From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old Dutch patrician and regenten family
De Witt
De Wit, De Witte, De With
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Country
| Netherlands
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Founded
| 13th century
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Founder
| Jan de Witte
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Titles
| none
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Style(s)
| Vrijheer van Jaarsveld, Heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere
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De Witt
(also: De Wit, De Witte and De With) is the name of an old Dutch
patrician
and
regenten
family. Originally from
Dordrecht
, the genealogy of the family begins with Jan de Witte, a patrician who lived around 1295.
[1]
[2]
The family have played an important role during the
Dutch Golden Age
. They were at the centre of Dordrecht and
Holland
oligarchy from the end of the 16th century until 1672,
[3]
and belonged to the
Dutch States Party
.
The De Witt family during the Dutch Golden Age
[
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]
During the
Dutch Golden Age
, the
republican
de Witt family opposed the
royalists
associated with the
House of Orange-Nassau
. With other republican political leaders at Dordrecht, such as the van Slingelandts, and at Amsterdam with the
Bicker
and
de Graeff
families, the de Witts worked to abolish
stadtholdership
. They sought full sovereignty for individual regions, so that the
Republic of the United Seven Netherlands
would not yield to authoritarianism. Instead of a sovereigns (or stadtholder), political and military power would be entrusted to the States General and Holland's city
regents
.
From 1650 into the 1670s, the de Witts played leading roles in Dutch government. Republicans called this era the
Ware Vrijheid
(True Freedom), the
First Stadtholderless Period
.
[3]
The de Witt family lost its leadership role in
Rampjaar
1672, when
Orangists
resumed leadership and murdered brothers
Johan
and
Cornelis de Witt
.
Family members (selection)
[
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]
- Jan Godschalksz die Witte (1335-), mayor of Dordrecht in 1375
- Cornelis Fransz de Witt (1545?1622), mayor and regent of Dordrecht, member of the
States of Holland and West Friesland
- Jacob Fransz de Witt
(1548?1621), mayor of Dordrecht, member of the States of Holland
- Andries de Witt
(1573?1637),
Grand Pensionary
of
Holland
- Johan de Witt
(1618?1676), Burgemeester and regent of Dordrecht
- Jacob de Witt
(1589?1674), mayor and regent of Dordrecht, member of the States of Holland
- Cornelis de Witt
(1623?1672), mayor and regent of Dordrecht,
ruwaard
or
governor
of the land of
Putten
, deputy of the States to the Dutch Navy during the
Second Anglo-Dutch War
- Johan de Witt
(1625?1672),
heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere
, Grand Pensionary of Holland
- Johan de Witt Jr.
(1662?1701),
heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere
, secretary of the city of
Dordrecht
- Cornelis Johansz de Witt
(1696?1769),
vrijheer van
Jaarsveld
, Burgemeester of Dordrecht, member of the States of Holland
- The early 19th Century American politician
DeWitt Clinton
was descended from the Dutch De Witt family, via his mother Mary De Witt (1737?1795)
[4]
[
verification needed
]
Notes
[
edit
]
Literature
[
edit
]
- Sypesteyn, C.A. van,
De geslachten De Witt te Dordrecht en te Amsterdam
in: De Nederlandsche heraut. Tijdschrift op het gebied van geslacht-, wapen- en zegelkunde jrg. 3 (1886 's-Gravenhage; C. van Doorn & zoon).
- Panhusen, Luc (2005)
De Ware Vrijheid, De levens van Johan en Cornelis de Witt
, Atlas
- Rowen, Herbert H. (1986)
John de Witt ? Statesman of the True Freedom“
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-52708-2
.
- Folting, H.P.,
De landsadvocaten en raadpensionarissen der Staten van Holland en West-Friesland 1480?1795. Een genealogische benadering. Deel III
in: Jaarboek Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie. Deel 29 (1975 Den Haag; Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie).
- Israel, Jonathan I. (1995)
The Dutch Republic ? Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall ? 1477?1806
Clarendon Press, Oxford,
ISBN
978-0-19-820734-4
.
About homonym family
[
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]