Cornelis de Witt

Cornelis de Witt (15 June 1623 – 20 August 1672) was a Dutch States Navy officer and statesman. During the First Stadtholderless Period, De Witt was an influential member of the Dutch States Party, and was opposed to the House of Orange. In the Rampjaar of 1672, he and his brother Johan de Witt were lynched and their remains eaten by a crowd incited by Orangist partisans.

Life De Witt family

Cornelis de Witt was a member of the old Dutch patrician family De Witt. His father was Jacob de Witt, an influential regent and burgher from the patrician class in the city of Dordrecht, which in the 17th century was one of the most important cities of the dominating province of Holland. De Witt's mother was Anna van den Corput (1599–1645), niece of Johannes Corputius, an influential Dutch military leader and cartographer. His younger brother Johan de Witt was Grand Pensionary of Holland from 1653 to 1672. His uncle Andries de Witt previously held the position of Grand Pensionary between 1619 and 1621. Through the marriage of one of his other uncles to Margaretha of Nassau, daughter of Anna Johanna of Nassau-Siegen, De Witt was a distant relative of William of Orange-Nassau. Another relationship led him to the Tromps, Maarten and his son Cornelis Tromp, both admirals of the Netherlands.

Political career In 1648 Cornelis de Witt became a schepen (councillor) of Dordrecht. He was afterwards appointed to the important post of , who combined the functions of chief of police and prosecuting attorney, of Putten

Cornelis de Witt was mayor of Dordrecht in 1666 and 1667, Jacob de Witt (1653–1675). Six days after his father's murder, he set out on a journey to Germany, Geneva, Italy (where he received his doctorate in Padua in 1675) and Austria. He was unmarried and died in Vienna the same year, where he is buried. Johan de Witt (1660–1681); was enrolled at the University of Leiden Anna de Witt (b. 1667) Maria de Witt (b. 1669), married to Arend Muys van Holy, mayor of Dordrecht Wilhelmina de Witt (1671–1702). She married her first cousin (the son of Johan de Witt) Johan de Witt Jr. (1662–1701), secretary of Dordrecht

Death He was arrested on false accusations of treason, but did not confess despite severe torture and was ultimately unlawfully condemned to be banished.

In popular culture Cornelis de Witt and his role in Dutch politics was depicted in the 2015 film Michiel de Ruyter. Both brothers play important roles in the novel The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas. In 2007, Austrian artist Matthias Laurenz Gräff, a distant descendant of the De Graeff-Bicker-De Witt family of the Dutch Golden Age used Jan de Baen's painting of Cornelis in his painting "De Gouden eeuw" (The Golden Age) as part of his Diploma series.

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