Rombout Hogerbeets
Encyclopedia
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
and statesman. He was tried for treason, together with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
, and Gilles van Ledenberg
Gilles van Ledenberg
Gilles van Ledenberg was a Dutch statesman. He was secretary of the States of Utrecht from 1588 until his arrest for treason in 1618, together with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. He committed suicide to prevent forfeiture of his assets, but he was sentenced to death posthumously and posthumously...
during the political crisis of 1617-1618 in the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, and sentenced to life-imprisonment. He shared Loevestein
Loevestein
Castle Loevestein is a medieval castle built by the knight Dirc Loef van Horne between 1357 and 1397....
prison with Grotius.
Early life and career
Hogerbeets was the son of Dirk Hendriksz. Hogerbeets, a medical doctor and burgomaster of Hoorn. When he was seven years old, he went into exile to WeselWesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
with his parents, because they were persecuted by Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands , nicknamed "the Iron Duke" in the Low Countries because of his harsh and cruel rule there and his role in the execution of his political opponents and the massacre of several...
's Council of Troubles
Council of Troubles
The Council of Troubles was the special tribunal instituted on September 9, 1567 by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, governor-general of the Habsburg Netherlands on the orders of Philip II of Spain to punish the ringleaders of the recent political and religious "troubles" in the...
. He attended Latin school
Latin School
Latin School may refer to:* Latin schools of Medieval Europe* These schools in the United States:** Boston Latin School, Boston, MA** Brooklyn Latin School, New York, NY** Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School, Long Island, NY...
in that city. He studied law under Donellus
Hugues Doneau
Hugues Doneau, commonly referred also by the Latin form Hugo Donellus , was a French law professor and one of the leading representatives of French legal humanism ....
and received his doctorate in law from Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
in 1584. Already in 1590 he was appointed pensionary
Pensionary
A pensionary was a name given to the leading functionary and legal adviser of the principal town corporations in the Netherlands because they received a salary, or pension.-Historical development:...
of the city of Leiden and secretary of the Board of Regents
Board of governors
Board of governors is a term sometimes applied to the board of directors of a public entity or non-profit organization.Many public institutions, such as public universities, are government-owned corporations. The British Broadcasting Corporation was managed by a board of governors, though this role...
of Leiden University. He resigned these posts when he was made a Justice in the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (the supreme court of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
) in 1596. As hoofdingeland (member of the governing board) of the Holland North Quarter Drainage District
Water board (The Netherlands)
Dutch water boards are regional government bodies charged with managing the water barriers, the waterways, the water levels, water quality and sewage treatment in their respective regions...
he was closely involved in the draining of the Beemster
Beemster
Beemster is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Also, the Beemster is the first so-called polder in the Netherlands that was reclaimed from a lake, the water being extracted out of the lake by windmills. The Beemster Polder was dried during the period 1609 through...
lake around 1605. In 1611 he was a member of the diplomatic mission of the States-General of the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
to mediate between Denmark and Sweden in the Kalmar War
Kalmar War
The Kalmar War was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark soon gained the upper hand, she was unable to defeat Sweden entirely...
(which had harmed Dutch commerce). On 8 December, 1617 he was again appointed pensionary of Leiden and he therefore resigned his seat in the Hoge Raad.
Hogerbeets married Hillegonda Wentzen in March, 1591. They had one son and five daughters.
Arrest and trial
As pensionary of Leiden, Hogerbeets was deeply involved in the political crisis that engulfed the Oldenbarnevelt regime in 1618 and brought about its fall. Leiden was one of the Holland cities whose regentsRegenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations . Though not formally a hereditary "class", they were de facto "patricians", comparable to that ancient Roman class...
were partisans of the Remonstrants
Remonstrants
The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement from Calvinism.-History:The five...
and had agitated for the Sharp Resolution of 1617 which authorized city governments to raise private armies, called waardgelders. The Counter-Remonstrants, the enemies of the Remonstrants opposed this, and the stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
, Maurice of Nassau
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange from 1618, on the death of his eldest half brother, Philip William, Prince of Orange,...
viewed this policy as a challenge to his authority as commander-in-chief of the States Army. In the ensuing rounds of intrigue and counter-intrigue to procure the disbanding of the waardgelder companies, or to prevent the disbandment, Hogerbeets, together with Grotius and a few other Remonstrant regents from Holland, privately met with a like-minded group of Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
regents, led by Gilles van Ledenberg
Gilles van Ledenberg
Gilles van Ledenberg was a Dutch statesman. He was secretary of the States of Utrecht from 1588 until his arrest for treason in 1618, together with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. He committed suicide to prevent forfeiture of his assets, but he was sentenced to death posthumously and posthumously...
to discuss strategy in the political struggle with Maurice and the Counter-Remonstrants on 5 July, 1618. This was later construed as a conspiracy.
Maurice went ahead with his plans to disarm the waardgelders in Utrecht at the end of July, 1618. His show of force thoroughly intimidated the group of regents around Oldenbarnevelt and they were prepared to make concessions. Nevertheless, on 28 August, 1618 the States-General, on a secret majority-vote, authorized Maurice to arrest the Remonstrant "ringleaders" and the next day Oldenbarnevelt, Grotius, Ledenberg and Hogerbeets were duly taken prisoner and incarcerated at the Binnenhof
Binnenhof
The Binnenhof , is a complex of buildings in The Hague. It has been the location of meetings of the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch parliament, since 1446, and has been the centre of Dutch politics for many centuries....
.
As a citizen of Leiden and of Holland, Hogerbeets would normally have been tried by a court of law of that city or that province. This was a civil right, known as the Jus de non evocando
Jus de non evocando
The Jus de non evocando is an ancient feudal right, stating that no one can be kept from the competent court. It derives from a medieval principle that subjects of the Crown were entitled to ius de non evocando, the right to enjoy the jurisdiction and protection of the Crown to which they were loyal...
. However, the States-General decided to try the defendants themselves and as the confederation did not have its own judicial branch the matter was eventually delegated to a judicial commission of the States-General (a policy that was not unusual in itself). The pre-trial investigation
Inquisitorial system
An inquisitorial system is a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as opposed to an adversarial system where the role of the court is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecution and the defense...
in the case was handled by three fiscals (prosecutors): Laurens Sylla, Pieter van Leeuwen and Anthonie Duyck.
As an accomplished lawyer, Hogerbeets tried to avail himself of his legal rights
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
under Dutch law. However, due process was systematically denied him, though he apparently was not threatened with torture like his colleague Ledenberg. After many interrogations and a long wait (during which his wife was denied access to him, though he was allowed to correspond with her) he finally expected to have his day in court on 18 May, 1619. A few days earlier, members of the court had pressed him privately to ask for mercy, but he had refused, protesting his innocence. When the trial opened he was not allowed to state his defense, but made to listen to the reading of the verdict, that had already been decided upon. Together with Grotius he was convicted of treason against the federal government and sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
and forfeiture
Asset forfeiture
Asset forfeiture is confiscation, by the State, of assets which are either the alleged proceeds of crime or the alleged instrumentalities of crime, and more recently, alleged terrorism. Instrumentalities of crime are property that was allegedly used to facilitate crime, for example cars...
of his and his wife's assets.
Like Grotius, Hogerbeets was incarcerated in the fortress of Loevestein. Their wives were allowed to join them in jail. His wife fell ill, however, and after four months she died on 19 October, 1620, her birthday. It apparently took three days to remove the body, and it caused him much distress to have to share the cell with his wife's corpse.
During his incarceration he authored a law manual, entitled: Korte inleidinge tot de praktyk voor de Hoven van Justitie in Holland (Short introduction to the practice of law before the courts of justice in Holland).
When Maurice's brother Frederick Henry
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...
succeeded the former in 1625, Hogerbeets was allowed to transfer to more pleasant surroundings in Wassenaar, where he was put under house arrest. He died there on 7 September, 1625. He was buried in the Groote Kerk in The Hague on 12 September, 1625.