Mattheus Lestevenon
Encyclopedia
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...
) was a city-secretary and 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 The term is still in use in Belgium, but it has been replaced by wethouder in the Netherlands.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 Amsterdam, then Dutch ambassador to France. Lestevenon played an important role in the year 1748 and in the negotiations for the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
. Pietro Locatelli
Pietro Locatelli
Pietro Antonio Locatelli was an Italian composer and violinist.-Biography:Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Italy. A child prodigy on the violin, he was sent to study in Rome under the direction of Arcangelo Corelli...
dedicated six violin sonatas to him.
Life
Lestevenon was born into a powerful regentRegenten
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...
family. His father was an administrator of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, heer
Heer
Heer is German for "army". Generally, its use as "army" is not restricted to any particular country, so "das britische Heer" would mean "the British army".However, more specifically it can refer to:*An army of Germany:...
of Strijen
Strijen
Strijen is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality, covering an area of 57.72 km² , is located on the Hoeksche Waard island along the Hollands Diep estuary.Strijen hosts a public library, swimming pool, a small shopping centre and...
and four-times mayor of Amsterdam (between 1722 and 1736). Gerrit de Graeff (I.) van Zuid-Polsbroek, vrijheer van Zuid-Polsbroek, was his brother in law. In 1729, he got a job as city-secretary. In all probability, someone else did the work and Lestevenon's earnings funded his studies.
After an inheritance from a late aunt, Lestevenon bought a palace at Lange Voorhout on the Hague, with 16 servants. Mattheus Lestevenon married Lady Catharina Windsor, a sister of Viscount Windsor
Viscount Windsor
Viscount Windsor is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland in 1699 when the Hon. Thomas Windsor was made Viscount Windsor, of Blackcastle. He was the younger son of Thomas Hickman-Windsor, 1st Earl of Plymouth, and notably represented Droitwich,...
in London in 1742 and went on honeymoon to Italy. His wife died of smallpox on the return trip. She was buried in Bockenheim on May 26. Mattheus again inherited "considerable wealth and goods" ("considerabel veel gelt en goet") on the death of his father in 1743. Lestevenon was appointed schepen of Amsterdam in 1745. He moved to the attractive building at Keizersgracht 444-446. Because he was not appointed as a successor to his father, it is supposed he was frustrated.
After the Pachtersoproer
Pachtersoproer
The pachtersoproer was a Dutch rebellion in the 18th century. The origin of the uprising was to be found in the economic malaise of the 1740s. It was the system of the rural tax-collection that brought serious complaints, combined with deep dissatisfaction at the way in which the regents and the...
(1748), the Doelisten invited prince William IV
William IV, Prince of Orange
William IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau , born Willem Karel Hendrik Friso, was the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands.-Early life:...
and requested to remove the inter-related regenten
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...
clique and to change the appointment of mayors. Of the forty mayors chosen between 1696–1748, only two (or, as some maintain, even just one) were not related to earlier mayors. Finally Lestevenon left the council of his own accord. The stadholder changed his opinion and more than half the men on the council got their seats back. Not long after that Mattheus Lestevenon was appointed ambassador to the court to Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
.
In 1743 he had married Maria Wilhelmina, baroness of der Duyn . His two children Maria Jacqueline and Willem Anne
Willem Anne Lestevenon
Anne Willem Lestevenon van Berkenrode was a Dutch politician and art collector.- Biography :...
were born in 1749 in Brussels and Paris respectively. On 8 June 1755 he divorced the baroness, probably while she conceived a child from an officer by the name M. De Villegagnon. Lestevenon next married Susanna Faulquier in an unknown year. He sold his house on Keizersgracht to Thomas Hope
Thomas Hope (1704-1779)
Thomas Hope was a Dutch banker and administrator of the VOC.-Family:The Hope family originally came from Scotland. Archibald Hope, the father of Thomas, was a Quaker who had eight sons. Archibald – along with his eldest son Archibald Jr. – played a principal part in trade in Rotterdam around 1720...
.
Little is known on his activities as ambassador. Mostly it involved meetings with La Vauguyon
Paul François de Quelen de la Vauguyon
Paul François de Quelen de La Vauguyon or Paul François de Quélen de Stuer de Caussade, duc de La Vauguyon was a French nobleman. He was governor of Cognac, after having been involved in the last campaigns of the Seven Years' War...
on finishing the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Fourth Anglo–Dutch War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, tangentially related to the American Revolutionary War, broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that...
(1780–1784). Mattheus Lestevenon died in 1797 in the Hague. His son meanwhile played an important role as a Patriot
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....
.