The Boelens (also Boel) and Boelens Loen were a Dutch patrician family of Amsterdam. The family figured in the city's government lists between the years 1360 and 1680. They were considered to be quite an influential Amsterdam family in their time and were intensely involved in the history of their hometown. [1] Between 1495 and 1538 the oligarchy of the so-called Boelen-Heijnen clan [2] was at the forefront of the Amsterdam city government.
The members of the Boelens family, through their long tenure in the city government, were able to complete the formation of a solid oligarchic elite within Amsterdam. In 1495 they were able to take power from the clan (“maatschap”) of Jacob Jonge Jacobsz, only to have to hand it over to the clan of Hendrick Dircksen and Joost Buyck (until around 1578) in 1538. [3] The reason for the loss of their prominent position was also due to the family's religious attitude, including in the Baptist rebellion. [4]
The first mayors from the Boelen family in the 15th century were Jacob Boel, mayor from 1420 to 1421, and Claes Jansz Boel, mayor from 1431 and 1434. At the beginning of the further development was Dirck Boelens, who was able to give it space with his appointments as governing mayor in 1447, 1453, 1454 and 1457. [5] On his death he left his family large estates in the Amsterdam area, three houses in the city and a considerable fortune. His son Boel Dirck Boelens continued this development with his appointment as mayor from 1470 to 1478.
His son Andries Boelens, who was at the head of the city government in 1496–1497, 1499, 1501–1502, 1504–1505, 1507–1510, 1512, 1514-1515 and 1517, is considered to be an outstanding member of his family. Due to his long tenure and the resulting concentration and development of power, Boelens is considered the progenitor of the Amsterdam regents of the Dutch Golden Age, who largely claimed descent from him. In addition to Andries Boelens, Andries Dircksz Boelens also worked as mayor in the city government from 1501 to 1510.
Andries Boelen's son Albert Andriesz Boelens inherited a fortune of 14,355 guilders, estates, ships and a magnificent town house in Amsterdam from his father. He was able to continue the political legacy without gaps and was elected governing mayor nine times between 1520 and 1537.
Albert Andriesz Boelen's grandson (and great-grandson of Andries Boelens) Jacob Andriesz Boelens stands out from the Boelens Loen family line. In addition to his work as mayor of Amsterdam 13 times, he was also State Councilor of Holland, deputy of the Dutch States General and Dutch envoy to the court of the East Frisian ruler Count Edzard II and to Denmark was with King Christian IV. The last mayor from the family was Jan Claes Boelens, who held this office in 1600. The main line of the family, which had remained catholic, had died out in the male line in 1647. [6]
Andries Boelen's daughter Lijsbeth Boelens married Cornelis Hendricksz Loen (1481–1547), who was mayor of Amsterdam three times between 1529 and 1533. They established the Boelens Loen line from which several mayors of the city emerged and were related to the great regent families of the Dutch Golden Age, De Graeff and Bicker, who came to power after the Alteratie of Amsterdam in 1578. [7] Thus, in the course of the 16th century, a dense network of related patrician and noble families emerged in Amsterdam, who divided power and offices among themselves. The governing members of such families who competed for mayor and other important offices within the city were called regents.
Lijsbeth's grandson Cornelis Andriesz Boelens Loen (1552–1584) had been a trusted advisor to William I of Orange-Nassau. [8] His daughter Aaltje Boelens Loen (1579–1630) married Jacob Dircksz de Graeff (1571–1638).
The eminent mayors of the Dutch Golden Age, Cornelis (1599-1664) and Andries de Graeff (1611-1678) and their cousins Andries (1586-1652) and Cornelis Bicker (1592-1654), saw themselves as the political heirs of the old regent family Boelens, whose main lineage, which had remained catholic, had died out in the male line in 1647. They had received the very significant first names Andries and Cornelis from their Boelens ancestors. As in a real dynasty, members of the two families frequently intermarried in the 17th century in order to keep their political and commercial capital together. Its great historical ancestor was Andries Boelens (1455-1519), the city's most influential medieval mayor. He was allowed to hold the highest office in Amsterdam fifteen times. Both families, Bicker and De Graeff, descend in the female line from Boelens. [9]
Cornelis de Graeff, often named Polsbroek or de heer van (lord) Polsbroek during his lifetime was an influential regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam, statesman and diplomat of Holland and the Republic of the United Netherlands at the height of the Dutch Golden Age.
Andries Bicker, lord of Engelenburg was a powerful Amsterdam burgomaster and Dutch politician and diplomat during the Dutch Golden Age. He was a prominent member of the Bicker family of Amsterdam regents who, together with the related De Graeff family, governed the city of Amsterdam and with it the province of Holland for about half a century and, at that time, effectively the Republic of the Netherlands when it was at the height of its power.
De Graeff is an old Dutch patrician and noble family,
Andries de Graeff was a regent and burgomaster (mayor) of Amsterdam and leading Dutch statesman during the Golden Age.
Dirck Jansz Graeff, also Diederik Jansz Graeff, Lord of the manors Valckeveen and Vredenhof, was a patrician, wholesaler, shipowner, politician and large landowner. He became an important figure of the Protestant Reformation, member of the Reformed Church, supporter of the Geuzen and the Protestant-minded community of wholesale merchants, and a confidant of William I of Orange. Graeff was the founder of a regent dynasty of the Dutch Golden Age and the short time of the First Stadtholderless Period that retained power and influence for centuries and produced a number of ministers. He was the first Burgomaster of Amsterdam from the De Graeff family.
Pieter de Graeff was a Dutch aristocrat of the Dutch Golden Age and one of the most influential pro-state, republican Amsterdam Regents during the late 1660s and the early 1670s before the Rampjaar 1672. As president-bewindhebber of the Dutch East India Company, he was one of the most important representatives and leaders of the same after the Rampjaar.
Jacob Dircksz de Graeff, free lord of Zuid-Polsbroek was an illustrious member of the Dutch patrician De Graeff family. He belonged to States Faction and was an influential Amsterdam regent and burgomaster (mayor) of the Dutch Golden Age.
KnightCornelis de Graeff was a Dutch nobleman and a water board member of the Zijpe and Haze Polder.
Jacob de Graeff was a member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age. He was an Amsterdam regent and held the title as 20th Free Lord of Ilpendam and Purmerland.
Agneta de Graeff van Polsbroek, was a patrician woman from the Dutch Golden Age. She became known as the mother-in-law of Johan de Witt.
Bicker is a very old Dutch patrician family. The family has played an important role during the Dutch Golden Age. They led the Dutch States Party and were at the centre of Amsterdam oligarchy from the beginning of the 17th century until the early 1650s, influencing the government of Holland and the Republic of the United Netherlands. Their wealth was based on commercial transactions, and in their political commitment they mostly opposed the House of Orange.
Cornelis Bicker van Swieten, heer (lord) van Swieten, was an Amsterdam regent of the Dutch Republic during the Golden Age and a governor of the Dutch West India Company. He was also a sugar merchant, hoogheemraad of the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland and a counsellor of the States of Holland and West Friesland for Amsterdam at The Hague. He belonged to the Dutch States Party and was in opposition to the House of Orange.
Jacob Bicker was a Dutch patrician and merchant. Between 1643 and 1647 he was lord of Engelenburg and a director of the Oostzeevaart, handling Dutch trade with the Baltic Sea.
Jan Pietersz Graeff was an Amsterdam regent and cloth wholesaler from the 16th century.
Wendela Bicker was the wife of Johan de Witt. She was one of the richest young female commoners of her time and she married one of the most influential republican politicians in the Netherlands. She was in the public eye during her lifetime and entered history books thereafter. This is facilitated by the letters and the housekeeping books she left behind. The narrative about her life reflects how the role of women in the Netherlands in the 17th century was and is understood.
Cornelis Andriesz Boelens Loen was a Dutch statesman and Councilor from the time of the Dutch Revolt.
Andries Boelens, also: Boelenz, Boelensz., Andries Boel Dircksz. or Andries Boelen Dircksz, was an alderman and mayor of Amsterdam. In the period from 1496 to 1517 he was mayor fifteen times. The term of his office is the first to be characterized as a period with a rather closed government elite. Because of this he was one of the founders of the Amsterdam oligarchy. Boelens is considered the progenitor of the Amsterdam regents of the Dutch Golden Age such as the De Graeff and Bicker families who largely claimed descent and their political legality from him.
Jacoba Bicker was from the Bicker family, which was one of the leading pro-state families in the Dutch Golden Age.
Dirk de Graeff was a Dutch 17th-century regent who belonged to the States Party.
