Catharina Hooft
Encyclopedia
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
- 30 September 1691, Ilpendam
Ilpendam
Ilpendam is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies about 4 km south of Purmerend.-History:The man standing highlighted at center on Rembrandts Night Watch painting is Frans Banning Cocq...
) was a woman of the Dutch Golden Age
Dutch Golden Age
The Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...
. She became famous at a very early age, when she was painted by Frans Hals
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture.-Biography:Hals was born in 1580 or 1581, in Antwerp...
. At the age of sixteen she married Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van Polsbroek 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...
, nineteen years her senior and the most powerful regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
and mayor of Amsterdam. Thus she became first lady of Soestdijk
Soestdijk
Soestdijk was a village in the municipality of Soest, Utrecht, Netherlands and gives its name to Paleis Soestdijk, which from 1937 to 2004 was the residence of Princess and later Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard ....
, one of the family's country houses. Catharina Hooft was also a Lady
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
of the High and free Fief of Purmerland
Purmerland
Purmerland is a hamlet of 395 in the municipality of Landsmeer, North Holland, the Netherlands. It is located just north of Den Ilp and just south of the housing estate of Weidevenne, part of the city of Purmerend...
and Ilpendam
Ilpendam
Ilpendam is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies about 4 km south of Purmerend.-History:The man standing highlighted at center on Rembrandts Night Watch painting is Frans Banning Cocq...
.
Life
Cornelis Hooft
Cornelis Pietersz. Hooft was a Dutch statesman. He was the grandson of Pieter Willemsz. Hooft, a Zaanse grain merchant and shipmaster, and the father of the poet and dramatist Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. Hooft himself held numerous positions in the administration of Amsterdam...
and related to the renowned P.C. Hooft of the Muiderslot
Muiderslot
The Muiderslot is a castle in the Netherlands, located at the mouth of the river Vecht, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee...
- a wealthy citizen. Her mother, Geertruid Overlander (daughter of Lord Volkert Overlander
Volkert Overlander
Volkert Overlander was a Dutch noble, jurist, ship-owner, merchant and an Amsterdam regent from the Dutch Golden Age.-Biography:...
), was forty-one and she and her husband had given up hope of having children when Catharina was born. On 14 August 1635 Catharina married Cornelis de Graeff, an older widower, whose first wife had been Catharina's cousin (her father's sister's child). The couple had themselves painted in princely fashion, in proper black with golden chains. Catharina bore two sons: Pieter
Pieter de Graeff
Pieter de Graeff , was a member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age. He was an Amsterdam Regent during the late 1660s and the early 1670s, and held the titles as Lord of the semi-sovereign Fief Zuid-Polsbroek and 19.th Lord of the Free and high Fief Ilpendam and Purmerland...
and Jacob
Jacob de Graeff
Jacob de Graeff , was a member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age. He was an Amsterdam Regent and held the titles as 20.th Lord of the Free and high Fief Ilpendam and Purmerland...
. When stadholder William II
William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later.-Biography:...
died in 1650, ten years later followed by his wife, Cornelis de Graeff was made one of the guardians of the 10-year old William
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, the "Child of the State", who played with Catharina's sons. By the Act of Seclusion
Act of Seclusion
The Act of Seclusion is a secret annex in the Treaty of Westminster between the United Provinces and the Commonwealth of England in which William III, Prince of Orange, was excluded from the office of Stadtholder...
William was not allowed to accede and power remained in the regents hands.
Opposite the De Graeffs' house lived the powerful anti-Orangist
Orangism (Netherlands)
Orangism is a monarchist political support for the House of Orange-Nassau as monarchy of the Netherlands. It played a significant role in the political history of the Netherlands since the Dutch revolt...
Bicker family, consisting of Catharina’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their four daughters, one of whom married Catharina’s nephew, raadspensionaris Jan de Witt.
Catharina was widowed in 1664 and when, in 1672, William stepped out of the shadows to become general and stadholder, she changed political tack and - with her sons - became a supporter of the House of Orange. William bought the de Graeff hunting lodge and its surrounding fields, now the Soestdijk Palace
Soestdijk Palace
Soestdijk Palace is a former palace of the Dutch royal family. It consists of a central block and two wings.Although named after the village of Soestdijk, which is largely in the municipality of Soest, the Soestdijk Palace is just north of the border in the municipality of Baarn in the province of...
, for only 18,755 guilder. Catharina outlived her husband for thirty years. She was buried in Amsterdam on October 6, 1691.
Literature
- Graeff, P. de (P. de Graeff Gerritsz en Dirk de Graeff van PolsbroekDirk de Graeff van PolsbroekDirk de Graeff van Polsbroek was a successful Dutch diplomat in Japan. From July 1863, he held the post of Consul General and Political Agent in Japan. He played a major part in the many negotiations between various Western countries and Japan...
) Genealogie van de familie De Graeff van Polsbroek, Amsterdam 1882. - Bruijn, J. H. de Genealogie van het geslacht De Graeff van Polsbroek 1529/1827, met bijlagen. De Bilt 1962-63.
- Moelker, H.P. De heerlijkheid Purmerland en Ilpendam (1978 Purmerend)