Draft:Deputies-in-the-field (Dutch Republic)
Deputies-in-the-field in the Dutch Republic were representatives that the States General of the Netherlands sent to the Captain-General[a] of the Dutch States Army when he was on campaign to advise him; to make sure that the mobile army followed the directives of the States General and that the money that had been voted to finance the campaign was used as directed; and to report back to the government on a regular basis.[1]
Constitutional background[edit]
The States General was the sovereign body in the Dutch Republic. Its members were formally the seven provinces that constituted the republic. The States of these provinces sent deputations of varying size and composition to represent them in the States General.[2] In practice the work of the States General was done in permanent or ad hoc commissions in which these provincial deputies could be appointed.[3] One type of commission was the so-called "deputation." These generally represented the States General externally, inside or outside the republic. One type of deputation in military affairs was the "deputation in the field" that represented the States General to the Captain General when he was with the mobile army in the field, usually while on campaign.[b]. They could be of various compositions and sizes. The members were known as gedeputeerden te velde (deputies-in-the-field). They generally received a commission in which their task and competence was defined on an ad hoc basis. The member or members of a deputation-in-the-field were generally members of the States General, but could also be selected from the Council of State, which body was formally in charge of military affairs in the republic. Such deputations could also be sent to subordinate commanders and fortresses with a similar purpose.[4]
History[edit]
Deputies-in-the-field were usually only appointed in time of war. They sometimes played an important role in the decisonmaking of a particular campaign, as when they forced stadtholder Maurice to break off his campaign after the Battle of Nieuwpoort. The Dutch deputies were often seen as a hindrance by the Duke of Marlborough in the course of his campaigns during the War of the Spanish Succession. Stadtholder William III managed to neutralize their influence during his campaigns of the Franco-Dutch War and Nine Years' War.[5].
Deputies in the field who played an important role in history were:
Notes[edit]
- ^ This was usually the stadtholder of Holland, but when that office was vacant, as during the War of the Spanish Succession it sometimes was a different officer, as e.g. the duke of Marlborough during that war.
- ^ Similar deputations were also sent to the fleet of the republic while on maoeuvres in wartime, as in the case of Cornelis de Witt, who represented the States General to admiral Michiel de Ruyter during his Raid on the Medway
Rereferences[edit]
Sources[edit]
- Thomassen, T. H. P. M. (2009). Instrumenten van de macht. De Staten-Generaal en hun archieven 1576-1796 (PDF) (in Dutch). Amsterdam. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - "Staten-Generaal: aanstellingen (Commissieboeken), 1586-1794; Gedeputeerde te velde". Nationaal Archief (in Dutch). Retrieved 16 December 2023.