Cornelis de Graeff van Zuid-Polsbroek | |
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Portrait by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy, (1636), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
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Regent and Mayor of Amsterdam | |
Reign | 1643 - 1664 |
Predecessor | Andries Bicker |
Successor | Andries de Graeff |
President of the Dutch East Indies Company | |
Reign | 1646 - 1664 |
Predecessor | Andries Bicker |
Successor | Pieter de Graeff |
Born |
House De Keyser, Amsterdam |
15 October 1599
Died | 30 January 1664 | (aged 63)
Burial | Oude Kerk, Amsterdam |
Consort | 1) Geertruid Overlander van Purmerland 2) Catharina Hooft |
Issue |
Pieter de Graeff Jacob de Graeff Other relations Andries de Graeff (brother) Andries Bicker (cousin) Jan de Witt (nephew) Frans Banning Cocq (brother in law via Catharina) Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (uncle) |
House | De Graeff |
Father | Jacob Dircksz de Graeff |
Mother | Aeltje Boelens Loen |
Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van (Zuid-)Polsbroek (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was the most illustrious member of the De Graeff family. He was a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the sudden death of stadholder William II of Orange. Like his father Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, he opposed the house of Orange, and was the moderate successor to the republican Andries Bicker. In the mid 17th century he controlled the city's finances and politics and, in close cooperation with his brother Andries de Graeff and their nephew Johan de Witt, the Netherlands political system.
Cornelis de Graeff followed in his father footsteps and, between 1643 and 1664, was appointed mayor some ten times. De Graeff was a member of a family of regents who belonged to the republican political movement also referred to as the ‘state oriented’, as opposed to the Royalists.
Cornelis de Graeff was also the founder of a regent dynasty that retained power and influence for centuries and produced a number of ministers. He was Lord of the semisouverain Fief (allodiale hoge heerlijkheid)Zuidpolsbroek and an (Lord of the Manor) of Sloten, Sloterdijk, Nieuwer-Amstel, Osdorp and Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, and castlelord of Ilpenstein. De Graeff was also President of the Dutch East Indies Company, and a chiefcouncillor of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Like his brother, Andries De Graeff, he was an art collector and patron of the arts.