This story is still being developed. The leads to the Anslo family and to Joost van den Vondel are worked out below; the lead to the Hooft family is being expanded, and the story of a second Verniers family with marriages and loans in the world of painters will follow soon.
Cornelis Claesz Anslo: painted by Rembrandt, celebrated by Vondel
Claes Claesz Anslo and his wife Geertgen (Giert(e)) Jans — stepdaughter of stamvader Laurens Verniers — are already known from their 1582 betrothal and their 1625 will, in which they name their five sons: Claes, Joost, Cornelis, Reijer and Jan. That third son, Cornelis Claesz Anslo (1592–1646), grew up to become one of the best-known Mennonite preachers of Amsterdam — and one of Rembrandt's most famous sitters (Rijksmuseum) (Wikipedia / GAMEO).
Cornelis was called as teacher of the Waterland Mennonite congregation on 14 July 1617. Rembrandt portrayed him several times: a red-chalk drawing in 1640, an etching in 1641, and in that same year the famous double portrait "Anslo in Conversation with his Wife" (with Aeltje Gerritsdr. Schouten, whom Cornelis married in 1611) — now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Joost van den Vondel was a deacon of Cornelis's congregation and personally his friend; he wrote the famous four-line poem accompanying Rembrandt's etching, which begins with the lines "Ay, Rembrandt, mael Kornelis stem, het zichtbre deel is 't minst van hem" (Ah, Rembrandt, paint Cornelis's voice, the visible part is the least of him) (GAMEO).
For our family tree this means: Cornelis Claesz Anslo was the step-grandson of Laurens Verniers (through his stepdaughter Giert(e) Jans) — and so, through the 1582 marriage, the Verniers family does indeed come into the direct vicinity of both Rembrandt and Vondel, two of the greatest names of the Dutch Golden Age. Cornelis's elder brothers Claes, Jan and Reyer each became syndic of the cloth merchants' guild; the son of brother Reyer, likewise named Reyer, in turn became a poet.
Joost van den Vondel: an Antwerp refugee family in the Warmoesstraat
The link between the Verniers family and Vondel does not run only through Cornelis Anslo. Set the life of Vondel's parents next to that of stamvader Laurens Verniers and you see two families with the same story: Antwerp Mennonites who fled persecution, travelled north through German cities, and ended up in the same Amsterdam street.
From Antwerp to Cologne
Vondel's father, Joost van den Vondel the elder, was an Antwerp hat trimmer; his mother, Sara Kranen (Craen, born 1565), was the daughter of the Antwerp button maker Peter Craen (Sterck, DBNL). Both families were Mennonite — "wederdopers" (Anabaptists) in the language of the authorities — and fled Antwerp around 1582, like so many of their co-religionists in those years (KB). They found refuge in Cologne, home to a community of Antwerp Mennonite refugees; Joost and Sara married there. On 17 November 1587 their son Joost was born in the house "Zur Viole" on the Grosse Witschgasse — the future poet, eldest of seven children (KB).
Cologne was not safe for Mennonites either. In 1595 the elder Vondel, together with his fellow Antwerp refugee Heinrich Trigault, was named by the city prosecutor as a member of "the Sect". He got off with a relatively small fine, but a further run-in with the prosecutor would have meant banishment (Sterck, DBNL). The family left: "along the Rhine to Frankfurt, on to Bremen and by sea, the usual route, to Utrecht" — the standard refugee route of the time. After a short stay in Utrecht, the family settled in Amsterdam in March 1597 (Historiek).
Cologne in Laurens's network
Cologne was no unfamiliar place for stamvader Laurens Verniers either. In mid-January 1570 the Flemish elder Hans Busschaert wrote two letters from Cologne: one addressed directly "Aen de eersamen Lauwereys Verniers, tot Franeker" (to the honourable Laurens Verniers, at Franeker), and one to the ministers in Antwerp, asking them to have Laurens reply quickly. In them Busschaert also mentions the "dienaren van Keulen", the ministers of the Mennonite congregation there (Génard, XII). A few months earlier, in the autumn of 1569, Laurens himself had been in Kleve, on the Lower Rhine, as elder of Franeker, to settle a dispute in the congregation there together with two other elders (Stuve, 2005).
The Vondel family did not yet live in Cologne at that time: Vondel's parents only arrived there around 1582, more than ten years after these letters. A meeting in Cologne is therefore out of the question. What the letters do show is that as early as 1570 Laurens was part of the Mennonite network linking Antwerp, the Rhineland and Friesland — the same network of congregations and ministers that a decade later took in the Antwerp refugees, among them Vondel's parents.
De Rechtvaerdige Trou in the Warmoesstraat
In 1597 the elder Vondel took the citizen's oath and became a burgher of Amsterdam. The family moved into a house in the Warmoesstraat under the sign "de Rechtvaerdige Trou" (Righteous Fidelity), where the elder Vondel ran his shop, first as a hatter and then as a silk merchant dealing mainly in stockings (Sterck, DBNL). After his death in 1608 Sara Kranen continued the business; later the poet himself and his wife took over the hosiery trade. In those years the Warmoesstraat was a street of Southern Netherlandish newcomers: the Brabanders lived there as a group that kept somewhat apart from the Hollanders (Historiek).
Stamvader Laurens Verniers lived in exactly that neighbourhood. In the 1585 Capitale Impositie tax register he is listed on the east side of the Warmoesstraat, from the northern corner of the Sint-Annastraat towards the Oude Kerk (UvA thesis Capitale Impositie). He lived and traded from the house "De Oranjeboom" on the Warmoesstraat, on the corner of the Oudezijds Kerkstraat, which he sold in 1591 (Amsterdam City Archives); in 1592 he bought "De Witte Voet" on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, the canal directly behind the Warmoesstraat, where he lived until his death. In December 1600 he was buried in the Oude Kerk, the heart of that same neighbourhood (burial record Oude Kerk).
| Year | Verniers family | Vondel family |
|---|---|---|
| 1569–1582 | Laurens Verniers banished from Antwerp by Alva (1569); teacher and elder in Franeker | Vondel's parents flee Antwerp for Cologne around 1582 |
| 1582 | Stepdaughter Giert(e) Jans marries Claes Claesz Anslo | — |
| 1585 | Laurens lives on the east side of the Warmoesstraat | The family lives in Cologne |
| 1587 | — | Joost van den Vondel born in Cologne (17 November) |
| 1591–1592 | Laurens sells "De Oranjeboom" (Warmoesstraat) and buys "De Witte Voet" (Oudezijds Voorburgwal) | — |
| 1595–1597 | — | Fined in Cologne; via Frankfurt, Bremen and Utrecht to Amsterdam |
| 1597 | Laurens lives on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal | The elder Vondel becomes a burgher; shop in the Warmoesstraat |
| 1600 | Laurens buried in the Oude Kerk (27 December) | The family lives in the Warmoesstraat |
| 1606–1620 | Cornelis Claesz Anslo teacher of the Waterlanders (from 1617) | Vondel baptised among the Waterlanders (1606), deacon 1616–1620 |
A close-knit community
When the Vondel family settled in the Warmoesstraat in 1597, Laurens Verniers lived just around the corner — an older Antwerp exile well known in Mennonite circles, a former elder and teacher about whom a song had even been written in 1582 (read his story →). For three years the two families lived within a few hundred metres of each other, around the same Oude Kerk. Around 1600 the Mennonites of Amsterdam formed a small, close-knit world: refugees from the same Southern Netherlandish towns lived close together, married each other, did business together and stood by one another as guardians or witnesses. The Vondels themselves are an example: on 5 December 1610 the poet married Maeyken de Wolff, daughter of silk merchants who were likewise Mennonites from Cologne (Sterck, DBNL) (KB).
That community was, however, divided into branches. Laurens Verniers was a Fleming: in the Flemish-Frisian schism of 1566–1567 he sided with the Flemish, and as a follower of Dirk Philips he favoured strict action against marriages outside the congregation (Stuve, 2005). In the House-Buyers dispute of 1588–1590, which cut right through the Flemish congregations, he stood with the opponents of Bintgens, together with the Amsterdam Flemish congregation (read his story →). That party, the Contra-Huiskopers (Anti-House-Buyers), later also became known as the "Gentle Flemish" (GAMEO). The Vondel family joined yet another, more liberal branch: the Waterlanders. Vondel was baptised there in 1606 and served as deacon from 1616 to 1620 (KB). But it was precisely among the Waterlanders that the family of Laurens's stepdaughter stood: her husband Claes Claesz Anslo was a minister of the Waterland Mennonites, and their son Cornelis became teacher in 1617 of the very congregation in which Vondel was a deacon. Through the 1582 marriage, then, a direct line ran from the household of Laurens Verniers to the congregation, the circle of friends and later the poems of Vondel. He wrote his famous lines for Rembrandt's etching of Cornelis Anslo in 1641, around the same time that he himself converted to the Roman Catholic Church.
No deed is known in which Laurens Verniers and the elder Vondel appear together. Given the neighbourhood, the faith, the shared history of flight and their trade, it is very likely that the two Antwerp Mennonite families knew each other. Laurens was a cloth merchant; the elder Vondel became a dealer in silk and stockings in the Warmoesstraat, and the poet married into a family of silk merchants (Sterck, DBNL). In those years the Warmoesstraat and the streets around the Oude Kerk were the heart of Amsterdam's trade in cloth, silk and other fabrics, with many Southern Netherlandish newcomers among the merchants. Two Mennonite textile traders from Antwerp, in the same street, in the same line of business: it is hard to imagine they did not know each other — but until such a deed turns up, it remains a plausible rather than a proven connection.
The Hooft family: administrators around Amsterdam and Weesp
The name Hooft immediately brings to mind the poet P.C. Hooft. For the Verniers family, however, the whole Hooft family matters: an Amsterdam regent family that for generations held administrative offices in the city and the surrounding area, as far as Weesp, where the Verniers branch later settled.
The poet's father, Cornelis Pietersz Hooft (1547–1626), was a merchant in the Baltic trade, sat on the Amsterdam vroedschap (city council) from 1584 to 1611 and was burgomaster twelve times from 1588 onwards (Elias / Hooft genealogy) (Wikipedia). His wife, the poet's mother, was Anna Blaeu; according to the English-language Wikipedia she came from a Mennonite family (Wikipedia). Other members of the family sat on the boards of the Amstelland polders and in the city government: Jan Cornelisz Hooft († 1600) was schout (1579), captain and later colonel of the civic guard, heemraad (polder board member) of Nieuwer-Amstel (1581) and councillor of the Admiralty (1591–1600); Willem Jansz Hooft was regent of the Nieuwezijds Huiszittenhuis (poor relief, 1609) and likewise heemraad of Nieuwer-Amstel (1612) (Elias / Hooft genealogy).
On 23 May 1609 Pieter Cornelisz Hooft (1581–1647) was appointed drossaard and castellan of Muiden, baljuw (bailiff) of Naarden and Gooiland, and high bailiff and dike-reeve of Weesp and Weesperkarspel and of the Hoog-Bijlmer (Elias / Hooft genealogy) (Van der Stroom, DBNL). As chief officer of Weesp he held, until his death in 1647, the highest authority over the Weesp town government, including oversight of the schout and aldermen, and as dike-reeve he had charge of the water management of the Weesp polders. From April to October he lived at Muiden Castle; in winter the family lived in Amsterdam, on the Keizersgracht (Muiderslot).
His son Arnout Hellemans Hooft (1629–1680) did not succeed to the drost's office, but rose in the Amsterdam civic guard (ensign 1650, lieutenant 1656, captain 1662) and in 1660 was director of the colony of Guyana (Elias / Hooft genealogy).
The following generations
After P.C. Hooft's death, the family's centre of gravity shifted to the descendants of his uncle Willem Pietersz Hooft, brother of burgomaster Cornelis. Willem's grandson Henrick Hooft (1617–1678), son of Hendrick Willemsz Hooft and Haesje Houtloock, was thus a first cousin once removed of the poet (Wikipedia (de)) (Elias / Hooft genealogy). Henrick joined the Amsterdam vroedschap in 1655, became alderman in 1656 and was burgomaster in 1662, 1664, 1672, 1677 and 1678. He sat on the Amsterdam Admiralty from 1666 to 1669 and in 1669 became a Gecommitteerde Raad (deputy councillor) in The Hague. In the Disaster Year of 1672 he was threatened and accused of treason, but he kept his seat in the vroedschap as reshaped by William III. Through his second wife, Maria van Walenburgh, he became lord of Oudkarspel, Schoten and Schoterbos (Wikipedia (de)) (Greets genealogy).
His son Gerrit Hooft (1649–1717), who married Elisabeth van Gheel in 1673, likewise became burgomaster of Amsterdam; another son, Willem, became burgomaster of Delft (Wikipedia (de)) (Greets genealogy). His son, another Gerrit Hooft (1684–1767), married Hester Hinlopen in 1707 and was likewise burgomaster and councillor of Amsterdam; a commemorative medal was struck for their golden wedding in 1757 (Greets genealogy). And in the second half of the eighteenth century P.C. Hooft's old office returned to the family: Mr. Gerrit Corver Hooft (1744–1807), son of Jan Hooft and Maria Margaretha Corver, was alderman and councillor of Amsterdam, baljuw of Naarden and Gooiland and drossaard of Muiden (Greets genealogy / Online Museum De Bilt).
Weesp and the Diemerzeedijk
For water management around Amsterdam and Weesp, the most important body was the Hoogheemraadschap van de Zeeburg en Diemerdijk, the water board founded in 1437 to maintain the sea dike along the IJ and the Zuiderzee between Amsterdam and Muiden. Its board had ten heemraden, representing in turn Weesp, Muiden, Weesperkarspel, Loosdrecht, Loenen-Kronenburg, Kortenhoef, Breukelen, Abcoude, Nigtevecht and Amsterdam (Historische Kring Diemen).
The dike-reeve was the baljuw (bailiff) of Amstelland, who was at the same time dike-reeve of the Amstelland water board. He was appointed, with Amsterdam's consent, by the Rekenkamer (audit office) of the Holland comital domains, and from 1728 by the States of Holland. The heemraden were appointed by the towns, districts or manors they represented — the heemraad for Weesp, therefore, by the Weesp town government. Only the heemraad of Abcoude was appointed by the States of Utrecht. Amsterdam held a special position: the city's youngest burgomaster was heemraad by right, and indeed the first in rank of the ten; from 17 December 1612 Amsterdam was allowed to appoint a substitute when he was unable to serve (Zeeburg en Diemerdijk archive).
In the Gemeenlandshuis on the Diemerzeedijk hung wall boards bearing the names of all dike-reeves and heemraden, with their year of taking office and a sequence number per seat. Those lists include members of the Hooft family for Amsterdam, Muiden and Weesperkarspel — and three Verniers as heemraad for Weesp (Zeeburg en Diemerdijk archive):
| Seat | Heemraad | Took office | No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | Mr. Hendrik Hooft | 1691 | 13 |
| Amsterdam | Daniel Hooft | — | 14 |
| Muiden | Hendrik Hooft de Jonge | 1691 | 30 |
| Weesp | Cornelis Verniers | 1694 | 42 |
| Weesperkarspel | Gerrit Hooft | 1695 | 54 |
| Weesp | Pieter Verniers | 1715 | 43 |
| Weesperkarspel | Mr. Daniel Hooft | 1718 | 55 |
| Weesp | Willem Verniers | 1721 | 44 |
| Weesperkarspel | Mr. Gerrit Hooft Danielsz. | 1740 | 56 |
Here the two families that have repeatedly appeared close to each other in this story come together, for the first time demonstrably, in one body. From 1694 Cornelis Verniers represented Weesp, shortly after Mr. Hendrik Hooft (Amsterdam) and Hendrik Hooft the Younger (Muiden) had taken their seats in 1691. With Gerrit Hooft, who took office for Weesperkarspel in 1695, he sat on the same board for more than twenty years: the Weesp seat only changed hands in 1715, the Weesperkarspel seat in 1718. The Weesp seat then stayed in the family: Pieter Verniers followed in 1715 and Willem Verniers in 1721 — three successive heemraden, numbered 42, 43 and 44. The Weesperkarspel seat likewise passed within the Hooft family, from Gerrit (1695) via Mr. Daniel (1718) to Mr. Gerrit Hooft Danielsz. (1740). The Cornelis Verniers of 1694 is Mr. Cornelis Verniers (1652–1719), surgeon and son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers (see the family tree). How Pieter and Willem Verniers fit into the family tree will be worked out on this site later.
Turbulent times on the dike
These heemraden lived in turbulent years. On Sunday 5 March 1651 the dike broke, flooding part of Amsterdam and the Diemermeer polder, drained only in 1631 (Historische Kring Diemen). The Disaster Year of 1672 brought French troops as far as the Gooi, while Henrick Hooft came under fire as burgomaster of Amsterdam. In 1674 a sea lock was built in the mouth of the Vecht at Muiden. Severe storm floods on 4–5 November and 4–5 December 1675 scoured four large, deep scour holes in the Diemerdijk and as many as eleven in the dike from Muiden to Naarden; a storm in October 1677 undid the repairs. On 7 May 1678 the States of Holland therefore resolved that dike works could henceforth be carried out "from one hand", at the expense of the landowners responsible for the dike. Because of disputes with Utrecht that ordinance never fully took effect, but parts of it were introduced: heemraden now sat for life and had to be sufficiently propertied. A separate water board was created for the dike from Muiden to Naarden, which also managed the new Muiden sea lock (Zeeburg en Diemerdijk archive).
In 1702 the dike broke again, among other places at Diemerdam and Muiden. Jan van der Heyden the younger, fire-master general and inspector of Amsterdam's waters and sluices, was instructed by the burgomasters to survey the sea dike and propose improvements. On 5 June 1720 delegates of the States of Holland and of Utrecht concluded an agreement on the costs in Weesp: Muiden and Weesp together bore one ninth of the dike maintenance, and Weesperkarspel likewise one ninth. In 1727 the water board acquired a new Gemeenlandshuis on the Diemerzeedijk. When in 1735 the shipworm attacked the dike's wooden piling, the dike-reeve and heemraden had a revetment of boulders laid in 1737, and the dike board in practice took over maintenance from the individual landowners (Zeeburg en Diemerdijk archive) (Historische Kring Diemen).
Cornelis, Pieter and Willem Verniers thus sat as heemraad for Weesp in exactly the years in which the dike was repaired after 1702, the 1720 agreement was concluded in their own town and the new Gemeenlandshuis was built. What part they personally played in all this should emerge from the water board's resolutions.
Still to be continued
More is to come: a second Verniers family, with marriages reaching into the world of painters (among others with Daniel Thivaert and Wichman Kuvenis) and financial ties to the painter David Vinckboons. The source material for it is ready and will soon be worked up into a story of its own.