Jan van Olden Barneveldt

Jan van Olden Barneveldt (1547-1619), Dutch statesman, born in Amersfoort, and educated as a lawyer. During the Dutch revolt (1568-1648) against Spanish rule he attained prominence as a militant fighter for independence. He became grand pensionary, or prime minister, of Rotterdam in 1576, and in 1579 he helped promote the Union of Utrecht; he was instrumental in persuading Holland and Zeeland to accept the leadership of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. After William's assassination in 1584 Barneveldt successfully supported William's son, Maurice of Nassau, as stadtholder and captain general of Holland. In 1586 Barneveldt became grand pensionary of the province of Holland, the most influential member of the Union. The chief accomplishment of his subsequent political career was the conclusion in 1609 of a 12-year truce with Spain in which the independence of the Netherlands was recognized. In negotiating this pact, which was favoured by the Dutch Republican party and mercantile class, he incurred the enmity of a powerful anti-Spanish faction, including Maurice and the Calvinist clergy, who felt that the Spanish would take advantage of the peace to strengthen their forces. The consequent controversy merged with the current religious conflict between Arminianism and Calvinism, in which Barneveldt and the republicans supported the former. In August 1617, at the height of the strife, the Holland provincial legislature voted, at his urging, to boycott a national synod that had been convoked by the States-General, the legislative body of the Netherlands. In retaliation against this move and other defiant gestures by the Holland legislature, the States-General ordered Maurice and a contingent of troops into the province. The Hollanders offered no resistance, and Barneveldt and his closest colleagues were arrested. He was brought to trial before a commission especially appointed by the States-General in February 1619 and was illegally convicted of treason on May 12 after a trial in which he was denied a lawyer. He was beheaded the next day.