Vrijheer van Jaarsveld, Heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere
De Witt (also: De Wit, De Witte and De With) is the name of an old Dutch patrician and regenten family. Originally from Dordrecht, the genealogy of the family begins with Jan de Witte, a patrician who lived around 1295.[1][2] The family have played an important role during the Dutch Golden Age. They were at the centre of Dordrecht and Holland oligarchy from the end of the 16th century until 1672,[3] and belonged to the Dutch States Party.
The De Witt family during the Dutch Golden Age
Historical-allegorical painting "De Gouden eeuw" about the De Graeff, Bicker and De Witt families of the Dutch Golden Age. The painting shows the protagonists around the Amsterdam regent Cornelis de Graeff (middle) and his relatives Johan de Witt (right), Cornelis de Witt (left) and Andries Bicker (second from left) as well as some events from this decade. (Painting by Matthias Laurenz Gräff, 2007)
During the Dutch Golden Age, the republican de Witt family opposed the royalists associated with the House of Orange-Nassau. With other republican political leaders at Dordrecht, such as the van Slingelandts, and at Amsterdam with the Bicker and de Graeff families, the de Witts worked to abolish stadtholdership. They sought full sovereignty for individual regions, so that the Republic of the United Seven Netherlands would not yield to authoritarianism. Instead of a sovereigns (or stadtholder), political and military power would be entrusted to the States General and Holland's city regents.
From 1650 into the 1670s, the de Witts played leading roles in Dutch government. Republicans called this era the Ware Vrijheid (True Freedom), the First Stadtholderless Period.[3]
Johan de Witt (1625–1672), heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere, Grand Pensionary of Holland
Johan de Witt Jr. (1662–1701), heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard and IJsselveere, secretary of the city of Dordrecht
Cornelis Johansz de Witt (1696–1769), vrijheer van Jaarsveld, Burgemeester of Dordrecht, member of the States of Holland
The early 19th Century American politician DeWitt Clinton was descended from the Dutch De Witt family, via his mother Mary De Witt (1737–1795) [4][verification needed]
Statue of Johan (left) and Cornelis de Witt in Dordrecht.
^Eisenstadt, Peter R., ed. (2005). "De Witt Clinton". The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. pp. 348–349. ISBN978-0-8156-0808-0.
Literature
Sypesteyn, C.A. van, De geslachten De Witt te Dordrecht en te Amsterdam in: De Nederlandsche heraut. Tijdschrift op het gebied van geslacht-, wapen- en zegelkunde jrg. 3 (1886 's-Gravenhage; C. van Doorn & zoon).
Panhusen, Luc (2005) De Ware Vrijheid, De levens van Johan en Cornelis de Witt, Atlas
Rowen, Herbert H. (1986) John de Witt – Statesman of the True Freedom“ Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-52708-2.
Fölting, H.P., De landsadvocaten en raadpensionarissen der Staten van Holland en West-Friesland 1480–1795. Een genealogische benadering. Deel III in: Jaarboek Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie. Deel 29 (1975 Den Haag; Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie).
Israel, Jonathan I. (1995) The Dutch Republic – Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall – 1477–1806 Clarendon Press, Oxford, ISBN978-0-19-820734-4.
Netherlands
