-Family Life:...
. The Frisian States now demanded an inquiry in the States General into the conduct of Beverningh and the other negotiators. The States-General instructed the negotiators to hand over their papers, including the instrument of ratification unless that no longer was in their possession. De Witt, always a master of the legalistic phrase, was the author of this clause. He also persuaded the States-General to send the instruction in cipher, under a letter in plaintext in his own hand, warning Beverningh of what was afoot. Thus forewarned Beverningh immediately handed over the instrument of ratification to Cromwell, while the instructions were still laboriously being deciphered by the Dutch delegation. He therewith confronted the States-General with a fait accompli.
The resulting scandal was eventually laid to rest, but the States of Friesland blocked Beverningh's appointment as thesaurier-generaal (Treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
) of the Union, that was first proposed by Holland in 1654, until 1657 (during which time the function was formally left vacant).
Later official career
Besides his office of Treasurer, which he would fulfil till 1665, and that of representative in the States-General, Beverningh regularly undertook important diplomatic missions for the Republic. The most important were his negotiations with the Elector of BrandenburgFrederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...
in 1665 about an alliance during the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
and the peace negotiations with the Elector of Munster in the same year. In 1667 he led the Dutch delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Breda that ended that war with England. In 1668 he helped negotiate the Triple Alliance (1668) and the ensuing Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle or Treaty of Aachen was signed on May 2, 1668 in Aachen. It ended the war of Devolution between France and Spain. It was mediated by the Triple Alliance of England, the Dutch Republic and Sweden at the first Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle...
. In 1674 he led the Dutch delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Westminster (1674)
Treaty of Westminster (1674)
The Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Signed by the Netherlands and England, it provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England and renewed the Treaty of Breda of 1667...
that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo–Dutch War or Third Dutch War was a military conflict between England and the Dutch Republic lasting from 1672 to 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War...
. Finally, in 1678 he helped negotiate the Treaty of Nijmegen that ended the Franco-Dutch War
Franco-Dutch War
The Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War was a war fought by France, Sweden, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and England against the United Netherlands, which were later joined by the Austrian Habsburg lands, Brandenburg and Spain to form a quadruple alliance...
Meanwhile, he was appointed schout
Schout
In Dutch-speaking areas, a schout was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period.- Functions:...
and later burgemeester of his native city. He acted as gedeputeerde-te-velde (a kind of political commissar
Political commissar
The political commissar is the supervisory political officer responsible for the political education and organisation, and loyalty to the government of the military...
) at the headquarters of William III in the campaign against the French during the Year of Disaster
Rampjaar
The rampjaar was the year 1672 in Dutch history. In that year,the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was after the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War attacked by England, France, and the prince-electors Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster and Maximilian Henry of...
, 1672. After the popular revolution that brought William to power as stadtholder, and brought about the fall of the De Witt regime, Beverningh quickly changed sides from the States party (of which he had been a prominent exponent) and joined the new regime. He was one of the Gouda regents who welcomed the new stadtholder at a festive banquet in the city.
Final years
After he had negotiated a commercial treaty with Sweden in 1679, he retired from public life. He had been appointed a regent of Leiden University in 1673. In these later years he embarked on a scientific career that would bring him plaudits from such luminaries as Carl Linnaeus, who would later credit the discovery of a nasturtiumNasturtium
Tropaeolum , commonly known as Nasturtium literally "nose-twister" or "nose-tweaker"), is a genus of roughly 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants and the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae...
(Tropaeus majus) to him. He maintained a botanical garden at his estate Oud-Teylingen (or Lokhorst) not far from Leiden that contained many rare plants. This garden inspired the German botanist Jacobus Breynius to write his Prodromus fasciculi rariorum plantarum in Hortis Hollandiae (vol. I 1680, vol. II, 1689), which he dedicated to Beverningh.
Beverningh also acted as a maecenas, enabling the Dutch botanist Paul Herman to travel to the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, a journey that resulted in his Paradisus Batavus (1698), a standard work about orchids. He helped finance the purchase of the library of Isaac Vossius
Isaac Vossius
Isaak Vossius, sometimes anglicised Isaac Voss was a Dutch scholar and manuscript collector.-Life:...
for the Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library
Leiden University Library is a library founded in 1575 in Leiden, Netherlands. It is regarded as a significant place in the development of European culture: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment...
.
While helping to catalog this library, Beverningh fell ill (possibly after he fell off a stepladder). He died at his estate after a short illness in October, 1690. He was buried in the tomb he had bought in 1668 from the Blois-van-Treslong family, in the Janskerk (Gouda)
Janskerk (Gouda)
The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the UNESCO list of Dutch monuments.-History:...
.