Agatha ("Aagje") Deken (1741 in

Nieuwer-Amstel Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

– 14 November 1804, in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

) was a Dutch writer.

Biography

Agatha Deken was born in 1741. In 1745, after her parents died, she went to live in the 'Oranje Appel' orphanage in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, where she remained until 1767. After leaving the orphanage she served in several families and later started a business in coffee and tea. In 1769 she joined the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

community in Amsterdam. At the age of 29 she moved in with her friend Maria Bosch as a nurse. Maria Bosch died in 1773. In 1775, Deken published the collection of poems ''Stichtelijke gedichten'', which she had written together with Maria Bosch. 1776 saw the beginning of a correspondence between Aagje Deken and

Betje Wolff Elizabeth ("Betje") Wolff-Bekker (24 July 17385 November 1804) was a Dutch novelist who, with Agatha "Aagje" Deken, wrote several popular epistolary novels such as ''Sara Burgerhart'' (1782) and ''Willem Levend'' (1784). Biography Betje Bekker w ...

, who had already published several works by that time. In October of that year they met for the first time. After the death of Betje's husband, the two women lived together. In September 1777 they published their first joint work: ''Brieven'' ('Letters'). In 1781 Deken inherited a sum of 13,000 guilders, and they went to live in a mansion in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

. They published the successful novel ''Sara Burgerhart'' and ''Historie van den heer Willem Leevend''. Not quite at ease with the political situation in the Netherlands, when the

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

faction lost power, they moved to Trëoux in

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

in 1788. In 1789 ''Wandelingen door Bourgogne'' ('Walks in Burgundy') appeared. In financial straits, they returned to the Netherlands in 1797 and lived in The Hague. Aagje Deken died on 14 November 1804, nine days after Betje Wolff. Both were buried in

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

References

Sources

* J. Kloek, De historie van de juffrouwen Betje Wolff en Aagje Deken, in brieven, Recensie over P.J. Buijnsters Bibliografie van Betje en Aagje et Het grote en het kleine geld: honoraria van Wolff en DekenIn: De nieuwe taalgids Vol. 83 (1990), pp. 54-62 * P.J. Buijnsters, Auto-reflectie op een Wolff en Deken-bibliografie In: Dokumentaal Vol. 16 (1987), pp. 78-82. * P.J. Buijnsters, Wolff en Deken. Een biografie (1984) * W. van den Berg, Sara Burgerhart en haar derde stem In: Documentatieblad Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw 51-52 (1981), p. 151-207 * P.J. Buijnsters, Bibliografie der geschriften van en over Betje Wolff en Aagje Deken (1979) * P.J. Buijnsters, Hella Haasse en Daisy Wolters, Schrijversprentenboek Betje Wolff en Aagje Deken (1979) * P.J. Buijnsters Sara Burgerhart en de ontwikkeling van de Nederlandse roman in de 18e eeuw (1971) (inaugurele rede) * H.C.M. Ghijssen, Dapper Vrouwenleven. Karakter- en levensbeeld van Betje Wolff en Aagje Deken (1954) * A. Loosjes, Het weeshuis der collegianten De Oranje-Appel (1925)

External links

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Author page
in the DBNL {{DEFAULTSORT:Deken, Aagje 1741 births 1804 deaths People from Amstelveen Dutch women poets Dutch women novelists Writers from Amsterdam 18th-century Dutch novelists 18th-century Dutch women writers 18th-century Dutch writers