Coenraad van Beuningen
| Coenraad van Beuningen | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Coenraad van Beuningen in 1673
by Caspar Netscher |
|
| Born | 1622 Amsterdam, Dutch Republic |
| Died | 26 October 1693 Amsterdam, Dutch Republic |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Occupation | Diplomat, mayor, director |
Coenraad van Beuningen (1622 – Amsterdam, 26 October 1693) was the Dutch Republic's most experienced diplomat, burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1669, 1672, 1680, 1681, 1683 and 1684, and from 1681 a Dutch East India Company director. He probably was bi-polar, becoming unstable after the loss of his fortune in 1688.
Coenraad was baptized at home because his father Dirk van Beuningen and mother Catharina Burgh were Remonstrants and did not want to cause a fuss. He was the grandson of Geurt van Beuningen as well as of Albert C. Burgh, both mayors of Amsterdam and heavily involved in the Dutch East India Company. Coenraad grew up near the Sint Antoniesbreestraat in a very multi-religious and multi-ethnic neighborhood, next to Pieter Lastman. He was taught at the Latin school of Gerhard Johann Vossius and Barlaeus, before commencing studies at the University of Leiden in 1639. In 1642, Hugo de Groot, Swedish envoy in Paris, made Coenraad his secretary and in 1643 Coenraad became town clerk in Amsterdam, although he did not feel himself capable.
About 1650, Van Beuningen felt himself attracted to Spinoza and the Collegiants in Rijnsburg. He lived as simply as possible, without a job, somewhere within the area. In 1652, he was sent on a mission to Queen Christina of Sweden, who was being taught Greek by his schoolfriend Isaac Vossius. In 1654 he traveled to Stade to negotiate an end to an argument about the entry point to the Oresund. The north of Germany was occupied by the Swedes. The Danes tried to control the Elbe, the trade to Hamburg and occupied Bremen. Van Beuningen pronounced that the keys of Oresund lay in a dock in Amsterdam. Three years later as an envoy in Copenhagen, he almost ended up in the hands of King Charles X Gustav of Sweden but succeeded in getting away in a small boat.
...
Wikipedia