Grand Pensionary

The grand pensionary was the most important Dutch official during the time of the Dutch Republic. In theory, a grand pensionary was merely a civil servant of the Estates of the dominant province, the County of Holland, among the Seven United Provinces. In practice, the grand pensionary of Holland was the political leader of the entire Dutch Republic when there was no stadtholder at the centre of power. The position of the grand pensionary is not easily expressed in modern political terms but is sometimes compared to that of a prime minister. Fundamental differences are that a had no fellow ministers and no head of state above him. Etymology Its Dutch name, , can be literally translated as "councillor pensionary". A pensionary in general was a lawyer paid by a city council to advise them on a permanent basis. Because of the regular payments he was a pensionarius in mediaeval Latin. Such a person was called a stadsadvocaat in the Dutch language. The States of Holland and West-Friesland had a pensionary who was a council member, a raad, himself. He was, therefore, Raedt ende Pensionaris in seventeenth-century Dutch, which later was simplified to raadpensionaris or raadspensionaris. French diplomats referred to the raadpensionaris of Holland as the Grand-pensionnaire, to discern him from comparable officials in Dutch provinces of lesser importance. This embellishment was not used by the Dutch themselves. In English the French was translated as "Grand Pensionary". The Estates of the province of Zealand also had a raadpensionaris, which also could be referred to as a Grand Pensionary. The provinces of Groningen and Gelderland had a simple pensionaris. The provinces of Utrecht and Friesland had a landsadvocaat. History The office started in 1619 and replaced the title of land's advocate. If the position of stadtholder of Holland was filled, then the grand pensionary was often the second leader of the Republic. Being the raadpensionaris of Holland, the grand pensionary acted as the chairman of States of Holland. He was appointed by the Estates but could also instantly be fired by the Estates. The city council of Dort, which was seen as the oldest city of Holland, had the right to nominate a new grand pensionary. When the grand pensionary was absent, he was temporarily replaced by the stadsadvocaat or pensionary of Dort.