Pieter Florisz (1602 or 1606,

Monnickendam Monnickendam () is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies on the coast of the Markermeer, about southeast of Purmerend. It received city rights in 1355 and was damaged by the fires ...

– 8 November 1658,

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...

) was a Dutch Vice Admiral during the 17th century. He died during the

Battle of the Sound The Battle of the Sound was a naval engagement which took place on 8 November 1658 (29 October O.S.) during the Second Northern War, near the Sound or Øresund, just north of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Sweden had invaded Denmark and an army ...

History

Pieter Florisz was born around 1600 in

and lived there until 1654. His father was Floris Florisz Houtcooper, a timber merchant, who also worked as a ship carpenter and started his own shipyard. His youngest brother Floris wore the name Blom or Bloem. It is not known with certainty whether Pieter also called himself or was named so. Little is known about the first forty years of his life. What is known is that he married three times and had four children who all died young. There are some brief indications that he worked for an Amsterdam shipping company that operated in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. There is more information about the last eighteen years of his life, in which he has participated in various actions and major naval battles on ships of the Dutch war fleet (as captain, bailiff at night, and Vice admiral of the

Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier The Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier (Dutch, 'Northern Quarter'), also known as the Admiralty of West Friesland, was one of the five admiralties of the Dutch Republic, made up of West Friesland, a region in the north of the province of Holland. ...

Death

Pieter Floriszoon died on 8 November 1658 during the

. The

Danish king This is a list of Monarchy of Denmark, Danish monarchs, that is, the kings and queens regnant of Denmark. This includes: * The Kingdom of Denmark (up to 1397) ** Personal union of Denmark and Norway (1380–1397) * The Kalmar Union (1397–1536) ...

ordered an embalmer to embalm him with great honors and to be laid out in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. On 8 November 1659, a state funeral took place in the Grote Kerk in

Hoorn Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...

, where later a marble tomb was erected, a work by Pieter van Campfort, which would be largely lost in a fire in 1838. All that remains is the wooden lid of his coffin and a cracked marble image of the fatal

. The Lid and image can both be seen in the Westfries Museum in

. It is said that there were no famous last words in his dying hour, only his great courage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Floriszoon, Pieter 1600s births 1658 deaths 17th-century Dutch military personnel Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars People from Monnickendam

History

Death

See also

References