Portrait by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy, (1636), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
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
(1599-10-15)15 October 1599 House De Keyser, Amsterdam
Died
30 January 1664(1664-01-30) (aged 63)
Burial
Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
Spouse
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, often named Polsbroek or de heer van (lord) Polsbroek during his lifetime (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was an influential regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, statesman and diplomat of Holland and the Republic of the United Netherlands at the height of the Dutch Golden Age.
He was most illustrious member of the De Graeff family, which in the Golden Age originally held political power together with the Bicker family and by marriage in Amsterdam Holland and finally the Dutch Republic.[1] De Graeff belonged to the republican political movement also referred to as the ‘state oriented’, the Dutch States Party, as opposed to the Orangisten and opponent of the political ambitions of the House of Orange.[2] He was one of the leading figures who sought to end the Eighty Years' War between the United Netherlands and the Kingdom of Spain, which took place in 1648 with the Peace of Münster.[3][4][5] Inside Amsterdam De Graeff became the moderate successor to his ultra-republican cousin Andries Bicker. In the following era after the sudden death of stadholder William II of Orange, the First Stadtholderless Period, which was promoted by De Graeff,[6] he and his nephew Grand pensionary Johan de Witt were regarded as the leading republican protagonists.[7] The progressive cooperation between De Graeff and his protégé De Witt[6] was an important political axis that ordered the political system within the republic.[8] Both belonged now to the two republican and state-minded families where political power within Holland rested primarily with. In Amsterdam this lay with the brothers Cornelis and Andries de Graeff, and in The Hague with the brothers Cornelis and Johan de Witt.[9] Until his death in 1664, De Graeff was Amsterdam's leading politician, then the republican center of the republic. However, he not only had the interests of these in mind, but also those of Holland and the political settlement with the other provinces.[10]
Cornelis de Graeff was considered a prudent and skilful statesman and diplomat who was concerned about the balance between the religious and political factions and was held in high esteem by the population.[11] His political stance was characteristic of his family: on the one hand libertine and state-minded, on the other hand, if only to a limited extent, loyal to the House of Orange. The proponents of the De Graeff family has shown they had an eye for national politics and tried to find some balance between the House of Orange and the Republicans. They were against too much influence of the church on political issues. After his death, his younger brother Andries de Graeff continued the De Graeff faction and its republican and more liberal politics.[11]
Cornelis de Graeff was Free Lord of Zuidpolsbroek, Ambachtsheer (Lord of the Manor) of Sloten, Sloterdijk, Nieuwer-Amstel, Osdorp and Amstelveen and acted as President of the Dutch East Indies Company.[12]
Like his brother, Andries De Graeff, he was an art collector and patron of the arts.
^Biography Andries Bicker at DBNL
^Jephta Dullaart: Triumph of Peace
^Oliver Krause: Die Variabilität frühneuzeitlicher Staatlichkeit. Die niederländische „Staats“-Formierung der Statthaltosen Epoche (1650–1672) als interkontinentales Regiment (Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2018)
^Amsterdam: a brief life of the city. By Geert Mak, Harvill Press (1999), p 123
^Buitenplaatsen in de Gouden Eeuw: De rijkdom van het buitenleven in de Republik. By Y. Kuiper, Ben Olde Meierink, Elyze Storms-Smeets, p 71 (2015)
^ abThe World, by Simon Sebag Montefiore (2022)
^Life/Death Rhythms of Capitalist Regimes – Debt before Dishonour, p 98, by Will Slatyer (2014)
^DeWitt" — an annotation to Thomas Carlyle's "Signs of the Times" Rachel Klotz '13, English 0600J, Brown University, 2010
^Die vielen Leben des Jan Six: Geschichte einer Amsterdamer Dynastie, by Geert Mak (2016)
^Brugmans, H. (1973) Geschiedenis van Amsterdam. Deel III Bloeitijd, 1621-1697, p 159–167
^ abPieter C. Vis: Andries de Graeff (1611–1678) ’t Gezagh is heerelyk: doch vol bekommeringen
^Biography Cornelis de Graeff at Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 2
and 23 Related for: Cornelis de Graeff information
CornelisdeGraeff, often named Polsbroek or de heer van (lord) Polsbroek during his lifetime (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was an influential regent...
to as the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt was elected Grand pensionary of Holland, and together with his uncle CornelisdeGraeff, he controlled the Dutch political...
this lay with the brothers Andries and CornelisdeGraeff, and in The Hague with the brothers Cornelis and Johan de Witt, the leaders of Holland's pro-state...
patriciate of the province of Holland. Both Jacob's father CornelisdeGraeff and his uncle Andries deGraeff were critical of the Orange family's influence. Together...
family in Amsterdam. But Cornelis and his brother Andries deGraeff (1611-1678), together with their cousins Andries and Cornelis Bicker, saw themselves...
Dircksz deGraeff, free lord of Zuid-Polsbroek (Emden 1571 – Amsterdam, 6 October 1638) was an illustrious member of the Dutch patrician DeGraeff family...
West Friesland at The Hague. Cornelis Bicker, together with his brother Andries Bicker and his cousin CornelisdeGraeff, was one of the main initiators...
descendant of the DeGraeff-Bicker-De Witt family of the Dutch Golden Age used Jan de Baen's painting of Cornelis in his painting "De Gouden eeuw" (The...
Johan de Witt. He was given his first name Johan in memory of De Witt, who was murdered in Rampjaar 1672. His elder brother was CornelisdeGraeff II. who...
deGraeff was a son of the Amsterdam regent and statesman CornelisdeGraeff and Catharina Hooft and older brother of Jacob deGraeff. The DeGraeff family...
the country house on the Zoestdijk was built for CornelisdeGraeff. In the years 1655–1660, deGraeff was involved in the education of Willem III of Orange...
trade Cornelis Drebbel (1572–1633), builder of the first navigable submarine Cornelisde Vos (1584–1651), Flemish Baroque painter CornelisdeGraeff (1599–1664)...
Jhr. Andries Cornelis Dirk deGraeff (7 August 1872 – 24 April 1957) was a Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies and a Dutch minister for foreign...
policy. He, together with his brother Cornelis Bicker and cousin CornelisdeGraeff, portrayed as Bicker-DeGraeff league, was one of the main initiators...
representatives of the city of Amsterdam, Andries and Cornelis Bicker as well as CornelisdeGraeff. The Peace of Münster was duly concluded in 1648, in...
brother CornelisdeGraeff he studied law in Leiden and received his doctorate there. In 1626 he undertook together with his brother Cornelis and Willem...
Wendela deGraeff, also called Wijntje deGraeff (Amsterdam, September 22, 1607 - there, February 27, 1652, ibid in childbirth) was a patrician of the...
Mirtillo, 1641, Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania Company of CornelisdeGraeff, 1642, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Diana With Her Nymphs, 1649, Hermitage...
Jhr. Dirk deGraeff van Polsbroek (born Dirk deGraeff; named also Van Polsbroek or Polsbroek) (Amsterdam, 28 August 1833 – 27 June 1916, The Hague) was...
commission, a work for the wealthy Amsterdam burgomaster CornelisdeGraeff, jointly painted with Thomas de Keyser. This is inferred from a document dated 9 June...
the Dutch Golden Age, Cornelis (1599-1664) and Andries deGraeff (1611-1678) and their cousins Andries (1586-1652) and Cornelis Bicker (1592-1654), saw...