Pieter van der Does (1562 – 24 October 1599) 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 ...

admiral. He was the son of Jacob van der Does (c.1500-1577),

schepen A schepen (Dutch; . ') or échevin (French) or Schöffe (German) is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands. It has been replaced by the ' in the Netherlands (a municipal executive). In modern Belgium, the ''schepen'' or ''éch ...

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 wi ...

during its

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

Life

Pieter van der Does was born in

. In 1586 he became superintendent of the Dutch fleet which witnessed the defeat of the Spanish Armada two years later. In 1588 he was wounded at the siege of

Geertruidenberg Geertruidenberg () is a city and municipality in the province North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The city, named after Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, received city rights in 1213 from the count of Holland. The fortified city prospered un ...

. In 1587 he was also bailiff and dijkgraaf of the Rijnland

water board A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level (the Netherlands, Germany), w ...

, and in 1588 chief

schout In Dutch-speaking areas, a ''schout'' was a local official appointed to carry out administrative, law enforcement and prosecutorial tasks. The office was abolished with the introduction of administrative reforms during the Napoleonic period. Fu ...

of Leiden. On 23 December 1588 he received the post of vice-admiral of west Holland, and some time later he was also master-general of the artillery. In 1594 he was wounded during the siege of Groningen. For his services the

States of Holland and West Friesland 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 co ...

granted him the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

doms of Vriesekoop and Rijnsaterwoude and the title of

jonkheer (female equivalent: ; french: Écuyer; en, Squire) is an honorific in the Low Countries denoting the lowest rank within the nobility. In the Netherlands, this in general concerns a prefix used by the untitled nobility. In Belgium, this is the ...

. In 1597 he was vice-admiral in the

Admiralty of the Maze The Admiralty of Rotterdam, also called the Admiralty of de Maze, was one of the five Dutch admiralties in the Dutch Republic. History The Admiralty of Rotterdam was founded in 1574 during the Dutch Revolt, when (after the Capture of Brielle) W ...

and in 1599 a vice-admiral in the

Admiralty of Amsterdam The Admiralty of Amsterdam was the largest of the five Dutch admiralties at the time of the Dutch Republic. The administration of the various admiralties was strongly influenced by provincial interests. The territory for which Amsterdam ...

. In May 1599 he led a Dutch and

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

fleet which set out to blockade the Iberian coast as part of the Eighty Years' War. En route they attacked the Spanish possession of

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...

, but this was heavily defended and the attack was unsuccessful. It then moved to attack Spanish possessions in West Africa around Sao Tomé, where Van der Does died, either of wounds received at Las Palmas or of malaria.

Bibliography

*Ebben, M.A., ''De aanval van Pieter van der Does op Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (1599) en de Nederlandse expansie rond 1600'', 1999 *Lem, A. van der, Ebben, M.A., Fagel, R.P. & Sicking, L.H.J. (Ed.), ''De Opstand in de Nederlanden, 1555–1609'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Does, Pieter van der Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic 1562 births 1599 deaths People from Leiden 16th-century Dutch people 16th-century Dutch military personnel