Hillegonda Wentzen

Hillegonda Wentzen also written as Hillegonda Wentzen, Hillegonda Hogerbeets and Hillegonda Wentzen (19 October 1557 – 19 October 1620) was a Dutch woman known for accompanying her husband, Rombout Hogerbeets, during his political imprisonment in the early 17th century. Her life was closely tied to a turbulent period in the Dutch Republic, particularly surrounding the conflict between Maurice of Nassau and the Remonstrants.

Biography Wentzen was born in Dordrecht on 19 October 1557. She was the daughter of Adriaan Wentzen, a former pensionary of Dordrecht (1576–1578) and later a judge at the Hoge Raad, and Josina van Egmond van der Nijenburg.

In March 1591, she married Rombout Hogerbeets, who served as pensionary of Leiden and from 1596, as a judge at the Hoge Raad. The couple had eight children, of whom five daughters and one son reached adulthood. A portrait by Philippus Velijn, dated 1820.