Cornelis van Aerssen (also Aerssen, Aersen, Aarsens) (1545 - 22 March 1627) was a statesman in Holland.
Van Aerssen was born in Antwerp. From 1611 he was Heer van Spijk (Lord of Spijk, sometimes spelt Spyck) and was the father of Frans van Aarsens. For many years, he was registrat to the States-General. He died in The Hague.
He was almost certainly the son of an Antwerp courtier, who was favoured by the court at Brussels. Von Aerssen himself in 1574 entered office as a city secretary of Brussels. In the following year he was appointed the pensioner of the city. Although in religious matters he was known as a tolerant man, he was against a reconciliation with Philip II of Spain.
Von Aerssen travelled often, and on the day of the murder of William of the Silent, he was also in Den Haag.
In 1584 he was sent with other delegates to France. The goal of this delegation was to negotiate with the French king Henry IV over the sovereignty of Dutch Republic. Cornelis van Aerssen was in the same year appointed an official of the Dutch Estates-General, but continued to live in Brussels, which raised the suspicion that he was plotting with the Spanish. He played a leading role in the Orange-reformed party. When the Spanish general Francisco de Mendoza was in Woerden and Den Haag as a Dutch prisoner after the Battle of Nieuwpoort, and wanted to start peace negotiations, Van Aerssen was named a Dutch representative alongside the Land's Advocate of HollandJohan van Oldenbarnevelt and the Franciscan Johan Meyen sent by Archduke Albrecht. Van Aerssen negotiated with the Spanish envoy, and on 4 May 1602 agreed an 8-month cease-fire. Oldenbarnevelt, at the head of the party aiming for peace, welcomed this, as he feared the growing power of the Dutch Stadtholder Maurice, Prince of Orange.
Baron Francis van Aarssens or Baron François van Aerssen, from 1611 on lord of Sommelsdijk, was a diplomat and statesman of the United Provinces.
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, 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 struggle for independence from the Habsburg Castilian Empire.
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Johan de Witt, lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere, was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the First Stadtholderless Period, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of global colonisation made the republic a leading European trading and seafaring power – now commonly referred to as the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt was elected Grand pensionary of Holland, and together with his uncle Cornelis de Graeff, he controlled the Dutch political system from around 1650 until the Rampjaar of 1672. This progressive cooperation between the two statesmen, and the consequent support of Amsterdam under the rule of De Graeff, was an important political axis that organized the political system within the republic.
The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like France began treating the Republic as a sovereign nation, the Spanish viewed it as a temporary measure forced on them by financial exhaustion and domestic issues and did not formally recognise Dutch independence until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The Truce allowed Philip III of Spain to focus his resources elsewhere, while Archdukes Albert and Isabella used it to consolidate Habsburg rule and implement the Counter-Reformation in the Southern Netherlands.
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.
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In the history of the Dutch Republic, Orangism or prinsgezindheid was a political force opposing the Staatsgezinde (pro-Republic) party. Orangists supported the Princes of Orange as Stadtholders and military commanders of the Republic, as a check on the power of the regenten. The Orangist party drew its adherents largely from traditionalists – mostly farmers, soldiers, noblemen and orthodox Protestant preachers, though its support fluctuated heavily over the course of the Republic's history and there were never clear-cut socioeconomic divisions.
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.
Bartholda van Swieten was a Dutch noble and diplomat who acted as official mediary between the Netherlands and the Spanish Netherlands from 1615 until 1629. She is the subject of fiction, a play and the Dutch novel Een haagsche joffer (1856). Her career as a diplomat was highly unusual for her gender in 17th-century Europe.
Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck was the first governor of Suriname after the establishment of the Society of Suriname in 1683. He was governor from 27 November 1683 until he was murdered by mutinous soldiers on 19 July 1688. Van Aerssen belonged to one of the richest families of the Dutch Golden Age.
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Benjamin Aubery du Maurier was a French huguenot statesman and ambassador of his country to the States General of the Dutch Republic during the "Truce Quarrels". He tried in vain to save the life of Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt after he was sentenced to death in the Trial of Oldenbarnevelt, Grotius and Hogerbeets.
Cornelis van der Mijle was a Dutch politician and diplomat in the service of the Dutch Republic and a regent of Leiden University. He was the son-in-law of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt.
The Ten Years were a period in the Eighty Years' War spanning the years 1588 to 1598. In this period of ten years, stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, the future prince of Orange and son of William "the Silent" of Orange, and his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg and stadtholder of Friesland as well as the English general Francis Vere, were able to turn the tide of the war against the Spanish Empire in favour of the Dutch Republic. They achieved many victories over the Spanish Army of Flanders, conquering large swathes of land in the north and east of the Habsburg Netherlands that were incorporated into the Republic and remained part of the Netherlands into the present. Starting with the important fortification of Bergen op Zoom (1588), Maurice and William Louis subsequently took Breda (1590), Zutphen, Deventer, Delfzijl, and Nijmegen (1591), Steenwijk, Coevorden (1592) Geertruidenberg (1593), Groningen (1594), Grol, Enschede, Ootmarsum, and Oldenzaal (1597)., recovering territories lost in 1580 through the treachery of George de Lalaing. Maurice's most successful years were 1591 and 1597, in which his campaigns resulted in the capture of numerous vital fortified cities, some of which were regarded as "impregnable". His novel military tactics earned him fame amongst the courts of Europe, and the borders of the present-day Netherlands were largely defined by the campaigns of Maurice of Orange during the Ten Years.
Reyer or Reynier Pauw, was an influential Amsterdam regent of the Golden Age. Pauw was pensionary and eight times mayor of Amsterdam. He was involved in the Compagnie van Verre, the VOC, and the trial of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt.
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