As its name suggests, the Haags Historisch Museum (The Hague Historical Museum) is dedicated to the history of that city in the Netherlands. Housed in a 17th-century guildhall, it educates visitors about the development of The Hague from its founding in the Middle Ages to the present day, including the commercial and cultural splendor of the Dutch Golden Age. Among its collection of around 7,500 items, the most unusual are, without a doubt, a human tongue and a human finger. These belonged, respectively, to Johan de Witt, the country’s political leader, and his brother Cornelis, who were lynched, dismembered, and partially eaten by an enraged mob incited by the political enemies of the victims.
In 1568, the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands (excluding what are now Belgium and Luxembourg), then part of the Spanish monarchy, rose up in arms against the governor, Margaret of Parma, half-sister of King Philip II, starting a long conflict known as the Eighty Years’ War. The conflict was driven by several factors, such as religious ones: the spread of Calvinism, local opposition to the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent, and the division of the four major bishoprics into fourteen dioceses, which negatively affected the noble-born holders of these positions.
There were also economic causes, as the rise in food prices due to the war between Sweden and Denmark-Norway was exploited by Calvinist iconoclasts to stir up unrest and attract part of the population. Meanwhile, the activities of English privateers made it difficult for funds to reach the Spanish Tercios by sea, and the imposition of the “tenth”, a tax designed precisely to address this problem, was met with widespread public resentment.
Finally, Spain’s determination to retain the region should be highlighted, not only because it was part of the inheritance that Philip II had received from his father but also for strategic reasons: Flanders’ location allowed Spain to control maritime access to Germany in the context of the struggle against Protestantism, provided a true forward base against England—as evidenced in the plan for the invasion of the Spanish Armada—and closed the ring around France in combination with the Holy Roman Empire.
The death of Philip III in 1621 and the succession of his son, Philip IV, marked a turning point in Spanish foreign policy, ending the Twelve Years’ Truce and resuming the war. Almost five years later, Maurice of Nassau, son of William of Orange, passed away and was succeeded in the rebel command by his half-brother Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau, who managed to reverse the course of the war, which had previously been in Spain’s favor, and began to tip the balance in his own favor. The new country, the Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden (“Republic of the Seven United Netherlands”), had functioned as an independent nation since 1581.
In 1625, the same year that the famous surrender of Breda to Ambrosio de Espínola took place, which Velázquez would immortalize in a painting in 1634—and which would be the last great Spanish victory—the mentioned Johan de Witt was born in Dordrecht. His father was Jacob de Witt, a timber merchant and local burgomaster, and his mother was Anna van den Corput, the niece of a famous military cartographer. They already had another son named Cornelis. It was an illustrious family, related to the Orange-Nassau and the Tromp, a dynasty of sailors.
Since his father had among his friends important scholars and scientists, such as Jacob Cats, Isaac Beekman, Andreas Colvius, and Gerhard Vossius, both brothers received an exquisite education, attending a latinsecheule or Latin school, a type of educational institution that prepared students for university by teaching Latin and the subjects of the Trivium (grammar, dialectics, rhetoric…). Thus, they were imbued with a classical spirit that exalted the values of the Roman Republic and opened the doors to Leiden University.
Johan excelled in mathematics and law. After finishing his studies, he undertook the traditional journey across Europe (Switzerland, England, France), earning his doctorate in Angers in 1645 and going on to practice law in The Hague. He did so at the firm of the prestigious Frans van Schooten (who was also a distinguished mathematician, the Dutch translator of Descartes’ La Géometrie), while Cornelis embarked on a political career as a councilor of Dordrecht. But he himself entered that world in 1650, when he was appointed pensionary (local governor) of his hometown and led the delegation that attended the States General of Holland and Friesland.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, after all, since his uncle Andries had been Raadpensionaris (Grand Pensionary, head of the government) of the County of Holland between 1619 and 1621. Andries promoted his leap to the same position in 1653, replacing Nicolaas Ruys and receiving support from Amsterdam through its burgomaster, Cornelis de Graeff, from whose family he would gain more than just a political post: a wife, as in 1655 Johan married Wendela Bicker, the daughter of magnate Johan Bicker and his wife, Agneta de Graeff. With her, he had three daughters and a son.
In this way, Johan became connected to the powerful Amsterdam oligarchy, which he turned into a convenient ally to continue advancing in politics. Since Holland was the most powerful of all the provinces, Johan de Witt became the de facto ruler of the entire country. He benefited from the fact that the last Stadtholder (Stadhouder, “lieutenant”, highest ruler), William II of Orange-Nassau, had died of smallpox in 1650 without a successor being named, as that position had proven susceptible to becoming a dictatorship.
In theory, Johan had no real power beyond the military authority characteristic of the Stadtholder. In practice, he acted as a prime minister, and he was often compared to a monarch abroad; the English, for example, referred to him as “King John”, and the same happened in Asian countries. He earned three thousand florins annually, twenty times the average worker’s salary, which he doubled in 1668—along with a substantial bonus to encourage him to continue—after offering his resignation, depressed by the death of his mother-in-law. He invested it in staatsobligatie (government bonds), which he controlled thanks to his position, amassing a fabulous fortune of nearly half a million florins.
Despite everything, he had a reputation for being incorruptible because he never accepted gifts or invitations. Moreover, he allowed others to also prosper; both those around him and the people themselves. Let’s not forget that the provinces were swimming in increasing abundance since the Dutch East India Company began its commercial activities, and this was maintained through an effective economic policy that followed the dictates of Interest van Holland (“The Interest of Holland”), a work by the lawyer Pieter de la Court that advocated free trade and republican government as tools for state success.
Johan, who had collaborated by writing several chapters and editing the work in 1662, stated that the death of William II was a golden opportunity to pay off the national debt and avoid bankruptcy. Not only did he achieve his goal, but the country became the world leader in trade and entered a period of splendor, which is why it’s not surprising that the book was translated into English and French, becoming a reference manual for ministers like Colbert and James Madison, and possibly a source of inspiration for Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations.
Another resource Johan de Witt employed was using his mathematical knowledge in finance. He was, after all, the author of treatises such as Elementa curvarum linearum (an appendix to Descartes’ La Géometrie) and Waardije van Lyf-renten naer Proportie van Los-renten (The Value of Life Annuities Compared to Redemption Bonds). The good results obtained led him to go further, using probability calculations to estimate interest percentages, something that backfired when he applied it to replace the fixed incomes paid to widows, leading to a loss of popularity.
Even so, he was so competent that after the Eighty Years’ War ended (in 1648), he worked diligently to use the wealth generated to pay the expenses and debts left by the conflict. Beyond that, he was a very hard-working and prolific politician who issued thousands of resolutions and knew how to negotiate international agreements. Thus, in 1654, he signed the Treaty of Westminster, which established peace with England after two years of confrontations over naval dominance, aiming to inaugurate an era of peace to avoid the economic difficulties arising from armed conflicts.
That treaty included a secret clause that reflected another of De Witt’s main political axes: the Act of Seclusion, which prohibited William II of Orange-Nassau’s son from being named the new Stadtholder, something Cromwell supported to prevent Holland from having a king who might back the Stuart restoration. As we mentioned earlier, the republican ideal prevailed, supported by the wealthy merchant class, which believed that monarchical interests were detrimental to the country, especially to Holland, which they considered above the other provinces.
These merchants formed what was called the States faction, a kind of party led by the De Witt and De Graeff families, opposed to the Orange faction, supported by artisans, reflecting the dichotomy between moderate and radical Calvinists. This second faction offered power to William III when he turned eighteen, but the government acted first by enacting the Perpetual Edict, which prohibited it and abolished the office. As expected, this earned Johan the hatred of the Orangists.
When the secret clause of the Treaty of Westminster became known, there was a scandal because it was rumored that Johan had accepted it to secure the release of his father, who had been imprisoned by William II. The serious riots that followed were fiercely repressed, although no vroedschap (council) dared to enforce the death penalty decreed by the government for the most prominent offenders. Thus, increasingly heated opposition from the Orangists against the government began to take shape. Then, in 1665, internal problems were compounded by external ones with the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
The reason was the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, two years after Cromwell’s death, in the person of Charles II. This was due not so much to political reasons as to economic ones: the respective fleets had clashed in the Gulf of Guinea over control of the slave trade, while the New England colonists (the colonies of what is now the USA) seized New Amsterdam from their Dutch neighbors (and renamed it New York). However, the conflict would not last more than two years, as the English found themselves facing an unexpectedly strong enemy.
During the previous decade, Johan de Witt had promoted the formation of a powerful navy, led by Admiral Jacob Van Wassenaer Obdam, a member of the State faction and a personal friend of his. Although the Royal Navy initially achieved a victory at the Battle of Lowestoft, the command then passed to Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, who replaced Obdam—killed in action—and changed the situation. This was a personal appointment by Johan, which earned him the eternal hatred of Cornelis Tromp, the admiral who was originally slated for the position.
Another incident that would cost him dearly was the execution of Henri de Fleury Coulan, husband of a granddaughter of his friend Jacob Cats. Better known as Henri Buat, he had accepted the role of mediator between the belligerent countries due to his debts and received a letter from English diplomat Gabriel Sylvius suggesting peace through the dismissal of De Witt and the appointment of William III as Stadtholder. Unfortunately, Buat mistakenly handed the document to De Witt, and even though it was clear he wasn’t responsible, he ended up on the scaffold after Johan pressured the judge to issue a death sentence.
Regardless, the catastrophic effects of the Great Plague of London and the devastating Great Fire of 1666 reduced the English ability to replace their lost ships, and Johan de Witt did not want to miss the opportunity. He organized a daring expedition, led by his brother Cornelis and De Ruyter, which sailed up the River Medway (a tributary of the Thames) with what the Dutch controversially consider the first marine infantry in the world, destroying several ships anchored in Chatham (Kent), capturing others as spoils of war, and spreading panic in the capital.
England capitulated, but Johan did not wish to humiliate her and, in 1667, he signed the Treaty of Breda, which restricted her maritime routes without blocking them. It was the same year that the Perpetual Edict abolished the office of Stadtholder. This was highly controversial, as the only province to vote in favor of the law was Holland, with the other six refusing, but since the appointment of a Stadtholder required the approval of all provinces, the six reluctant ones accepted a compromise solution: the incompatibility of the positions of governor and captain general, which, in practice, allowed the initiative to pass… and Johan de Witt continued to accumulate both praise and resentment in equal measure.
However, once you reach the top, you must endure the pushes of others, and now it was the turn of the rising new republic. France, under Louis XIV, was also at its peak, and in the absence of an heir for Charles II of Spain, it had begun a series of maneuvers to position the candidacy of Philip of Bourbon, grandson of the Sun King, as well as to anticipate a division of the Spanish Empire in which it aspired to seize the Spanish Netherlands. De Witt was not willing to allow this, as his land army was not on par with the navy, and he preferred that the Spanish maintain control of what amounted to a kind of buffer state.
To block the French plans, he signed the Triple Alliance with England and Sweden in 1668, which was initially intended as a mere deterrent. But the all-powerful Louis XIV had clear objectives, and in the following years, he managed to reverse the situation, signing a strategic agreement with the English: the Treaty of Dover, in which both countries became enemies of the Dutch Republic, joined by Sweden, Münster, and Cologne. The French king would cede some coastal towns in Zeeland to England.
All of this involved defeating and invading the Netherlands, with Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, and Brandenburg-Prussia aligning with them (the French plan was to get rid of Brandenburg-Prussia by ceding Pomerania, which the Swedes were to take over in exchange for a sum of money). So in 1672, the trumpets of war sounded again, and the entire framework Johan de Witt had built to maintain external peace collapsed. The Dutch fleet proved capable of repelling any enemy attack, so there was no danger from the sea; but on land, the French army was far superior and, in fact, captured several cities with little need for combat.
There was no choice but to introduce a defense measure as unusual as the so-called Waterlinie (“Water Line”): opening the sluices of the dikes and allowing the polders (land reclaimed from the sea for agricultural use) to flood. Not only did this fail to stop the enemy’s advance, but it also spread panic among the population, followed by chaos, hunger, and looting. Solutions were running out, and the Orangists refused to approve further military spending unless Prince William, who had come of age, was appointed captain-general. De Witt refused, but the Orangists achieved their goal, and William received command for one year.
Despite this, the approval of the increased budget and De Ruyter’s naval victories, the French seemed unstoppable, and that same year, peace negotiations began. France was offered an indemnity of ten thousand florins and the Generality Lands, predominantly Catholic territories with no voting rights because they were under the direct administration of the States General: Brabant, part of Flanders, Gelre, and Limburg, which included important cities like Breda and Maastricht.
The French rejected this, demanding, among other things, sixteen million pounds and the retention of the territory they had conquered so far. This increased popular agitation, duly stirred up by pamphlets published by the Orangist faction accusing the government of selling out the country, the admiral of surrendering the fleet, and so on. Tensions escalated, and on June 21, Johan de Witt survived an assassination attempt when four assailants stabbed him several times as he was returning from the Binnehof (the urban center of The Hague, where the seat of government was located) to his house, accompanied only by a servant.
He did not have an escort because he always presented himself publicly as a humble official who wasn’t above walking through the streets with his servant. He survived the assassination attempt, though he had to stay in bed for over a month (likely doubly concerned because in the meantime, there was also an attempt on his brother’s life). The assailants were soon identified: Jacob van der Graeff, son of a councilman of the same name who had helped impose the death penalty on Captain Buat; his brother Pieter; and their friends Adolph Borrebach and Cornelis de Bruyn. Only the first was arrested and beheaded on June 29.
That same day, the Orangists achieved their goals, taking advantage of Johan’s convalescence to abolish the Eternal Edict and appoint William III as Stadtholder. Cornelius de Witt, who had escaped his assassination attempt, was arrested on charges of plotting against the new ruler, and under the current law, which required a confession to issue a sentence, he was subjected to torture; however, he resisted. Cornelius was eventually acquitted, but he had to pay court costs and lost his official position. He was also ordered to be expelled from the province of Holland.
His brother Johan, now recovered, realized that his time had passed, and on August 4, resigned from his position as Grand Pensionary, preparing to join the Supreme Court. He never did because events tragically escalated when he received a letter from Cornelius, who had not yet been released, asking to see him. Johan went to the prison and was unable to leave; it was a trap. An aggressive crowd surrounded the building, overpowered the soldiers guarding it, and grew even more enraged when the man who had denounced Cornelius, a barber named Willem Tichelaar, incited them to take justice into their own hands.
Indeed, several individuals entered and forcibly removed the two brothers. Cornelius died from beatings with rifle butts and stabbings, while a notary wounded Johan in the face with a pike before a soldier shot him point-blank in the head, and he was kicked while on the ground. The corpses, hung naked from a gallows, were eventually castrated and dismembered, with many participants taking fingers, ears, tongues, noses, and lips as trophies. Then they were eviscerated, and, according to the poet Joachim Oudaan, who witnessed the events, some devoured the liver and intestines amidst a cannibalistic frenzy, while others took the remaining entrails to sell.
This is how Alexandre Dumas recounts it in his novel The Black Tulip:
Everyone wanted to take a drop of blood from the fallen hero and tear off a piece of his clothing. After having destroyed, torn apart, and completely stripped the two brothers, the mob dragged their naked bodies to an improvised gallows, where amateur executioners hung them by their feet. Then came the most cowardly rascals of all, who had not dared to wound the living flesh, to cut the dead piece and then go through the city selling small pieces of the bodies of Johan and Cornelius at ten sous per piece.
The silversmith Hendrick Verhoeff boasted of having kept his promise to rip out and take away their hearts. Years later, two of those macabrely removed parts, Johan’s tongue and Cornelius’ finger, became part of Nicolaes Witzen’s cabinet of curiosities, a cartographer, collector, and diplomat who was mayor of Amsterdam. They were later passed from hand to hand among Calvinists until they ended up in the collection of the Historical Museum of The Hague, as we mentioned at the beginning, and there they remain.
It is a subject of historiographical debate to what extent William III was involved, beyond his undeniable responsibility in spreading propaganda against Johan de Witt, as there is no evidence; however, Cornelis Tromp’s participation, that still resentful admiral, seems clear. Most modern historians lean towards implicating William, either directly (planning the crime) or by rewarding and protecting those responsible. Either way, the incident served to strengthen his new position and apply harsh repression against the opposing faction under the guise of restoring order, in addition to radically shifting the policies followed over the past two decades.
Furthermore, William III — who would later become King of England and Scotland — ended the French invasion by signing the Treaty of Nijmegen with Louis XIV, who returned what had been conquered in exchange for territorial compensations at the expense of Spain (Franche-Comté, Valenciennes, Ypres, Saint-Omer, Cassel, Maubeuge, and Câteau-Cambrésis), while Brandenburg effectively kept Pomerania. For all these events, 1672 was called Rampjaar (Year of Disaster).
It was especially so for Johan de Witt, whose life would have been different — certainly longer — had he devoted himself to mathematics instead of choosing politics; his contemporary, the astronomer Christiaan Huygens, claimed he would have been the best mathematician of his time.
This article was first published on our Spanish Edition on September 16, 2024: Cómo los holandeses se comieron a su primer ministro en 1672
SOURCES
Alejandro Dumas, El Tulipán Negro
Herbert Harvey Rowen, John de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, 1625-1672
James Geddes, History of the administration of John de Witt, grand pensionary of Holland
Herbert H. Rowen, John de Witt. Statesman of the ‘True Freedom’
Petris Johannes Blok, History of the people of the Netherlands
Jonathan I. Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585–1740
Wikipedia, Johan de Witt
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