Gilles van Ledenberg

Gilles van Ledenberg (c. 1550 – 28 September 1618) was a Dutch statesman. He was secretary of the States of Utrecht from 1588 until his arrest for treason in 1618, together with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. He committed suicide to prevent forfeiture of his assets, but he was sentenced to death posthumously and posthumously executed.

Ledenberg had humble origins. His father was probably a mason. He may have been a friar in his youth. However, he worked himself up to clerk of Floris Thin, the pensionary of the States of Utrecht, whom he succeeded in 1590, due to an intrigue by Oldenbarnevelt who wished to block the appointment of his rival Paulus Buys in that position. He had been secretary of the States from 1588 and also was appointed Clerk of the Utrecht "Leenhof" (one of the courts). He was married several times, lastly to Johanna van Sypesteyn (member of an aristocratic family).

Ledenberg's notoriety derives from his role in the waardgelder crisis of 1618. During the Twelve Years' Truce social unrest had arisen because of the conflict in the Dutch Reformed Church between the Remonstrants and their opponents. Mobs had attacked regents of the Remonstrant party while the civic militias and the federal military authorities looked the other way. To protect themselves, these regents had pushed through the so-called Sharp Resolution in the States of Holland which allowed the local authorities in cities to recruit their own companies of mercenaries, called waardgelders, to maintain order. This was seen as a threat to his authority as commander-in-chief of the federal forces of the Dutch Republic by stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. Maurice now canvassed the States of the several provinces about the possible suppression of the waardgelders. On his way to Gelderland he was initially refused entry to the city of Utrecht and when he finally was allowed to stay there overnight, Ledenberg had his hotel guarded by civic militia, which was interpreted as an attempt at intimidation.

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