Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

thus shows the political—as opposed to financial or administrative—significance of the addition
of the assessor. This individual might not have voting rights, but he would be able to keep an eye
on the proceedings and perhaps even catch the ear of a fellow delegate.
When the delegation from Zeeland arrived at their first meeting of the Heren XIX, in
August 1623, they brought no fewer than eight people. 75 By March 1624, after the two new
agreements had been finalized, the formula was followed to the letter: Simon Schotte, Pieter
Beurdt, and Jeremy Waelens represented Middelburg; Rogier Cobbert, Vlissingen, and the
assessor, from Veere, was Adrian Velters. 76
The difficulties in the chamber of the Maas were much less complicated, but they were
equally disruptive and, critically, proved a more serious test of the ability of the Heren XIX to
resolve disputes among its own members. 77 As Van Dillen and others have noted, the most
dramatic difference between the subscription lists to the WIC and VOC was the relative share
invested by the merchants of the Maas. 78 This resulted in large part from the fact that
Dordrecht—which in 1602 had chosen to invest in the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC—now
joined Rotterdam and Delft. While the three cities together raised more than a million guilders,
and were jointly responsible for the chamber’s management, they were entitled to only two seats
at the meetings of the Heren XIX. This created a natural conflict. Unlike North Holland or
Zeeland, however, the merchants of the Maas cooperated to form a chamber and then pushed for
a modification to the way the chamber would be represented. At the October 1623 meeting of the
Heren XIX, the Maas delegation arrived with three people, rather than two. Jacob de Witte
75 NA 1.05.01.01 inv.nr. 1, entry for August 3, 1623.
76 Ibid., entry for March 16, 1624.
77 Ibid., entries for March 16-March 30, 1624. See also Cornelis Christiaan Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean
and on the Wild Coast 1580-1680 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1971), 99-100.
78 J. G. van Dillen, “De West-Indische Compagnie, het Calvinism en de Politiek,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 74
(1961): 150; Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie, 61.
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