Pieter Vreede (October 8, 1750– September 21, 1837) was a Dutch politician of the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

in the 18th century. Vreede was born in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

and died in

Heusden Heusden () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Do ...

. He was a prominent critic of stadholderian misrule and of the urban patriciate.

Early life

In Leiden, Vreede worked as a cloth and wool manufacturer, as his father had. Pieter Vreede was member of the ''Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde'' (organization of writers and readers) and published some writings about the bad shape of the Dutch society.

Revolution and later

The patriotic revolution broke out in the 1780s in the Netherlands and Pieter Vreede was one of the enthusiastic participants. Pieter and his friend Wijbo Fijnje made a constitution for Leiden, helped found the local exercitiegenootschap, a drill society, and helped draft the celebrated Leiden Draft. In 1786, he became a member of the revolutionary town council of Leiden. Vreede joined in a diplomatic expedition in

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

in 1786. The revolution came to an end, when the Prussian army invaded the Netherlands in 1787. Pieter lost his business in Prussian Emmerich, so his business was reverted to Lier in the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

. Revolution broke out in the Austrian Netherlands as well in 1790, when the

United States of Belgium The United Belgian States ( or '; ; ), also known as the United States of Belgium, was a short-lived confederation, confederal republic in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) established under the Brabant Revolution. It existed from Jan ...

were proclaimed. Pieter left Leiden, stopped his business in Lier and settled in Brabant of the States in the city

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

, where he continued his business as cloth and wool manufacturer until 1800. France conquered Brabant in 1794 and Pieter Vreede immediately sided with the French. The French were very popular in the Netherlands. Many opposed the Orangist regime due to the Prussian Invasion of 1787. In 1794, he became a member of Batavian committee of

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

. The same year, he became a member of the revolutionary committee of Brabant. The French continued their advance into the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and Pieter Vreede became a member of the administration of the conquered areas of the Netherlands in January 1795. Revolution broke out in the Netherlands and

William V, Prince of Orange William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was Prince of Orange and the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in ...

had to flee to England. The

was proclaimed.

Life in government

Pieter Vreede became a member of the municipality of Tilburg in April 1795. He became a member of the provisional government council of

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

in June 1795. He was chosen in the first democratically elected parliament of the Netherlands, the

National Assembly of the Batavian Republic The National Assembly of the Batavian Republic () was the Netherlands, Dutch parliament between 1796 and 1798. The National Assembly was founded in 1796 after general elections. It replaced the States-General of the Batavian Republic. The Presid ...

in 1796 for the district of

Bergen op Zoom Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the Brabantian dialect, local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southwestern Netherlands. It is located in the Province ...

. He was chairman of the parliament from 13 November 1797 to 27 November 1797. Vreede was the most outspoken spokesman of the unitarian democratic parliament members. The unitarian democrats were in favour of a

centralized government A centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments. In a national conte ...

and of

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

for all adult men. The majority in the parliament was in favour of

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

and semi-democratic elections for property owners. Pieter Vreede and Wijbo Fijnje did a coupe d'état in January 1798 and ruled for a few months, alienating both enemies and friends. Another coupe d'état in June made an end to his rule and Vreede had to flee from the Netherlands to Lier, which was French territory at that time.

Later life

He came back to the Netherlands in the same year and settled in Tilburg where his manufactury was. He stopped his business in 1800 and settled in

Waalre Waalre () is an affluent Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the province of North Brabant in the southern Netherlands, immediately south of the city of Eindhoven. Population centres * Aalst, North Brabant, Aalst * Waalre ...

. His political career continued in 1815, when the French were gone and the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

was proclaimed. He was a member of the provincial council of

from 1815 onwards. He worked as commissionary of the customs office first local and then on a national level until his death in 1837.

Family

Pieter Vreede was married and widowed three times. He had 12 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vreede, Pieter 1750 births 1837 deaths Members of the Dutch Patriots faction Politicians from Leiden Members of the First National Assembly of the Batavian Republic Members of the Second National Assembly of the Batavian Republic Members of the Uitvoerend Bewind