Geurt van Beuningen
Encyclopedia
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC). He was one of the first of the VOC's subscribers in 1602. For years he was a member of the Amsterdam vroedschap
Vroedschap
The vroedschap was the name for the city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a vroedman, literally a "wise man"...
.
Life
Also Van Beuningen was at first a merchant in dairy products, but became one of the biggest shareholder in the VOC. In 1623 Van Beuningen bought all the pepperBlack pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
shipped and on its way to Amsterdam. This action proved profitable to him and which was later followed by others. Van Beuningen moved from the Kalverstraat
Kalverstraat
The Kalverstraat is the busiest shopping street of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. It is named after the kalvermarkt that was held here until the 17th Century....
to the Sint Antoniesbreestraat
Sint Antoniesbreestraat
The Sint Antoniesbreestraat is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The street runs south from Nieuwmarkt square to the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates....
, living next to Pieter Lastman
Pieter Lastman
Pieter Lastman was a Dutch painter . Lastman is considered important because of his work as a painter of history pieces and because his pupils included Rembrandt and Jan Lievens...
, who taught Rembrandt in those years. Van Beuningen was known as a remonstrant, and remonstrants were no churchgoers, anti-calvinists, tolerant and supporters of peace with Spain.
From the hand of Vondel the following anecdote on Van Beuningen's is known: scarcely recovered from a heavy illness, he wanted to go to the city hall, where a crucial decision was about to be taken. Van Beuningen was taking advice from the doctor Nicolaes Tulp
Nicolaes Tulp
Nicolaes Tulp was a Dutch surgeon and mayor of Amsterdam. Tulp was well known for his upstanding moral character.-Life:...
and a second opinion from a Roman Catholic physician. The latter one told him to travel with Tulp, also a fierce Calvinist, in his carriage to the city hall. Mayor Reynier Pauw, an anti-remonstrant and one of the judges of Johan van Oldenbarneveldt, had not reckoned with another opponent and was stunned to see him walking in.
Descendents
His son Dirk van Beuningen (1588–1648) married the melancholic Catharina Burgh, the sister of Albert BurghAlbert Burgh
Albert Coenraadsz. Burgh was a Dutch physician who was mayor of Amsterdam and a councillor in the Admiralty of Amsterdam.-Biography:...
. Dirk van Beuningen was active in grain trade, between Moscovia and the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, together with his brother-in-law Reynier Reaal. Dirk and his wife had six children, including the diplomat and colorful burgomaster Coenraad van Beuningen
Coenraad van Beuningen
Coenraad van Beuningen was the Dutch Republic's most experienced diplomat, burgemeester of Amsterdam in 1669, 1672, 1680, 1681, 1683 and 1684, and from 1681 a VOC director...
.
External links
Literature
- Israel, J. (1995) The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, p. 345-6
- Elias, J.E. (1903–1905, herdruk 1963) De vroedschap van Amsterdam 1578-1795, 2 delen.