Pieter de la Court - Wikipedia Pieter de la Court From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Pieter de la Court" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Pieter de la Court (1618 – May 28, 1685) was a Dutch economist and businessman, he is the origin of the successful De la Court family. He pioneered modern thinking about the economic importance of free competition and was an uncompromising advocate of the republican form of government. Pieter de la Court. Contents 1 Biography 2 Works 2.1 Political economy 2.2 Political theory 2.3 Political pamphlets 3 Influence 3.1 Dutch Republic 1662 - 1795 3.2 Europe and United States 1662 - 1789 4 Literature 5 References Biography[edit] Pieter de la Court was born in Leiden, the son of Pieter de la Court the Elder and Jeanne des Planques. His parents were Protestant immigrants from Flanders, who settled in Leiden around 1613 in order to be able to practise their faith and to profit from the rapid expansion of Leiden as the world centre of cloth manufacturing. Pieter de la Court the Elder was a successful cloth merchant before he arrived in Leiden. His wife also came from a family of wealthy cloth manufacturers. They had established themselves as members of the local economic elite by the time Pieter was born. The couple had three other children; Jacob (born 1617), Johanna (born 1620) and Johan (1622–1660). Johan is generally seen as the author of at least two of the books that have later been ascribed to Pieter. De la Court studied at Leiden University and completed his education with a Grand Tour through Europe in 1641 - 1643. He went to London, Saumur (France), Geneva and Basle. The diary he kept during his journey has been preserved and was published in 1928. After returning to Leiden, De la Court entered his father's profession and set up a cloth trading firm with his brother Johan. By 1650 the firm of the two brothers had evolved into one of the leading cloth operations in the city. In spite of his immigrant background De la Court was able to penetrate the social elite of Holland. He became a close friend of Johan Eleman, who was a member of Leiden's governing council and a relative of Johan de Witt (1625-72), the de facto leader of the Dutch Republic between 1653 and 1672. In 1657 De la Court married Eleman's sister in law, Elisabeth Tollenaer,[1] who died only one year later in childbirth. In 1660 De la Court's younger brother and business partner Johan died. Pieter was married again in 1661, this time to Catharina van der Voort,[2] the sister of two wealthy Amsterdam merchants and, again, a relative of Johan de Witt. It was in this turbulent period of De la Court's life that he published almost all of his books about the political economy of Holland and the larger Dutch Republic. In the preface to the Interest van Holland, the most renowned of these books, he explicitly ascribed this publishing frenzy to the need to distract his mind from the tragedy that had hit him. The centerpiece of this body of work was the Interest of Holland, published in 1662. It contained a critical analysis of the economic success of the Dutch Republic and demonstrated how this success had been brought about by the combined effects of free competition and free (i.e. republican) government. It became a bestseller overnight. In Holland the Interest van Holland gained notoriety and infamy as a republican manifesto. Abroad the Interest was widely translated and read as an explanatory guide to the miraculous economic success of the Dutch. De la Court's second wife Catharina van der Voort had two children, Magdalena (1662)[3] and Pieter (1664), later named Pieter de la Court van der Voort.[4] In 1665 the family moved from Leiden to Amsterdam, by then the undisputed centre of world trade. There De la Court expanded the scope of his business activities by participating in the ventures of his two brothers in law. De la Court became the leader of a consortium of Amsterdam merchants who sought to break the monopoly of the Dutch East India Company on all trade with the Dutch East Indies. The group filed petitions which claimed that the monopoly was limited to the trade route around the Cape of Good Hope. In 1668 they actually sent an exploratory vessel to the Arctic to find a shipping route around Siberia. The endeavour failed but shows De la Court was an advocate of free trade in theory and practice. De la Court's publishing activity had made him a well known protagonist of the republican "party" in contemporary Dutch politics. This group, consisting primarily of the wealthy businessmen in the cities of Holland and led by Johan de Witt, effectively ran the Dutch Republic from 1650 until 1672. They strongly opposed the political powers and ambitions of the House of Orange-Nassau which usually held the office of Stadholder, a pseudo-royal position that somehow survived in the otherwise republican institutions of the Dutch Republic, except during this First Stadtholderless Period. De la Court was probably never close to Johan de Witt, but it has been established that De Witt was actively involved in the writing of De la Court's most outspoken and most widely read text, the Interest van Holland. When the Orangist faction regained control of the country in 1672, Johan de Witt was lynched by an Orangist mob and Pieter de la Court fled to Antwerp where he stayed with his brother in law Guglielmo van der Voort. He returned to Amsterdam in 1673 where he lived as a merchant until his death in 1685. The last book that was published by De la Court appeared in 1669. A final work, the Sinryke Fabulen, was published posthumously in 1685. Works[edit] De la Court's works were published anonymously, but contemporaries immediately identified Pieter de la Court as the author of most of them. It is now generally believed that some of these books were actually written by his brother, Johan, and that at least one other title was the work of his business friend Johan Uytenhage de Mist. It has been established as a fact that Johan de Witt and a number of other government officials contributed to the Interest van Holland. De la Court's oeuvre can be divided into three groups of titles. Political economy[edit] The Interest van Holland was published in 1662 and immediately became a bestseller in Holland and later also elsewhere. The book contained an analysis of the miraculous economic success of Holland, the leading province of the Dutch Republic, and then set out to establish the economic and political principles on which that success was based. De la Court identified free competition and the republican form of government as the leading factors contributing to the wealth and power of his home country. The book was written in an outspoken and polemic style and went through eight editions in 1662. A revised luxury edition appeared in 1669. It was translated into German in 1665, English in 1702 and French in 1709. A new English translation appeared as late as 1746. Political theory[edit] In 1660 De la Court published the Consideratien van Staet (Considerations of State), followed in 1662 by the Politike Discoursen. Both titles seek to establish a theoretical basis for the superiority of the republican form of government. Although the texts share the Interest's republican penchant, they have an altogether different nature. The tone is subdued and the style philosophical with extensive references to other political theorists. Both texts are now thought to have been written by De la Court's brother Johan. Political pamphlets[edit] The third and most extensive part of De la Court's work is the series of republican and anti-monarchist pamphlets he published in 1662 and 1663. The most well-known are the Historie der gravelike regering in Holland (History of the counts of Holland) and De stadthouderlijcke regeeringe in Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt (History of the stadholders of Holland and West-Friesland). Both books contain vivid albeit rather one-sided descriptions of the damage that had been done to the country by monarchical leaders since the Middle Ages. Influence[edit] The Interest van Holland is one of the preeminent textbooks of economic and political freedom in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The book was an immediate bestseller in the Dutch Republic and went through eleven editions between 1662 and 1671. The Dutch version was read in political circles throughout Europe and translations appeared in German (1665 and 1671), French (1709) and English (1702, 1743 and 1746). The book had a significant influence on political and economic thinking but its primary importance lay in the impact it had on office holders and political reality. The Interest van Holland was not a philosophical disquisition, but a recipe book for political and economic success. Dutch Republic 1662 - 1795[edit] Within the Dutch Republic the Interest van Holland became the de facto government manifesto of the republican oligarchy led by Johan de Witt until 1672. The Interest van Holland viciously attacked the pseudo-royal stadtholders. De Witt abolished the office in 1669. The Interest was wary of war and geographical expansion. The States of Holland neglected the army and sought to evade conflicts with their bigger neighbours. Instead the money was spent on a naval buildup, another Interest recommendation. At sea the military would not primarily be a cost, but a useful tool in protecting and promoting the commercial interests of the Republic and its rulers. Finally the Interest was vehemently opposed to monopoly, most notably the Dutch East and West India Companies and the guilds, the closed associations of craftsmen that controlled most manufacturing activity. The two trading companies, huge sovereign entities way beyond the control of the provincial and city governments of Holland, were immune to these attacks and survived all the way to the end of the Dutch Republic. But De la Court did play a role in the demise of the guilds that were increasingly seen as obstacles to economic innovation and growth. The regime of De Witt ended in 1672. The Interest van Holland remained a leading source of republican inspiration until the dissolution of the Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden in 1795. Europe and United States 1662 - 1789[edit] The Interest van Holland was widely read in Europe for a number of reasons. When the book appeared it stirred the curiosity of political rulers throughout the continent because it was seen as a look into the backrooms of the Dutch political and economic machinery. Later the text was espoused by supporters of free trade and republicanism throughout Europe, for whom it remained a source of inspiration until the end of the eighteenth century. It is hard to overestimate the profound influence of the Interest van Holland on the European and American political elites of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as can be seen from numerous examples. The book was read and used by politicians as diverse as Jean-Baptiste Colbert, James Madison and Turgot. It was quoted and discussed by free trade pamphleteers in Britain and Physiocrats in France. It can be assumed that the book was also one of the sources of inspiration also for Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. Literature[edit] The text of the last English edition of the Interest can be downloaded from the website of the Liberty Fund: Pieter de la Court, The True Interest and Political Maxims, of the Republic of Holland (1662). The leading source on De la Court's life and works is Ivo W. Wildenberg, Johan & Pieter de la Court (Amsterdam & Maarssen, 1986). References[edit] ^ "Elisabeth Tollenaer". ECARTICO. University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 30 April 2019. ^ "Catharina van der Voort". ECARTICO. University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 30 April 2019. ^ "Magdalena de la Court". ECARTICO. University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 30 April 2019. ^ "Pieter de la Court van der Voort". ECARTICO. University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 30 April 2019. v t e Economic and financial history of the Netherlands General Economy of the Netherlands from 1500–1700 Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815) Economic history of the Dutch Republic Financial history of the Dutch Republic Dutch Financial Revolution (1580s–1700s) Dutch economic miracle (1580s–ca.1700) Early modern industrialization in the Dutch Republic (1580s–1700s) Dutch guilder Amsterdam Entrepôt Tulip mania VOC mentality Whaling in the Netherlands Diamond industry in the Dutch Republic Sugar industry in the Dutch Republic Shipbuilding industry in the Dutch Republic Pulp and paper industry in the Dutch Republic Hollander beater History of the chocolate industry Dutch process chocolate Polder model Key institutions Pre-1815 Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser) Bank of Amsterdam (Amsterdamsche Wisselbank) Brabantsche Compagnie Compagnie van Verre Dutch East India Company (VOC) Dutch West India Company (WIC/GWIC) New Netherland Company Noordsche Compagnie Post-1815 De Nederlandsche Bank Philips Fokker (early pioneering aircraft manufacturer) KLM Stichting Max Havelaar Notable business and financial innovators Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Louis De Geer Gerard Adriaan Heineken Isaac Le Maire Johan Palmstruch Simon van der Stel (founding father of the South African wine industry) Philips family (founders of Koninklijke Philips N.V.) Nico Roozen Casparus and Coenraad van Houten (early pioneers of the modern chocolate industry) Anthony Fokker (early pioneering aviation entrepreneur) Frans van der Hoff Influenced Economic history of Taiwan Economic history of South Africa Economic, financial and business history of many English-speaking countries (especially the United Kingdom and United States) Phenomena and consequences Economic bubble (speculative bubble, asset bubble) Stock market crash Corporate governance disputes Shareholder activism (activist shareholder) Shareholder revolt (shareholder rebellion) Dutch disease Others History of capitalism Economic miracle Economic boom Economic growth Global economy International trade International business International financial centre Economic globalization Finance capitalism Financial system Financial revolution Authority control BNF: cb120831630 (data) BPN: 37757354 GND: 119407264 ISNI: 0000 0000 5957 822X LCCN: n87931287 NKC: mzk2009511069 NLI: 000611747 NTA: 068454228 PLWABN: 9810650781805606 SUDOC: 029144760 VIAF: 17248347 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n87931287 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pieter_de_la_Court&oldid=997605393" Categories: 1618 births 1685 deaths Dutch businesspeople Dutch historians 17th-century Dutch philosophers 17th-century Dutch economists 17th-century Dutch political philosophers Dutch political philosophers Dutch republicans Early Modern philosophers Dutch economists Enlightenment philosophers Writers from Amsterdam People from Leiden Dutch Golden Age writers Preclassical economists Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from February 2020 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BPN identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Deutsch Français مصرى Nederlands Русский Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 10:40 (UTC). 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