Cornelis Pietersz. Hooft (1547 – 1627 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

) was a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

statesman and Amsterdam

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

during the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

Life and work

Hooft Was a member of the patrician Hooft family, the son of the merchant Pieter Willemsz Hooft, and grandson of Willem Jansz Hooft, a Zaanse grain merchant and shipmaster. The poet and dramatist

Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft (; 16 March 158121 May 1647) - Knight in the Order of Saint Michael - was a Dutch historian, poet and playwright who lived during the Dutch Golden Age in literature. Life Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, often abbreviated ...

was his son,

Catharina Hooft Catharina Pietersdr Hooft (28 December 1618 – 30 September 1691) was a woman of the Dutch Golden Age. She became famous at a very early age, when she was painted by Frans Hals. At the age of sixteen she married Cornelis de Graeff, ninetee ...

- who married

Cornelis de Graeff Cornelis de Graeff (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664), often named ''Polsbroek'' or ''de heer van (lord) Polsbroek'' during his lifetime, was an influential regenten, regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, statesman and diplomat of Holland an ...

- his niece. Hooft himself held numerous positions in the administration of Amsterdam. He served, among other positions, as

schepen A schepen (Dutch, ; . ') or échevin (French, , ) or Schöffe (German, ) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands, where it has been replaced by the (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''échevin'' ...

, twelve times

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, and

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

in a period of fast growth, so that the city had to be expanded three times. Cornelis' father established himself in Amsterdam. In 1566, the Protestant merchants around Hooft -- Jan Jacobsz Bal Huydecoper van Wieringen, Jacobsz Reael, Adriaan Pauw, and

Dirck Jansz Graeff Dirck Jansz Graeff, also Diederik Jansz Graeff, Lord of the manors Valckeveen and Vredenhof (Amsterdam 1532 – 27 July 1589), was a patrician, wholesaler, shipowner, politician and large landowner. He became an important figure of the Pro ...

-- took over the social leadership within the city of Amsterdam in order to hold it in a political sense after the Alteratie of Amsterdam in 1578.Benjamin Roberts: ''Through the keyhole: Dutch child-rearing practices in the 17th and 18th century.'' Uitgeverij Verloren, Hilversum 1998; ISBN 90-6550-586-5, pg. 51 (). In 1569, he went into exile, but in 1574 came back from

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

and established himself in

Hoorn Hoorn () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. It is the largest town an ...

. Then, in 1578, after the Alteratie on 26 May, he risked going back to Amsterdam. He lived on

Nieuwendijk Nieuwendijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is a part of the municipality of Altena, and lies about 8 km south of Gorinchem. History The village was first mentioned in 1468 as Nyewendijck, and means "new dike". Nie ...

on the IJ. Hooft had been interested in theology, but was nevertheless tolerant - his wife Anna Jansdr Blaeu was a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

, and he seems to have been a 'via media' man, declaring for neither the

Remonstrant 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 ori ...

s nor the Anti-Remonstrants. As an independent merchant he had a large share in Baltic trade and reshipped herring, oil and grain. In 1584, he became a member of the

vroedschap The ''vroedschap'' () was the name for the (all male) city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a ''vroedman'', literally a "wise man". An honorific title of the ''vroedschap'' was the ''vroede vadere ...

, in which he remained until its final session. In 1588, he was chosen as mayor. As a member of the government of Amsterdam, he was delegated to the States of Holland and through them to the States General. Hooft was opposed to the appointment of foreigners to important posts, pointing to the Flemish Calvinists and preachers such as

Petrus Plancius Petrus Plancius (; born Pieter Platevoet ; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch- Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. Born, in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders, he studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 ...

. He resisted the expansion of the

stadholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

's power. Hooft was critical on other points. In 1611, his role in the vroedschap came to an end, when he was appointed as weesmeester and commissaris (commissioner) of the

Wisselbank The Bank of Amsterdam or Wisselbank () was an early bank, vouched for by the city of Amsterdam, and established in 1609. It was the first public bank to offer accounts not directly convertible to coin. As such, it has been described as the firs ...

. Hooft was never concerned by the

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus * ...

WIC WIC may stand for: Businesses and organizations * WIC program, the U.S. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children * Dutch West India Company, in the 17th and 18th centuries * West Island College, a system of three pr ...

, as the most Amsterdam mayors.

Vondel Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch playwright, poet, literary translator and writer. He is generally regarded as the greatest writer in the Dutch-language literature, Dutch language as well as an important f ...

praised him in his satirical work 'Roskam' as a reliable man and described him as "Hoofd vol kreuken, een geweten zonder rimpel" (a wrinkled brow, but a conscience without wrinkle). In 1618, stadholder

Maurits 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 ...

, in his purge of

regents from the

as a result of the

Synod of Dort The Synod of Dort (also known as the Synod of Dordt or the Synod of Dordrecht) was a European transnational Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. ...

and the arrest 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 ...

, spared Hooft, who took a neutral stance. He is buried in the Oude Kerk.

References

Sources

*S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, De Familie van Pieter Cornelisz Hooft in Jaarboek Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, deel 35, 1981. *K. ter Laan, Letterkundig woordenboek voor Noord en Zui

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooft, Cornelis 1547 births 1627 deaths Mayors of Amsterdam Businesspeople from Amsterdam