Henri de Fleury de Coulan
Encyclopedia
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, who became embroiled in a celebrated conspiracy during the First Stadtholderless Period
First Stadtholderless Period
The First Stadtholderless Period or Era is the period in the history of the Dutch Republic in which the office of a Stadtholder was absent in five of the seven Dutch provinces...
to overthrow the regime of 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...
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid 17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age...
in favor of future 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...
William III
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...
, known as the Buat Conspiracy. He was convicted of treason in 1666, and executed.
The conspiracy was romanticized in the novel "Elisabeth Musch" (1850), by Jacob van Lennep
Jacob van Lennep
Jacob van Lennep was a Dutch poet and novelist.-Early years:He was born in Amsterdam, where his father, David Jacob van Lennep , a scholar and poet, was professor of eloquence and the classical languages in the Atheneum...
The Dutch poet Constantijn Huygens
Constantijn Huygens
Constantijn Huygens , was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist Christiaan Huygens.-Biography:...
wrote the following epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/Dutch/Huygens/HUYG66.html
- OP BUAT, ONTHOOFT II. OCT. 1666. EX LATINO MEO
- Hier light een schuldigh man, van Hooft en Hals berooft,
- Die, doen hij schuldigh weird, een’ hals had, maer geen hooft.
which may be translated as:
: Here lies a guilty man, deprived of head and neck,
: who, when he became guilty, did have a neck, but not a head
Ritmeester Buat (1968) was a Dutch TV series with actor Coen Flink in the role of Buat
Early life
Henri Buat (as he is usually known; the Anglicized first name "Henry" that is sometimes found in the literature, is not correct) was the son of colonel Philippe Henri de Fleury de Coulan (or Culan), a Huguenot officer, commanding an infantry regiment of French mercenaries in the service of the Dutch Republic, and Esther de Flins .Not much is known about his early life. He became a page
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
at the court of the Stadtholder as a boy. He then made a career in the Dutch army, like his father, but in the cavalry. He became a captain commanding the Eskadron Gardes du Corps (Life Guards of the Stadtholder) on November 16, 1646. After the suspension of the Stadtholderate this became the Gardes te paard van de Staten van Zeeland (Horse Guards of the States of Zeeland) in 1660. This was a regiment of horse, paid for by the province of Zeeland, a province that was ambivalent in its attitude to the aspirations of the 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...
party. This may explain why Buat became attached to the court of young William III in the early 1660s, while still commanding the regiment, despite the fact that officially the Dutch government of the day frowned on the aspirations of the Orangists.
Buat distinguished himself during the landing of Dutch troops on the Danish island of Funen
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
during the Dutch intervention in the Northern Wars
Northern Wars
Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised...
in 1659.
He married Elisabeth Maria Musch (not to be confused with her sister Maria Elisabeth), a daughter of the former secretary of 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...
under the Stadtholderate Cornelis Musch
Cornelis Musch
Cornelis Musch was Griffier of the States-General of the Netherlands, the governing body of the Dutch Republic, from 1628 till the start of the First Stadtholderless Period. He was a byword for corruption in his lifetime.-Family Life:Cornelis Musch was the son of Jan Jacobsz...
, and Elisabeth Cats, a daughter of Grand Pensionary Jacob Cats
Jacob Cats
Jacob Cats was a Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. He is most famous for his emblem books.-Early years:...
in 1664. This marriage tied him even closer to the Orangist cause, because the Musch family were ardent Orangists.
The "Buat Conspiracy"
In 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch WarSecond Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
, Buat became involved as a messenger in secret correspondence between Sir Gabriel Sylvius, then at the court of Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
but earlier a member of the court of William III's late mother, Mary Stuart
Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his queen, Henrietta Maria of France...
, when she was still alive, on the one hand, and members of the entourage of the Prince on the other. Sylvius was acting on behalf of Lord Arlington
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington KG, PC was an English statesman.- Background and early life :He was the son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley, Middlesex, and of Dorothy Crofts. He was the younger brother of John Bennet, 1st Baron Ossulston; his sister was Elizabeth Bennet who married Robert Kerr,...
, a minister of Charles II. The correspondence was originally a diplomatic "back channel" between the Dutch and English governments to explore possibilities of peace. Grand Pensionary De Witt was therefore fully aware of the correspondence, and it had his tacit approval.
However, Arlington and Sylvius had further designs in case the tentative peace negotiations would not bring the desired results. They plotted to bring about an Orangist coup d'état in the Republic, which would overthrow the De Witt regime, restore the stadtholderate, end the war, and renew the Anglo-Dutch friendship. Sylvius imprudently committed full details of this plot to paper in a letter for Buat personally, which he sent to Buat, together with other letters which were intended for the eyes of De Witt. Buat got confused and handed this compromising letter over to De Witt, together with the more innocent ones. When he discovered his mistake he went back to De Witt to ask the "wrong" letter back, but it was already too late: De Witt had rendered the incriminating letter to the States of Holland for further action.
Buat was now arrested (though he was given time to burn most of the incriminating letters, the drafts of which were later discovered in the English state archives). In the criminal procedures that followed it transpired that besides Buat only two Rotterdam regents, Johan Kievit
Johan Kievit
Johan Kievit was an Orangist Rotterdam Regent, who may have been one of the instigators of the murder of former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, of the Dutch Republic, and his brother Cornelis de Witt on 20 August 1672, together with his brother-in-law, Cornelis Tromp.- Early life :Johan Kievit...
and Ewout van der Horst, had sufficiently compromised themselves to be charged also. Both escaped to England and were tried in absentia.
Buat, however, had the misfortune to be tried for treason by the Hof van Holland (the main court of the province of Holland). This in itself was controversial, as the asserted treason was against the Generality, so that the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (the federal supreme court) might have been more appropriate. Also, according to the opinion of many contemporaries and some later historians, the Executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
in the form 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...
exerted undue influence in the proceedings.
Many, then and now, think that Buat did not have the intent to commit treason but was the naive stooge of more sinister parties. Nevertheless, the facts were clear, and the verdict was harsh: he was convicted, after one of the judges who might have voted in his favor (Jacob van der Graeff, the father of the would-be assassin of Johan de Witt, who was executed in 1672), had been forced to recuse himself, tipping the balance in the court , and sentenced to death. The sentence was publicly executed by Christiaan Hals, the Hague headsman, on October 11, 1666.