Influence (prins van Oranje), Cornelis de Graeff, heer van Zuid-Polsbroek,
Joan Huydecoper van Maarseveen (I),
Jan van de Poll (1597-1678) and
Hendrick Dircksz. Spiegel. (silver penning by
Wouter Muller, 1655) Both brothers Cornelis and
Andries de Graeff were very critical of the
Orange family’s influence. Together with the Republican political leader
Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, the De Graeff brothers strived for the abolition of
stadtholdership. They desired the full sovereignty of the individual regions in a form in which the
Republic of the United Seven Netherlands was not ruled by a single person. Instead of a sovereign (or stadtholder) the political and military power was lodged with the States General and with the regents of the cities in Holland. During the two decades the De Graeff family had a leading role in the Amsterdam administration, the city was at the peak of its political power. This period was also referred to by Republicans as the ‘Ware Vrijheid’ (True Freedom). It was the
First Stadtholderless Period which lasted from 1650 to 1672. During these twenty years, the regents from Holland and in particular those of Amsterdam, controlled the republic. The city was flush with self-confidence and liked to compare itself to the famous Republic of Rome. Even without a stadtholder, things seemed to be going well for the Republic and its regents both politically and economically.
Big politics City hall Op de Dam in 1648, painted by
Barend Wijnveld Jr. (19th century) In 1648, Cornelis de Graeff, together with his second cousin
Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, initiated the construction of the new
stadhuis (the
new city hall) on the Dam, today's Paleis op de Dam, that was inaugurated in 1655. In the Golden Age, rulership of the state was in the hands of regents and powerful merchants. Material wealth was considered God's grace and established the power of the estates. The model was the noble
Republic of Venice, which is why they created their building based on the Venetian
Doge's Palace, which was considered the republican center of the republic and the seat of the mayor, the regent. His son Jacob de Graeff laid the foundation stone together with Gerbrand Pancras, Sybrant Valckenier and Pieter Schaep. His silver shovel decorated with his coat of arms is still in the collections of
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. Poet
Joost van den Vondel wrote his poem
Bouwzang for this occasion. Van den Vondel also dedicated a poem in praise of his mentor and initiator of the building, Cornelis de Graeff, to this event. The history of the origins and the year of this first laying of the stone was recorded in Latin script by De Graeff on a black marble slab in one of the courtrooms: • ''On October 29, 1648, the year that ended the war that the united Low German peoples had waged on land and sea in almost all parts of the world for more than 80 years with the three powerful Philip, the kings of Spain, on land and at sea in almost all parts of the world for more than 80 years, after national freedom and freedom of belief were secured, during the government of the excellent mayors Gerb. Pancras, Jac. de Graef, Sib. Valchenier Pet. Schaep, the mayor's sons and blood relatives laid the foundation for this town hall by laying the foundation stone.'' In between, Cornelis de Graeff bought the burial place in Amsterdam's
Oude Kerk for himself and his descendants. In the center of the stained glass windows of the De Graeffs' baptistery are the coats of arms of Cornelis and his wife Catharina Hooft.
Peace of Münster and afterwards In 1648 Cornelis de Graeff was one of the prime movers behind the
Peace of Münster. In the failed attack on Amsterdam in 1650, he realised that Andries,
Cornelis and the other
Bickers had to leave the
vroedschap. He firced the
Act of Seclusion in 1654, in which William III was excluded from the office of Stadtholder.
War between Sweden and Poland Amsterdam and De Graeff were at the high point of their power and in 1656 mounted an expedition under
Michiel de Ruyter to the
Mediterranean Sea and - in
Charles X Gustav of Sweden's
war against Poland - another under
Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam to the
Baltic Sea. Fortunately for the Netherlands, this war ended in
Danzig being declared neutral. The four strong-headed mayors decided to send
Coenraad van Beuningen to Copenhagen to incite Denmark into a war against Sweden. To everyone's amazement, in the middle of the winter the Swedish king crossed over from Jutland, across the
Great Belt, to Copenhagen. In a second expedition to relieve Copenhagen,
Witte de With participated in the
Battle of the Sound. Cornelis de Graeff was prepared to begin the fight against Sweden, against the advice of the
Grand Pensionarys. When Charles X unexpectedly died in 1660, Sweden made peace. Amsterdam sent also admiral
Michiel de Ruyter against the English, against the orders of the parliament of the Netherlands. Despite these differences in approach with De Witt, he and De Graeff stayed on good terms. De Witt in 1660 observed of Cornelis: "with the gentleman of Zuidpolsbroek, in nothing was to do something".
William III of Orange , painted by
Thomas de Keyser and
Jacob van Ruisdael (1656-1660). In 1657, De Graeff and De Witt mediated the "
Treaty of Raalte", in which
William III of Orange passed the stadholdership of
Overijssel. On 25 September 1660 the
States of Holland under the prime movers of De Witt, De Graeff, his younger brother
Andries de Graeff and
Gillis Valckenier resolved to take charge of Willem III of Oranges education to ensure he would acquire the skills to serve in a future—though undetermined—state function. During the summers the family spent a lot of their time at the
Palace Soestdijk, and the sons of De Graeff played with the young William - who became later King of England, Scotland and Ireland and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands - at the lake and woods at
Palace Soestdijk. After the
rampjaar his son Jacob sold it to stadholder William III. .
The Dutch Gift In 1660 the
Dutch Gift was organized by the regents, especially the powerful brothers Cornelis and Andries de Graeff. The sculptures for the gift were selected by the pre-eminent sculptor in the Netherlands,
Artus Quellinus, and
Gerrit van Uylenburgh, the son of Rembrandt's dealer
Hendrick van Uylenburgh, advised the States-General on the purchase. The Dutch Gift was a collection of 28 mostly Italian Renaissance paintings and 12 classical sculptures, along with a yacht, the Mary, and furniture, which was presented to
King Charles II of England by the States-General of the Netherlands in 1660. Most of the paintings and all the Roman sculptures were from the
Reynst collection, the most important seventeenth-century Dutch collection of paintings of the Italian sixteenth century, formed in Venice by
Jan Reynst (1601–1646) and extended by his brother,
Gerrit Reynst (1599–1658). The gift reflected the taste Charles II shared with his father,
Charles I, whose large collection, one of the most magnificent in Europe, had mostly been sold abroad after he was executed in 1649. The collection was given to him to mark his return to power in the
English Restoration, before which Charles had spent many years in exile in the Dutch Republic during the rule of the
English Commonwealth. It was intended to strengthen diplomatic relations between England and the Republic, but only a few years after the gift the two nations would be at war again in the
Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–1667. ==Death==