| 24th March 1607 |
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter is born in Flushing. |
|
The words in bold yellow, are links
to a more detail;ed account of the item, however, these accounts
are mostly in Dutch. some are in English |
| 3 rd August 1618 |
Sails for the first time on board a Merchant
vessel of the Lampsins Bros. as a "Hoogbootsmansjongen"
(orderly for the Chief Petty Officer) Age 11. |
|
|
| 2nd October 1622 |
The siege of the Spaniards on the city of Bergen
op Zoom is broken. De Ruyter took part in the operations as a
horseman with his owm horse. Age 15 |
|
|
| 1622 |
Accompanies
his uncle (brother of his mother) who is a soldier in the
cavalry and who has therefore assumed the surname “de Ruyter”
(meaning ‘horseman’ or ‘rider’) and fights a number of
minor battles a/o. at the siege of Bergen op Zoom. (Age of
fifteen). Later that year he joined a ship again. Little is
known about the following years, only that at one time he
temporarily returned to land in order to continue his studies to
qualify for a position as an officer. However it is generally
assumed that his uncle prompted him to quit the sea and resume
his studies, because it is around this time that he starts using
the name of “de Ruyter” to honour his uncle whom he greatly
admired |
|
|
| 16th March 1631 |
Marries (1.) Maria Velters who dies in
childbirth, the child, a daughter, dies three weeks later. |
|
|
| 8th May 1633 |
Joins a whaler of the Greenland Cy.
"De Groene Leeuw" (The Green Lion) as a deck
officer, (stuurman) He will make three voyages as a whaler. |
|
|
| 1st July 1636 |
Marries (2.) Cornelia (Neeltje)
Engels.. |
|
|
| 23rd April 1637 |
Is appointed
Captain in the Merchant Fleet of a large shipowner (meesra
Lampsins from Flushing) to help defend that fleet against a
notorious bunch of marauders, the "Duinkerker Kapers"
(Privateers from Dunkirque)
Many of the famous tricks he used to defeat them have given rise
to as many anecdotes that showed his resourcefulness to prevail
against heavy odds. These Merchant ships were armed, but usually
no match for the heavily manned and fast privateers.
E.g. he was once said to have covered the decks of his ship with
rancid butter and ordered his own men to wear socks over their
bare feet to improve their grip. But the privateers who boarded
his ship fell flat on their faces and could be cut down at
leisure. These and other ‘ruses de guerre’ are well known. |
|
|
| 1640 |
Two trips to Brazil and the
West-Indies. |
|
|
| 12th August 1641 |
His
first appointment in the Fighting Navy (as opposed to the
Merchant Marine) as a Rear-Admiral in his ship
“De Haze”under Admirals Gijsels and Tolck, to Portugal,
Cape
St Vincent (The same place where app. 150 years later Nelson
would fight his battle of Trafalgar). Admiral Gijsels lost this
fight and de Ruyter vowed never to sail in the Navy again. He
cursed the captains as blundering cowards who could not handle a
ship nor did they obey those who could. A REAR-Admiral, as the title
implies, guards the rear of the fleet to catch those captains
who try to flee from the spot on the eve of battle. De Ruyter
wanted to court martial these cowards, but was prevented from
hanging them because of political consequences this caused his
strong distrust of politicians and conniving landlubbers, and
prompted his vow never to join the Navy again. |
|
|
| 1649 |
Second son Engel is
born |
|
|
| 1642 - 1651 |
He sails as senior
captain (Commodore) of the merchant fleet of Messrs Lampsins
(The last few years he is the owner of his own ship, ‘De
Salamander’ but chartered it to Lampsins and continues as
Lampsin’s senior captain.) He was a very astute negotiator and
tradesman, who achieved deals that had until then been
impossible, e.g. he managed to get the sole trading rights with
the Bey of Algiers, together with a exemption from attacks by
the notorious pirates. No doubt this was the source of his not
inconsiderable wealth. |
| the "Salamander" |
 |
|
|
| 25th September
1950 |
Cornelia Engels,
his second wife, dies, |
|
|
| 1651 |
Foundation of the
English Republic under Oliver Cromwell. England puts the "Navigation
Act"into effect, aimed at crippling the Dutch Merchant
Trade and favouring their own young HEIC. |
|
|
| 8th January 1652 |
Marries (3.) the
widow of an army captain, Anna van Gelder, (who will outlive him)
He quits his position at Lampsins and retires to live quitly on
shore. He had complained that all his children were born, and
both his earlier wifes had died while he was at sea. So decided
that his sea-faring days were over. |
|
|
| 1652 - 1654 |
First
Anglo - Dutch War 1652 - 1654. |
|
|
| 29th July 1652 |
De Ruyter breaks
his “vow” of 1641 and accepts an appointment as a
vice-commodore in the Navy. He raised his Flag for the fist time
on board his flagship “Neptunus” on the 6th August 1652.The
appointment was a political move, as the powerful provinces of
Holland and Zeeland could not agree on the officer who was to be
the second in command (Holland provided the commander of the
fleet, but that admiral did not accept any of the likely
candidates of Zeeland as his deputy, nor did these officers
accepted the position of a deputy, but insisted on overall
command.
De Ruyter, who was relatively unknown on the political scene,
but very well known as an able seaman who had some very strong
ideas about discipline and tactics, was acceptable to
all parties. |
|
|
| 26th August 1652 |
Battle of
Plymouth, (Slag
bij Plymouth) against George Ayscue, who retreats. (de Ruyter knew Ayscue personally, - he called him
"Joris Haskus" He had met him in 1651 during his last
trip in "The Salamander" They liked each other and
stayed relatively befriended as the circumstances permitted |
|
|
| 8th October 1652 |
Slag
bij de Hoofden Battle of the
Zealand Approaches (Kentish Knock) under admiral Witte de With
against
Blake, (Dutch)
who was victorious. Blake
(English) |
Witte Corneliszoon
de With
Robert Blake |
  |
|
|
| 10th december
1652 |
Battle of Singels
(Dungeness)
under Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (the elder) against Blake, who
retreats. |
Maarten Harpertszn
TROMP.
George Monck
Duke of Albemarle.
|
  |
|
|
| 28th February -
1st and 2nd March 1653 |
Battle of Portland,
under M.H. Tromp against Blake
(English)
and Monck
(Dutch) who are victorious. Tromp retreats. |
| |
|
| 12th - 13th June
1653 |
Battle of
North Foreland, under M.H. Tromp, against
Monck, (English)
Tromp retreats, |
|
|
| 10th August
1653, |
Battle of Ter Heyde
(Battle of
Scheveningen) under Tromp, against the combined English fleets. Tromp is
killed in action. However, his fleet was victorious (English
historians claim a draw) but the British
invasion fleet had to retreat; the threat against the Dutch
coast is averted. - For now !
-- De Ruyter escorts 40 Merchant vessels home from
Norway, no military action is necessary.
. |
|
|
| 11th November
1653. |
de
Ruyter is appointed Vice-admiral of Holland and West-Frieslandt,
at the admiralty of Amsterdam. (The 7 United Provinces, as our
country was internationally known, had a number of independent
admiralties, the one from Holland, in Amsterdam was the most
powerful, second came “De Maze” from Rotterdam, then Zeeland
and Friesland. De Ruyter was originally employed by the
admiralty of Zeeland, but after M.H. Tromp’s
death he was transferred to the leading admiralty, that supplied
the Vice-admirals. This was because politically Zeeland could
not supply the second in command of the combined fleet and yet
de Ruyter was elected for the job, so he switched admiralties. |
|
|
| 1653 |
Johan de Wit
becomes
Chancellor in what is called the first
“Stadhoudersloze tijdperk” (period without a hereditary
ruler from the House of Orange, called a ‘stadhouder’) It
should be noted, that de Ruyter has strong republican sympathies
and is a declared opponent of the Princes of Orange, who claimed
the title of ‘stadhouder’.He develops a strong personal
friendship with Johan de Wit. Our country thanks its
"Golden Age" to these two men, whose cooperation came
at a crucial time in our history. The Politician and the Sailor,
one preparing the conditions in which the other could excell,
and Holland was the great beneficiary.
In England Oliver Cromwell executes the King and becomes
Lord - Protector of Britain. |
| Johan de Wit |
 |
|
|
| 1654 - 1656 |
De Ruyter is sent
to the Mediterranean to fight the French and the Barbery Coast
pirates. He is quite succesfull because he had excellent
contacts with the Algerian Bey (ruler) with whom he developed a
trading relation during his Merchant captain days. |
|
|
| 1654 |
The First Anglo -
Dutch War ends without any gain for the Seven United Provinces.
The "Navigation Act"which crippled the Dutch Merchant Marine, remained in
force and the British fleet was still the most powerfull naval
force and controlled the seas. |
|
|
| 1655 |
De Ruyter moves to
Amsterdam, where his family will live while he is at sea until his death in
1676, He is awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen"of
Amsterdam.
His Eldest son Adriaen dies and his daughter Anna is
born. |
| de Ruyter's family |
 |
|
|
| 1656 |
De Ruyter sails
with a fleet to Dantzig and breaks the Swedish siege on the town. |
|
|
| 1656 - 1657 |
De Ruyter sails
again to the Mediterranean to fight ther pirates he entered into
a trade-agreement between Salee (Algiers) and The Seven United
Privinces. |
|
|
| 1657 - 1661 |
Trade War between
the Dutch and the Portugese. |
|
|
| 1658 |
De Ruyter cruises
along the Portuguese coast and blockades their ports. Wassenaer
van Obdam, the other Vice-admiral of the Admiralty of Holland
and politically de Ruyter’s senior, defeats the Swedish fleet
in the Sont, The Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch fleet, Witte de
Witt, dies and is replaced by Wassenaer van Obdam.
Oliver
Cromwell dies and is succeeded by his son Richard. |
|
|
| 1659 |
De Ruyter sails to
Denmark to support the Dutch fleet. |
|
|
| 24th November
1659 |
de
Ruyter recaptures the Danish island of Funen from the Swedes. He
does this by executing a landing from sea. Until then a
sea-battle was considered to be fought at sea, while a
land-battle was fought on land ‘and never the twain shall
meet’ However de Ruyter broke with this military dogma and
executed a landing on the beaches of the Island of Funen and
completely surprised the Swedish garrison, thus gaining the
upper hand and driving them from the last stronghold they had
outside the Swedish peninsula. The sovereignty of the Kingdom of
Denmark is secured.
In all honesty It must be said, that the Dutch did not care
about the plight of the Danish crown, They only feared that, if
both shores of the Sont, - the passage into the Baltic,- would
fall into the same hands – either Sweden or Denmark – the Dutch merchants
would have to pay heavy dues for the right to pass to those rich
trade-grounds. So it was decided to help the loser, whoever that
might be, thus securing a dual power over the Sont.
After the success of this military novelty of bringing a
land-battle to the enemy across the sea, he ordered his
second-in-command, Jozef Baron van
Ghent, to establish a Corps
of special soldiers that he called the “Zee-soldaten” (Sea-soldiers)
based on board of the ships, which he intended to use for such
actions in the future, thus he could be called the
“inventor” of the Marine Corps. The Dutch Marines where
founded in 1665, just before the Medway-Raid, The Dutch have
been misers all along and the British who had spies on de
Ruyter’s fleet, beat him to it and founded their Marines in
1663. So in a way, de Ruyter is also the initiator of the oldest
Marine Corps, that of the British. |
Capture of
the city of Nyborg,on the island
of Funen, in a combined operation by
land- en seaforces. |
 |
|
|
| 1660 |
De Ruyter is
knighted by Frederick III of Denmark and is given a Code of
Arms. In view of the innovative way in which he saved the Danish
Royal House the crest shows in a sort of rebus his naval as well
as land based successes of the Land- and Sea-theatres of
operation. He returns home. In England the Monarchy is restored
and Charles II returns to Britain through the Netherlands. The
Peace Treaty of Copenhagen ends the Nordic War. The Dutch keep
the right of passage through the Sont for the normal fee. |
| The official
crest for all ships in the Royal Netherlands Navy that bear the name"de Ruyter" |
 |
|
|
| 1661 - 1663 |
Again de Ruyter
operates in the Mediterranean against the local pirates. |
|
|
| 1661 |
Peace Treaty of The
Hague, between The Seven United Provinces and Portugal.
In France Louis XIV ascends to the throne. |
|
|
| 1664 - 1665 |
De Ruyter is sent
to Benin (West Africa) and the Caribbean (Martinique). From his
trip to Benin comes the following anecdote. When he was a young
boy in school in Flushing he had a Negro boy as a classmate. The
boy was an orphan taken from a slaver and brought back to
Zeeland where he was raised by Dutch foster parents. Later the
boy returned to Africa. Ruyter never indulged in the slave-trade.
He was known to have liberated app. 2.500 Christian slaves from
the Barbary Pirates in the mediterranean, by making as many
prisoners as possible and exchanging those with the local
dignitaries for indentured slaves, by releasing more prisoners
than having slaves freed he managed to close some profitable
trade deals with those dignitaries as well. The story goes, that
when de Ruyter stopped along the Benin coast to refresh his ship’s
water supply he encountered a local chieftain who turned out to
be the classmate of yore. The boy had managed to use his
superior western education by rising to the exalted rank of King
and he greeted the Dutch men in undiluted Flushing slang. de
Ruyter did not purchase any of this "black gold" but
is said to have reminisced with the King on board his flagship
thus acquiring preferential treatment and safe-passage while
replenishing his stores.
While at it, he recaptured the Fort Del Mina, originally built
by the Dutch as a stronghold to support their slave-trade and a
haven for their Merchant ships on their way to the East-Indies.
Del Mina was recently captured by the British, but de Ruyter
managed to recapture it and imprisoned two British captains and
impounded their ships and cargo. One of them was later
imprisoned in the Tower of London, for losing his command. He
also confiscated their Royal Commissions.
When he returned home after visiting
the West-Indies a new war (The second Anglo-Dutch
war.) had broken out between England and The
7 United Provinces and he had to sail north of Scotland with his rich convoy
to avoid the British fleet. He managed to reach Friesland safely
on August 6, 1665 and was cheered like a hero.and a saviour of
the Nation. |
|
|
| Royal
Commission, signed by James II, of one of the unfortunate
captains. |
 |
|
|
| 29th January
1665. |
De Ruyter is
appointed Luitenant-Admiral. Wassenaer van Obdam (technically
still Commander-in-Chief and de Ruyter’s senior) is beaten by
the Duke of York at Lowestoft and dies in that battle on June 13th.
He is temporarily succeeded by Cornelis Tromp
as a deputy,
son of Maarten
Harpertszoon Tromp |
| Duke of York |
 |
|
|
| 11th August 1665 |
De Ruyter is
appointed Admiral of the Fleet and C.i.C. of the combined Dutch war-fleet.
The Dutch Navy does not know a higher rank than that of
Luitenant-Admiraal, the supposedly next highest rank is that of
Admiral, but a Lt-Adm. is already a 4-star flag-officer, so
Admiral would be the equivalent of a 5-star general or Marshal.
The Dutch Army does not know that rank either. Only the King of
The Netherlands can have those ranks and only in times of war. |
| 1665 - 1667 |
Second
Anglo - Dutch War (English)
Tweede
Engelse Oorlog (Dutch) |
| 10th December
1665 |
The Dutch Marine
Corps is founded. The founder was de Ruyter’s second in
command during the Danish campaign in 1660, Vice-admiral Jozef
Baron van Ghent but de Ruyter is considered the spiritual father
of both the British and the Dutch marines as it was he who first
considered the idea of transferring a sea-battle onto land by
means of a “landing” with specialised troops that knew land-
as well as sea warfare. The British who had copied his ideas
after his success in the landing at Nyland, were 2 years quicker
in executing those ideas than van Ghent was. |
Willem Joseph
Baron van
Ghent. |
 |
|
|
| 11th - 14th June
1666 |
Four-day-battle
(English) Vierdaagse
Zeeslag (Dutch)
One
of the most famous battles by de Ruyter, in this battle he sails
for the first time on his brand new flagship “De Zeven
Provinciën” (the 7 Provinces) which is to be his flagship in
most of his great battles and which is currently being rebuilt,
identical to the last peg and nail, in a historical dockyard in
Lelystad. He also uses a newly devised system of flagsigns or
hoists. This system is to remain in operation with only minor
alterations until the early nineteenth century with signs that
were devised by de Ruyter,
He had many observers and young students of naval warfare (midshipmen
or ensigns) from other nations aboard. Among them a young French
nobleman, Du
Quesne, who was later to be the C-I-C of the French
fleet before Syracuse and the bay of the Etna, where de Ruyter
died.)
De Ruyter beats the British admiral Monck. |
| Four Days Battle. |
 |
|
|
| 4th - 5th August
1666 |
St
James' Day Fight (Tweedaagse Zeeslag) |
|
|
| 20th Augus 1666 |
De Ruyter is awarded the Order of St
Michel by Louis XIV of France. |
|
|
| 20th - 23rd June 1667 |
The
Medway Raid (De
Tocht naar Chatham). |
|
|
| 1668 |
Peace Treaty of Breda.which ended the
second Anglo - Dutch
War. The Dutch had to give up New York (Nieuw Amsterdam as
it was called at the time) but gor Surinam. Although the British
claimed a victory, it failed to achieve the British objective,
The Dutch Fleet was still "Ruling the Waves"
De Ruyter's eldest son, Engel de Ruyter, is received at the
Court of Charles II and is knighted.
(De Ruyter refused to accept an invitation.) |
|
|
| 1670 |
Secret Treaty between England and
France, against the Seven United Provinces. |
| 1672 - 1673 |
Third Anglo - Dutch War |
| 1672 |
England and France combined with the
independant German principalities of Munster and Cologne, and
declared war on the Seven United Provinces. |
|
|
| 7th June 1672 |
Battle
of Sole Bay against the Duke of York and the Conte d’Estrées,
the English and French C-I-C. with their entire fleet.
The numerical advantage of the enemy is app. 3 : 1, but, as in
all later battles, they failed to make good use of their
numerical superiority because de Ruyter applied the same tactics
as in the (St
James' Day Fight. (English)
Tweedaagse
Zeeslag (Dutch)
only this time he followed through and
destroyed as many ships as he could, whenever he had managed to
cut some of them off of the main force. His superbly trained
captains and crews more than offset the numerical superiority of
the combined English/French fleet. This first encounter in the
Third Anglo - Dutch War was undecided. |
|
|
| 1672 |
The
“Annus Horribilis” or “Disaster Year” in the history of
the United Provinces. The French army overruns the entire
southern part of the country till it reached the final line of
defence behind a stretch of inundated land (Waterlinie) The
armies of Munster and Cologne occupy the entire East of the
country. The Seven United Provinces are reduced to a few square
miles around the major west Holland cities. Johan de Witt, the
architect of the Dutch Economical Miracle of the Seventeenth
Century (our Golden Age), the great promoter of our naval
superiority and personal friend of de Ruyter, is lynched by an
angry mob outside his townhouse in The Hague. William III (later
to become King of England and responsible for the Irish
controversy between the Catholics and the Protestants) becomes
‘Stadhouder’ (hereditary Overlord.)
de Ruyter goes on record as being disgusted about the prince’s
inaction when de Witt was threatened by the mob. When he is
warned that in the prevailing political climate it is not
wise to speak in favour of the killed chancellor and against the prince
he says: “Wanneer het in
‘t Vaderlant so geleeghen is dat men er de Waerheit niet mag
en spreecken, so is het er ellendigh gesteld, nochtans sal ick
die spreecken solang mijn ogen
openstaan”
(When the situation in our country is such that one can no
longer speak the Truth, it is in a sorry state indeed,
nonetheless shall I continue to speak the Truth as long as my
eyes are open).
(This quotation was circulated during W.W.II on a surreptitiously
distributed pampflet.) |
|
|
| 1672 - 1673 |
De Ruyter is appointed C.i.C. of the
maritime defences of the City of Amsterdam. |
|
|
| 1672 |
Tromp
is a staunch supporter of the Prince, but de Ruyter’s genius
puts him above
politics so he is still appointed
Luitenant-Admiraal-Generaal van Hollandt en West-Frieslandt, The
suffix ‘generaal’ means the same as the english word
‘general’ (algemeen) indicating that his appointment as
Lt-Adm. is not by virtue of his being the Lt-Adm of the
admiralty of Amsterdam, which was the most powerful and which
always supplied the C-I-C, but that he was appointed in the same
capacity in his own right by all the other admiralties as well.
The prince managed to convince de Ruyter and
Tromp, clearly the two best naval commanders of their time, to
overcome their differences and to join in the common cause to
safe the nation.
Thus Tromp joined the fleet as the deputy of de Ruyter, and he
did so wholeheartedly, fully accepting him as his commander and
atoning for his previous misconduct by repeatedly preventing de
Ruyter from being surrounded by enemy ships. |
|
|
| 7th June 1673 |
First Battle of
Schoneveld against the combined fleets of Prince Rupert of
England and the Conte d’Estrées of France. The outcome is
undecided.
The French Commander keeps his fleet out of the battle, thus
causing Prince Rupert to avoid contact as well. |
|
|
| 21st August 1673 |
Battle of Kijkduin
against the same fleets. This time d’Estrées joins in the
fighting, but he and Prince Rupert are again skilfully
out-manoeuvred and split apart. Yet the numerical superiority of
the two opponents is so overwhelming that, although the Dutch
have decidedly won this battle and managed to drive off both
fleets, the condition of their fleet is such that another battle
against any force at all would surely end in disaster.
However, luckily the same condition prevailed with the British
fleet and the French, who still had a good fleet left, which had
not joined the squadron under d’Estrées, did not attack again. |
|
|
| 1674 |
De Ruyter sails to
the Caribbean to attack the French interests in
that area, but the attack on Martinique
is a disaster with a
great loss of life. It is rumoured that de Ruyter had given the
overall command in the hands of his deputy on that mission, his
son Engel, who botched the job. We have no proof of this, but it
is a fact that Engel did not have his father’s military
genius, nor his modest and God-fearing nature.
Holland manages to make peace with England, Munster and Cologne.
The result is that all parties return to their pre-war positions
(nothing gained nothing lost). But it should be noted, that The
Seven United Provinces had maintained the independence and
international recognition which they had won in 1648 when they
made peace with their former colonial masters, the Spanish. The war with France
continues, but there are almost no clashes. It is a stand-off. |
|
|
| 1675 |
De Ruyter is send
to the Mediterranean again, this time to fight the French and to
assist the new ally, the Spanish in their colonies in Naples and
Sicily. However, by that time the Dutch fleet had been seriously
neglected an de Ruyter complained that is was far to weak for
the task ahead. One of the ministers asked him with a snigger,
if the man had developed a fear at his old age. De Ruyter
answered with great dignity: "Ick ben niet bevreesd,
indien mij bevolen wierd met een enkel schip zee te kiezen, Ick
sou den vijant aantasten, Daar waar de Heeren Staaten hunne
Vlagh vertrouwen sal ick mijn leeven wagen" (I'm not
afraid, If you would order me to sail with one single ship, I
would meet and attack the enemy. Where Your Lordships
hazard their Flag, I will risk my life.) This quotation is
engraved in a panel on the walls of our Naval Academy, Willemsoord, in Den
Helder. |
|
|
| 8th January 1676 |
Battle against the French Admiral Duquesne, which is undecided. |
|
|
| 11th February 1676 |
De Ruyter frees
26
Hungarian ministers from the galleys.
In another part of the world, in the Austrian empire, the
Hungarian people had repeatedly revolted against their Austrian
masters, every time the Austrians had easily won, but the flea
in the pelt remained a nuisance, so finally the Austrians had
clamped down on the rebels and had captured and sentenced to
death their leaders, which were in all the Hungarian villages
the local – Protestant – ministers, 26 in all.
This was an added bonus for the Catholic House of Habsburg.
However serious diplomatic protests from the Protestant nations
of Europe, among them England and the Seven United Provinces
against the death sentences, made the Austrian Emperor to
‘pardon’ them to a life-sentence of forced labour as
galley-slaves. Since Austria did not have harbours with galleys
the 26 ministers were marched from Vienna to Naples, 3 died from
exhaustion and 23 were given, as a token of friendship, to the
Viceroy of Naples (The Habsburgs were related to the House of
Bourbon-Savoy, the Spanish Royal House.)
de Ruyter decided to try to free these ministers and argued that
he claimed the 23 lives for all the lives – surely more than
23 – that he was prepared to sacrifice in
the interest of the Spanish Royal House. (An astute
trader till the end)
He got them off and had to promise that they would never set
foot on the territories of either the Austrian or Spanish
Sovereigns. This he promised so the 23 ministers went into exile
and joined the Dutch fleet and remained on board all through the
subsequent battles
To this very day the Hungarian people regard this success as the
symbolic first victory against the Austrian oppression. For this
act of humanity they erected a statue of de Ruyter in the City
of Debreczen, near the Romanian border and celebrate the
liberation of the ministers every year. The ambassador of
Hungary in The Netherlands lays a wreath on the tomb of de
Ruyter every year on 22 february. |
| 18th March 1878 |
The Spanish King,
Charles II (not to be confused with the English king during the
second and third Anglo – Dutch War)
appoints de Ruyter as Duke and Grande of Spain. This later
caused much resentment in Holland as the Dutch nobility does not
have any dukes, so de Ruyter’s son would suddenly outrank the prince of Orange,
who was afterall only a count, this was of course unthinkable so Engel
later changed it into Baron. |
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De Ruyter is
awarded the Spanish title in Amsterdam, by the Spanish
Ambassador in the Seven United Provinces.
This 19th century gobelin is an historic anachronism, as de
Ruyter died in Action on April 29th while still on boars his
flagship
"De Eendragt" He was never even aware of
the fact that he had been made a Grand Duke of Spain, and he
would probably have refused the honour, since he despised his
Spanish Allies for cowardice and incompetance |
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| 22nd April 1676 |
Battle of the Etna
against Du
Quesne, de Ruyter is mortally wounded. Historians of
both sides claim the battle as a victory, Truth is, that Du
Quesne, who greatly admired, almost worshipped his former tutor
and role-model broke of the engagement when he heard that de
Ruyter was wounded |
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| 29th April 1676 |
de Ruyter dies in
the bay of Syracuse on board his flagship "De Eendragt" (Unity).
When Du Quesne is informed of de Ruyter’s death he send two
of his ships with sails shrouded in black, to escort the vessel
with de Ruyter’s body all the way through the Channel.
King Louis XIV ordered all French shipping to honour that vessel
by lowering their sails as it passed and all French Channel
ports fire a 17-gun salute when the ship passes. All this time
France was still at war with The Seven United Provinces. |
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| 30th January
1677 |
Arrival of "De
Eendragt" carrying de Ruyter's body, at
Hellevoetsluis. |
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The Deathmask
of
De Ruyter, as it appears on his state tomb. |
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| 1678 |
State fuberal of de
Ruyter in a marble tomb in "De Nieuwe Kerk" in
Amsterdam. |
The Funeral
Procession across the "Dam" in Amsterdam, towards
"De Nieuwe Kerk"
The official invitation to attend the ceremonies. |
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| The Tomb. |
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| 1678 |
Peace Treaty of
Nijmegen between France and The Seven United Provinces. The
latter does not lose anything. Its very existence is no longer
threatened and although the other European nations still
begrudge the United Provinces their wealth and political power,
and would gladly teach them a lesson, if need be in war, they no
longer try to end its existence and divide it among themselves. |
