Gaspar Fagel was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 statesman, writer and quasi-diplomat who authored correspondence from and on behalf of William III, Prince of Orange

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...

 during the English Revolution of 1688.

Biography

Fagel was born in 1634 into a distinguished patrician family.

Little is known of his early life, but in 1663 he was elected Pensionary

Pensionary

A pensionary was a name given to the leading functionary and legal adviser of the principal town corporations in the Netherlands because they received a salary, or pension.-Historical development:...

 of Haarlem

Haarlem

Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...

 and as such was also a member representative of the States of Holland

States of Holland

The States of Holland and West Frisia were the representation of the two Estates to the court of the Count of Holland...

.

In 1667 Fagel was one of the signers (the other signers where Grand Pensionary

Grand Pensionary

The Grand Pensionary was the most important Dutch official during the time of the United Provinces. In theory he was only a civil servant of the Estates of the dominant province among the Seven United Provinces: the county of Holland...

 Jan de Witt, Gillis Valckenier

Gillis Valckenier

Gillis Valckenier was nine years burgomaster of Amsterdam: in 1665, 1666, 1668, 1670, 1673, 1674, 1676, 1678, 1679. He was a strong personality, but changing allies as a real opportunist....

 and Andries de Graeff

Andries de Graeff

Free Imperial Knight Andries de Graeff was a very powerful member of the Amsterdam branch of the De Graeff - family during the Dutch Golden Age. He became a mayor of Amsterdam and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the death of his older brother Cornelis de Graeff...

) of the Perpetual Edict

Perpetual Edict

Perpetual Edict may refer to:*The Praetor's Edict in Roman Law, after the praetors began reissuing exactly the same edict as their predecessors, about 130 AD.*Perpetual Edict *Edict of 1577...

, that was a resolution of the States of Holland in which they abolished the office of Stadtholder

Stadtholder

A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...

 in the province of Holland. At approximately the same time a majority of provinces in the States-General of the Netherlands

States-General of the Netherlands

The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...

 agreed to declare the office of stadtholder (in any of the provinces) incompatible with the office of Captain general

Captain General

Captain general is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...

 of the Dutch Republic.

In 1670, he was made Greffier (secretary) of the Staten-Generaal and in 1672 after the resignation and subsequent murder of Jan and Cornelis de Witt

Cornelis de Witt

Cornelis de Witt was a Dutch politician.-Biography:Cornelis de Witt was a member of the old Dutch patrician family De Witt. He was born on 15 June 1623 in Dordrecht, Holland, Dutch Republic...

. He was distinguished for his integrity and the firmness with which he repelled the attempts of Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

 against his country, and for his zeal in supporting the claims of the William III, Prince of Orange

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...

 to the English throne.

Correspondence

Fagel was responsible for writing several letters on instruction from William III and several letters purported to be from William III himself (with William's permission). In 1687, Fagel wrote an open letter

Open letter

An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....

 to the English people, as Pensionary of Netherlands, deploring the religious policy of James. The letter was generally interpreted as a covert bid, by William II, for the English throne.

In 1688, in preparation for the English Revolution during which William III landed in England, Fagel wrote to English advocate James Stewart calling on public figures there to not use the various anti-Catholic Test Oaths and associated legislation to restrict the liberties of Catholic citizens. While his correspondence called for liberty and freedom of religion, Fagel also suggested that the Dutch would support the softening of some laws only if:
The effect of this letter, and others, was to assure the Parliament that William III would not stand in the way of the Parliament's legislative agenda which manifested itself in the form of the Bill of Rights of 1689

Bill of Rights 1689

The Bill of Rights or the Bill of Rights 1688 is an Act of the Parliament of England.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689. It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 ,...

.