Claes Michielsz Bontenbal, also known as Klaas Bontebal, (1575 – 3 July 1623) was secretary of Zevenhuizen. He was involved in a conspiracy against

Maurice of Orange Maurice of Orange (; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death on 23 April 1625. Before he became Prince of Orange upon ...

and was beheaded for his part in the conspiracy.

The conspiracy

In 1622, several

remonstrants The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his or ...

, including the sons of

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (; 14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619), Lord of the manor, Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613), was a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch rev ...

, Reinier and

Willem Willem () is a Dutch name, Dutch and West Frisian language, West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic languages, Germanic, and can be seen as the ...

, conspired to assassinate Prince

. They were planning to hire a number of sailors to murder the prince during his trip from

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was 59.642 in 2024, and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also i ...

to visit Margaretha van Mechelen. To hire these people and to procure the necessary weapons, they had to raise a sum of 6,000 guilders. Claes Michielsz Bontenbal, who was a remonstrant himself, was willing to provide a third of this amount. A total of ten people were hired for the attack. The last four of those hired, however, betrayed the conspiracy to the government. Most of the conspirators were arrested, but a few, including Willem van Oldenbarnevelt, managed to escape. Bontenbal was imprisoned in Rotterdam for eighteen weeks, but, despite being tortured, continued to deny that he was actively involved in the conspiracy. He did admit to having known of the conspiracy, and having loaned the money used to hire the sailors. He was eventually sentenced to death. On the eve of his execution, he gave a full confession. On 3 July 1623, at around noon in Rotterdam, Bontenbal was led to the scaffold behind the council-hall, and was executed there at the age of 47 or 48 years old. He left a wife and four children.Genealogy of Claes Michielsz Bontenbal
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Hugo de Groot Hugo Grotius ( ; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Hugo de Groot () or Huig de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was born in Delft an ...

was not aware of these developments in the Dutch republic because of his residence in Paris. On 12 July 1623, he wrote a letter to his brother, Willem de Groot, in which he asked his brother about the fate of Claes Michielsz Bontenbal.

Sources

* Claes Michielszoon Bontenbal, in Verleden Tijdschrift 1993, published by the Oudheidkamer van Zevenhuizen, author P.J. Bontenbal, number 33, page 24-31 * 500 jaar Bontenbal, by P.J. Lestrade and T. Lestrade-Aarts, 1995

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bontenbal, Claes Michielsz 1575 births 1623 deaths 17th-century Dutch people Dutch civil servants Executed Dutch people People from Zuidplas 17th-century executions by the Netherlands People executed by the Netherlands by decapitation Remonstrants