Thomas Hees (1634 - 1693) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

diplomat, active in the negotiations of the

States General The word States-General, or Estates-General, may refer to: Currently in use * Estates-General on the Situation and Future of the French Language in Quebec, the name of a commission set up by the government of Quebec on June 29, 2000 * States Genera ...

with the corsairs of Barbary. He is mostly known through his famous portrait (painted by

Michiel van Musscher Michiel van Musscher (January 1645 – 20 June 1705) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Michiel van Musscher was born in Rotterdam in January 1645 and was later baptized on 27 January. According to Houbraken, he showed a talent for ...

) but also thanks to the

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

which he kept during his first mission in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Early life

Hees was born to a wealthy family of

Weesp Weesp () is a city, an urban area in the municipality of Amsterdam and a former municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It lies on the river Vecht and next to the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal in an are ...

in 1634. At the age of 20, he was enrolled in the faculty of Philosophy of the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

, only to switch to medicine four years later. He completed his medical studies in

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

and then returned to the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

in 1660 where he was named doctor(''geneesheer'') at the "Collegium Medicum" of

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 ...

. In 1664-5 he accompanied

Jacob Boreel Jacob Boreel (1 April 1630, in Amsterdam – 21 August 1697, in Velsen) was an ambassador in France, sheriff and burgomaster of Amsterdam in 1696. Between 1664 and 1665 he travelled through Russia with his friend Nicolaes Witsen. In 1679, he becam ...

during his embassy to the court of czar

Alexis I Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...

in Moscow.

Missions in Barbary

Even though the Dutch had acquired their own Capitulations by the Ottoman Porte in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

as early as 1612, the corsairs of

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

and

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

(still nominally under the suzerainty of the

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

) kept on preying on Dutch shipping passing through the

Straits A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

, taking hundreds of sailors as slaves in the process. The Dutch government retaliated with a number of punitive expeditions, the most famous of which were the three missions of

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...

in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. In 1674, Algiers decided that it could not keep up fighting against all of the European maritime powers and called on the States General to send an envoy in order to negotiate the terms of a potential peace. The man chosen for this mission was Thomas Hees, who was dispatched to Algiers in 1675, bearing the title of “commissaris”. It took four long years of constant bargaining before Hees could acquire a guarantee of a stable peace agreement, the lengthy negotiations of which he described in his diary. In 1682 Hees was back in Algiers, this time to free the remaining slaves. From then on, he travelled to Tunis and Tripoli in order to conclude peace with these cities as well. Finally, Hees went on a third mission in 1685, this time to reinforce the existing treaties. After the end of his diplomatic career he settled back in Amsterdam. Hees died in 1693 and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk on September 3 of that year.Hardenberg, ''Zeerovers'' 8.

Notes and references

Sources

* Hardenberg, Herman, ''Tussen Zeerovers en Christenslaven. Noordafrikaanse Reisjournalen'', (Leiden 1950). * van Krieken, Gerard, ''Kapers en Kooplieden: De Betrekkingen tussen Algiers en Nederland 1604-1830'', (Amsterdam 1999). * Weber, Roijen, ''De Beveiliging van de Zee tegen Europeesche en Barbarijse Zeerovers 1609-1621'', (Amsterdam 1936). {{DEFAULTSORT:Hees, Thomas 1634 births 1693 deaths 17th-century Dutch diplomats Barbary pirates People from Weesp Burials at the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam