Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

patronage of different ambassadors and other high-ranked nobles too (see Chapter V, section i
and ii). Van Aerssen, with a property of f 800.000 in 1627, was the richest person in The
Hague 71 – not entirely coincidental, for the government sought rich negotiators who could pay
for the expensive ceremonies; “the representation costs far exceeded the funds that were
assigned to the diplomats” 72 – and probably was everything a man like Christiaan Sr. wanted
as a patron for his son.
Van Aerssen was pleased with Constantijn Sr.’s diplomatic work and behavior during
his first diplomatic mission to Venice, expressing not just his contentment to Christiaan Sr., 73
but also formally to the States General. Constantijn Sr.’s position during the following
missions to England was given extra weight by the letters of credence he received from the
States General consequently, and the fact that he was appointed sécretaire d’ambassade by Van
Aerssen instead of sécretaire d’ambassadeur. 74 Thus he could partake in the genuinely political
negotiations between the high-ranking diplomats while the preliminary talks were left to less
significant lawyers. 75
That Van Aerssen had great plans for his pupil Constantijn, became clear when he
speculated about the possibility of Constantijn Sr.’s succession of Noël de Caron in his position
of ambassador of the Republic to England. 76 As this was discussed, however, Van Aerssen
indicated that the reality of their world was “that good meat hardly knows itself appreciated
without a sauce” – i.e. in order to be suitable for the position of ambassador, Constantijn Sr.
had to obtain a “qualité extérieure” (an “external quality”). 77 It was rather unusual for someone
of Constantijn Sr.’s social and professional position (bourgeois and still merely a secretary) to
71 HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in
service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p221
72 DEGRYSE, K. & JANSSENS, P. (2005) The Economic Role of the Belgian Aristocracy in the 17th
and 18th Centuries. IN JANSSENS, P. & YUN CASALILLA, B. (Eds.) European aristocracies and
colonial elites : patrimonial management strategies and economic development, 15th-18th centuries. Aldershot,
England ; Burlington, VT, Ashgate., p69
73 SCHINKEL, A. D. (1856) Nadere bijzonderheden betrekkelijk Constantijn Huygens en zijne familie, [n.p.],.,
p10-3. Van Aerssen started his letter to his friend and neighbor Christiaan Sr.: "Monsieur; Sy je
contribue quelque office au contentement de vostre fils, il n'est pourtant nullement besoin, que vous
m'en reconnoissiez aucune obligation, car je vous diray sans flatter, qu'il le merite par le soin et pene
qu'il prend de se rendre utile et aggreable;”
74 HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in
service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p43-4
75 DEGRYSE, K. & JANSSENS, P. (2005) The Economic Role of the Belgian Aristocracy in the 17th
and 18th Centuries. IN JANSSENS, P. & YUN CASALILLA, B. (Eds.) European aristocracies and
colonial elites : patrimonial management strategies and economic development, 15th-18th centuries. Aldershot,
England ; Burlington, VT, Ashgate., p69
76 HOFMAN, H. A. (1983) Constantine Huygens (1596-1687) : a christian-humanist bourgeois-gentilhomme in
service of the House of Orange, Utrecht, HES Uitgevers., p61-2
77 Ibid., p65
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