Pieter Vreede (October 8, 1750– September 21, 1837) was a Dutch politician of the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bon ...

in the 18th century. Vreede was born in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

and died in Heusden. He was a prominent critic of stadholderian misrule and of the urban patriciate.

Early life

In Leiden, Vreede worked as a cloth and wool manufacturer, as his father had. Pieter Vreede was member of the ''Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde'' (organization of writers and readers) and published some writings about the bad shape of the Dutch society.

Revolution and Later

The patriotic revolution broke out in the 1780s in the Netherlands and Pieter Vreede was one of the enthusiastic participants. Pieter and his friend ''Wijbo Fijnje'' made a constitution for Leiden, helped found the local

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 ...

, a drill society, and helped draft the celebrated Leiden Draft. In 1786, he became a member of the revolutionary town council of Leiden. Vreede joined in a diplomatic expedition in Woerden in 1786. The revolution came to an end, when the Prussian army invaded the Netherlands in 1787. Pieter lost his business in Prussian Emmerich, so his business was reverted to Lier in the

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands nl, Oostenrijkse Nederlanden; french: Pays-Bas Autrichiens; german: Österreichische Niederlande; la, Belgium Austriacum. was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The pe ...

. Revolution broke out in the Austrian Netherlands as well in 1790, when the United States of Belgium were proclaimed. Pieter left Leiden, stopped his business in Lier and settled in Brabant of the States in the city

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, where he continued his business as cloth and wool manufacturer until 1800. France conquered Brabant in 1794 and Pieter Vreede immediately sided with the French. The French were very popular in the Netherlands. Many regarded the orangist regime as wrong due to the events of 1787. In 1794, he became a member of Batavian committee of

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

. The same year, he became a member of the revolutionary committee of

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

. The French continued their advance into the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Pieter Vreede became a member of the administration of the conquered areas of the Netherlands in January 1795. Revolution broke out in the Netherlands and

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 ...

had to flee to England. The

was proclaimed.

Life in Government

Pieter Vreede became a member of the municipality of Tilburg in April 1795. He became a member of the provisional government council of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to t ...

in June 1795. He was chosen in the first democratically elected parliament of the Netherlands, the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic in 1796 for the district of Bergen op Zoom. He was chairman of the parliament from 13 November 1797 to 27 November 1797. Vreede was the most outspoken spokesman of the unitarian democratic parliament members. The unitarian democrats were in favour of a

centralized government A centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments. In a national conte ...

and of general elections for all adult men. The majority in the parliament was in favour of

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...

and semi-democratic elections for property owners. Pieter Vreede and

Wijbo Fijnje Wybo Fijnje (24 January 1750 in Zwolle – 2 October 1809 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch Mennonite minister, publisher in Delft, Patriot, exile, coup perpetrator, politician and - during the Batavian Republic and Kingdom of Holland - manager of the p ...

did a coupe d'état in January 1798 and ruled for a few months, alienating both enemies and friends. Another coupe d'état in June made an end to his rule and Vreede had to flee from the Netherlands to Lier, which was French territory at that time.

Later life

He came back to the Netherlands in the same year and settled in Tilburg where his manufactury was. He stopped his business in 1800 and settled in Waalre. His political career continued in 1815, when the French were gone and the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

was proclaimed. He was a member of the provincial council of

from 1815 onwards. He worked as commissionary of the customs office first local and then on a national level until his death in 1837.

Family

Pieter Vreede was married three times and widowed twice. He had 12 children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vreede, Pieter 1750 births 1837 deaths Deputies of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic Dutch politicians Members of the Dutch Patriots faction People from Leiden