The Battle of Jutphaas, also known as the Battle of the Vaart or the Battle of Vreeswijk, occurred on 9 May 1787 on the banks of the Vaartsche Rijn canal near
Jutphaas
Jutphaas is a former village and municipality in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The municipality merged with Vreeswijk in 1971, and is now the northern half of the town of Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the D ...
and
Vreeswijk
Vreeswijk is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The municipality merged with Jutphaas in 1971, and is now the southern half of the town of Nieuwegein. The former village was located on the Lek River, near wher ...
between
Orangists and
Patriots.
Background
The battle was part of an ever-escalating conflict, dubbed a "civil war" by some,
in the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
. Orangists, who supported
stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange
William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a prince of Orange and the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death i ...
and his aristocratic stadtholderian regime, stood against democratic Patriots, who favoured a new
democratic republic
A democratic republic is a form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic and a democracy. As a cross between two exceedingly similar systems, democratic republics may function on principles shared by both republics and democra ...
and the abolition of
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
and the Orange stadtholderate. Aristocratic Patriots or "Old Patriots", who previously cooperated with the democratic Patriots, increasingly changed their alliances in favour of Orange as the group of democrats grew in size and radicalised.
[Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "patriotten". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.] The Patriots, who started arming themselves and formed
exercitiegenootschap
An exercitiegenootschap (, ''exercise company'') or militia was a military organisation in the 18th century Netherlands, in the form of an armed private organization with a democratically chosen administration, aiming to train the citizens and the ...
pen across the Republic from 1783 onwards, demanded reforms to how the country was governed. Beginning in 1782, they seized power in more and more cities, where they elected
vroedschap
The vroedschap () was the name for the (all male) city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a ''vroedman'', literally a "wise man". An honorific title of the ''vroedschap'' was the ''vroede vaderen' ...
pen by popular vote instead of traditional
cooptation
Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings.
It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite Social group, group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition ...
or appointment by the stadtholder.
The city of
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
was taken over by the Patriot city guard led by
Quint Ondaatje and
Jacobus Bellamy
Jacob (Jacobus) Bellamy (November 12, 1757 in Vlissingen, Netherlands – March 11, 1786 in Utrecht) was a Dutch poet.
Biographical notes
Jacobus Bellamy was the son of Jacques Bellami jr. and Sara Hoefnagel. His father died when he was 4. His ...
on 2 August 1785. The stadtholder and the Orangist
regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten (the Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a hered ...
declared Utrecht to be a city in rebellion, and relocated the seat of the
States of Utrecht
The Provincial Council of Utrecht ( nl, Staten van Utrecht, ) is the provincial council for the Dutch province of Utrecht. It forms the unicameral legislature of the province. Its 47 seats are distributed every four years in provincial elections ...
to
Amersfoort
Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...
, while stadtholderian troops set up camp near
Zeist
Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht.
History
The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 8 ...
. William V had to flee from
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 o ...
to
Nijmegen in September 1785, when Patriots seized power and deprived him of the command of the Hague garrison.
[Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Willem ederlanden § Willem V".] In September 1786, however, stadtholderian forces acted swiftly to retake the small Guelderian cities
Hattem
Hattem () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality had a population of in . The municipality includes the hamlet of 't Zand.
Name origin
The name “Hattem” is a typical farmyard name. The exact origin of “H ...
and
Elburg
Elburg () is a municipality and a city in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands.
History
There is evidence of a Neolithic settlement at Elburg consisting of stone tools and pottery shards. From Roman times there are names and shards of earthenw ...
, occupied by Patriots under
Herman Willem Daendels, requiring minimal armed violence. Although these clashes were militarily insignificant, their political impact was great: they sharpened the existing divisions and led to a further militarisation of the conflict.
Battle
Meanwhile, international diplomacy with
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
(pro-Patriot),
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
and
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
(pro-Orange) yielded no results. Orangist troops then moved to occupy several places including
Soestdijk
Soestdijk () is a neighbourhood of Soest and a hamlet in the municipality of Baarn. Both are part of the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. The village gives its name to Paleis Soestdijk, which from 1937 to 2004 was the residence of Princess and ...
, and later
Vreeswijk
Vreeswijk is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The municipality merged with Jutphaas in 1971, and is now the southern half of the town of Nieuwegein. The former village was located on the Lek River, near wher ...
under the count of Efferen.
That last move went too far for the Utrecht Patriots, because the
sluice at Vreeswijk enabled them to protect the city's south flank by
inundation
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
s.
They decided to send an army commanded by
Jean Antoine d'Averhoult
Jean Antoine d'Averhoult, baptized as Jan Anthony d'Averhoult (21 October 1756 in Utrecht – 26 August 1792 in Sedan) was a Dutch military officer and politician of French Huguenot extraction, who played a leading role in both the Patriottentijd ...
, member of the Utrecht vroedschap.
The pro-Patriot
States of Holland The States of Holland and West Frisia ( nl, Staten van Holland en West-Friesland) were the representation of the two Estates (''standen'') to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a c ...
then ordered troops to camp in the border region with Utrecht, under general Albert van Rijssel's command at
Woerden
Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...
.
For contemporaries it wasn't clear where exactly the battle had taken place. Contemporaneous sources both mention ''Iutphaas onder d' Vaart'' and ''het dorp de Vaart'', the latter referring to Vreeswijk. Nowadays it has been established the fighting happened on the location of the modern residential area of Fokkesteeg
between Jutphaas and Vreeswijk (in 1971 merged to
Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein () is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital. It is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the so ...
) and commenced around 10:30 pm.
The armies coincidentally ran into each other. Initially, the Patriots intended to negotiate, but the Orangists were startled by the sudden appearance of the enemy, and immediately opened fire.
Relatively few casualties were sustained, including the Patriot leaders Cornelis Govert Visscher and Johan van der Vlerk. The Patriots managed to gain the upper hand and emerged victorious.
The Orangist soldiers fled, leaving some spoils of war on the battlefield.
Both sides retreated.
Impact
Although of minor military importance, the Patriot press exploited the victory in all sorts of propagandist pamphlets and songs.
The Patriots portrayed themselves as heroic, and compared the clash with the
Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE).
A
folk hero
A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; a ...
cult evolved around especially Cornelis Visscher, who was given a solemn state funeral.
No matter how small his defeat, it confirmed that the prince was no longer able to control the country's internal affairs through force. Moreover, a few days later
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
came firmly into Patriot hands when the Orangist
Bijltjesoproer
Het Bijltjesoproer ("Hatchet Riot") or Kattenburgoproer ("Kattenburg Riot") of 30 May 1787 was an uprising of Dutch Orangist ship carpenters in the Kattenburg quarter of Amsterdam against the city's Patriot regenten. These labourers were nickna ...
was put down on 30 May.
His wife
Wilhelmina of Prussia's arrest at
Goejanverwellesluis
The Goejanverwellesluis is a lock (water transport), lock in Hekendorp, Netherlands. The 'Goejannen' - the men from the surrounding polders who went to sea - said their last farewells by this channel.
According to the tradition, Wilhelmina of Pr ...
(28 June) underlined this powerlessness, and prompted Orange to once more petition Prussia to intervene. King
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II (german: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inherita ...
mounted diplomatic pressure, but the Patriots were not prepared to make any concessions. In the meantime, the States of Holland formed Defence Commission with the Utrecht Patriots on 19 July on the recommendation of the Amsterdam Patriots.
The
Prussian invasion of Holland
The Prussian invasion of Holland was a Prussian military campaign in September–October 1787 to restore the Orange stadtholderate in the Dutch Republic against the rise of the democratic Patriot movement.
Background
The direct cause was the ...
eventually occurred in September 1787, with 25,000 troops easily crushing the Patriot rebels, who did not receive any help from their allies France or the United States, and were forced to surrender within a month. Many Patriots fled to France or the Southern Netherlands, or went underground by forming "reading clubs", that ostensibly convened to discuss books, but actually were about politics. The Orange regime was restored and would survive until the
Batavian Revolution of January 1795, supported by
Revolutionary France
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
's
invading armies with many exiled Patriots amongst their ranks.
Gallery
File:Cornelis-Rogge-Beknopte-historie-der-onlusten-in-de-Nederlanden MG 10702.tif, Firefight next to the Vaartsche Rijn, '' De Post van den Neder-Rhijn''.
File:Cornelis Govert Visscher (1764-1787) door Leonard Venroy (1734-1808).jpg, Cornelis Govert Visscher, Patriot leader fallen near Jutphaas.
File:Cornelis-Rogge-Beknopte-historie-der-onlusten-in-de-Nederlanden MG 1074.tif, Johan van der Vlerk, Patriot leader fallen near Jutphaas.
References
External links
Verleden van Utrecht: De Slag bij Vreeswijk (1787)– dramatisation by
RTV Utrecht (2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jutphaas
Patriottentijd
Battles involving the Dutch Republic
1787 in the Dutch Republic
Conflicts in 1787
Nieuwegein