François Vranck (alternative spellings Vrancke, Vrancken, Franchois Francken
), (
Zevenbergen, 1555? –
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...
, 11 October 1617) was a Dutch lawyer and statesman who played an important role in the founding of 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 ...
.
Family life
Vranck was the son of Gielis Vrancken, a burgomaster of his native Zevenbergen. He studied law, probably abroad, and practiced law before the ''
Hof van Holland'' (high court of the province of Holland) since 1578. He married twice. The name of his first wife apparently has been lost, but he remarried in 1615 with Elisabeth van Westerbeek, daughter of Nicolaas van Westerbeek, Lord of
Katendrecht, and Margaretha van Roon. He died without issue.
Career
In 1583 he was appointed
pensionary of the city of
Gouda
Gouda may refer to:
* Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands
** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda
** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda
** Gouda railway station
* Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...
, which he henceforth represented in the
States of Holland. Here he became a close ally of the
Land's Advocate of Holland,
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. Vrancke was very much opposed to the attempts of the
States-General of the Netherlands to procure a new sovereign, after the departure of the
Duke of Anjou
The Count of Anjou was the ruler of the County of Anjou, first granted by Charles the Bald in the 9th century to Robert the Strong. Ingelger and his son, Fulk the Red, were viscounts until Fulk assumed the title of Count of Anjou. The Robertians ...
. When the
Treaty of Nonsuch nevertheless introduced a kind of English
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its inte ...
over the budding republic, with the arrival of the
Earl of Leicester and English representatives on the
Council of State of the Netherlands, Vrancke became one of the fiercest opponents of English influence and policies. Leicester encouraged the extreme
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
and democratic faction in the Republic's politics against the
Regenten, of which Vranck was a leader.
The ''Deduction''
In 1587 one of the English members of the Council of State,
Thomas Wilkes, launched an attack on the pretensions of the ''Regenten'' to
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
with a "Remonstrance" to the States of Holland, asserting that "by default of a legal prince" sovereignty belonged to the People, and not to ''Regenten'' who at best represented that People. Such an attack on their legitimacy could not be left unchallenged by the States, who commissioned Vranck to write a blistering reply, which he did in the form of his ''Deduction'' (with the very long name
[See Works below.]).
This pamphlet took the form of a historical dissertation, going back 800 years to the mythical origins of the
county of Holland
The County of Holland was a State of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part ...
and its political institutions, and "proving" that since time immemorial sovereignty had resided in the ''
vroedschappen'' and nobility, and that it was ''administered'' by (not transferred to) the States, next to the
Count of Holland
The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.
House of Holland
The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests ...
(whose place had recently been declared vacant by the
Act of Abjuration
The Act of Abjuration ( nl, Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; es, Acta de Abjuración, lit=placard of abjuration) is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from the allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the D ...
). In other words, in this view the republic ''already existed'' so it did not need to be brought into being.
Vranck's conclusions reflected the view of the States at that time and would form the basis of the ideology of the
States-Party faction in Dutch politics, in their defense against the "monarchical" views of their hard-line Calvinist and
Orangist enemies in future decades.
This dissertation was received with great enthusiasm by the States, who later had it entered in the ''Groot Placaetboeck'' (codex of Dutch laws). It formed the basis of constitutional expositions by
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright.
A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delf ...
(''Liber de antiquitate reipublicae Batavicae''; On the Antiquity of the Batavian Republic, 1610)
and
Simon van Slingelandt. The States were so enamored of Vranck that they offered him the post of deputy-Land's Advocate, under Van Oldenbarnevelt, but he had to decline, because the city of Gouda refused to let him go. However, two years later, in 1589, his contract as Pensionary was not renewed.
Career after 1589
After his dismissal by Gouda Vranck again took up his law practice in The Hague. In 1590 he represented the cities of Gouda and
Haarlem in an important lawsuit against the city of
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
about a dam (the Hildam) in the
Rotte river. In 1592 he was appointed a justice in the ''
Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland'' (Supreme Court of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland). In this capacity Vrancke was sent as an intermediary by the States-General in 1597 to resolve a conflict between the city of
Groningen
Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
and its
Ommelanden. Meanwhile, he had declined an offer by the States 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 Nethe ...
to succeed Floris Thin as pensionary, and a similar offer of the city of
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 wit ...
.
In the period after 1592 relations between Vranck and Oldenbarnevelt cooled, as they were opposed on important policy questions. Vranck, together with
Willem Usselincx
Willem Usselincx (1567 – c. 1647) was a Flemish Dutch merchant, investor and diplomat who was instrumental in drawing both Dutch and Swedish attention to the importance of the New World. Usselincx was the founding father of the Dutch West Indi ...
, was very much in favor of giving the proposed
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
(W.I.C.) in the years leading up to the
Twelve Years' Truce a similar status as the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...
, because he expected the new company to cause the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, with which the Republic was fighting the
Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Re ...
, much harm in its American possessions. As Oldenbarnevelt knew that for that reason a truce would become impossible if the plans for founding the company proceeded, he frustrated the plans of Vranck and Usselincx for the W.I.C. Later Vranck opposed the
Erastian stance of Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius in the conflict with the
Contra-Remonstrants, which he thought too extreme. He was no Contra-Remonstrant himself, though, as witnessed by his tolerant stance in religious matters expressed in the polemical ''Wederlegghinge'' (Refutation) that he wrote against a pamphlet by
Franciscus Haraeus
Franciscus Haraeus (Latinised form of Franciscus Verhaer; also known as Frans Verhaer), (Utrecht 1555? - Leuven, 11 January 1631), was a theologian, historian, and cartographer from the Low Countries. He is best known for his history of the origins ...
' (Impartial explanation of the causes of the war in the Netherlands), in itself a reaction to the work of Grotius (which in turn was based on Vranck's own work).
Works
* Franchois Vranck, ''(Deductie of) Corte vertooninge van het recht by den ridderschap, edelen ende steden van Holland ende West-Vrieslandt van allen ouden tyden in den voorschreven lande gebruyckt, tot behoudenisse vande vryheden, gerechtigheden, privilegien ende loffelicke gebruycken van den selven lande, 16 October 1587'' (1587) (A Deduction or Short Exposition of the Rights Exercised by the Knights, Nobles, and Towns of Holland and West Friesland from Time Immemorial for the Maintenance of the Freedoms, Rights, Privileges and Laudable Customs of the Country)
* Franchois Vranck, (posthumously; 1618)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vranck, Francois
1550s births
1617 deaths
Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces)
Dutch legal scholars
People from Moerdijk