Johan de Witt
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Johan de Witt or Jan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere (24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672) was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid-17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt controlled the Netherlands political system from around 1650 until shortly before his death in 1672 working with various factions from nearly all the major cities, especially his hometown, Dordrecht, and the city of birth of his wife, Amsterdam. As a republican he opposed the House of Orange and, along with his brother Cornelis de Witt, was murdered by Orangists.
Death
During 1672, which the Dutch refer to as the "year of disaster" or rampjaar, France and England attacked the Republic during the Franco-Dutch War and the Orangists took power by force and deposed de Witt. Recovering from an earlier attempt on his life in June, he was lynched by an organized mob after visiting his brother Cornelis in prison.
After the arrival of Johan de Witt, the city guard was sent away on a pretext to stop farmers who were supposedly engaged in pilfering. Without any protection against the assembled mob, the brothers were dragged out of the prison and killed next to a nearby scaffold. Immediately after their deaths, the bodies were mutilated and fingers, toes, and other parts of their bodies were cut off. Other parts of their bodies were allegedly eaten by the mob (or taken elsewhere, cooked and then allegedly eaten). The heart of Cornelis de Witt was exhibited for many years next to his brother's by one of the ringleaders, the silversmith Hendrik Verhoeff.
Today some historians believe that his adversary and successor as leader of the government, stadtholder William III of Orange, was involved in the de Witt brothers' deaths. At the very least he protected and rewarded their killers. The ringleaders were Johan Kievit, his brother-in-law Cornelius Tromp and Johan van Banchem.
Johan de Witt in popular culture
The lynching of the De Witt brothers is depicted with a dramatic intensity in the first four chapters of The Black Tulip, a historical fiction novel written by Alexandre Dumas, père in 1850, and this event has implications for the whole plot line of the book.
In its time, Dumas's book helped make this tragedy known to a French readership (and a readership in other countries into whose languages the book was translated) who were otherwise ignorant of Dutch history.
The important role of Johan de Witt in Dutch politics and his murder was subject of the 2015 film Michiel de Ruyter.
See also
