Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

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III. Princely “Friendship” See, furthermore, whether it does not make sense to take in consideration the merits of a stranger of such sorts, against that what I am permitted to say that we merit, either together, or head for head, in a House, where ever since eighty years our fidelity has been approved for the service of four consecutive Princes. Constantijn Huygens Sr. – To my sons (1655) 83 I have chained myself, my days and my work for life in these courtly shackles. Constantijn Huygens Sr. – My Life, told to my children in Two Books (1677) 84 When, after a failed attempt of van Aerssen to appoint Constantijn Sr. as plenipotentiary for Holland to England, Constantijn Sr. was appointed secretary to the Stadholder, Huygens took a position he would fulfill for almost the rest of his life. After starting out as a young subordinate, sharing his position with an older colleague that Constantijn Sr. disliked, Huygens managed to obtain the trust of consecutive princes and eventually to monopolize the secretariat – a move that his father had made too, a few decades earlier. Though it was couched in language of love and friendship, the bond between ruler and servant was one of economic and social dependency – dimensions that sometimes seem to have been ignored. The reliance that the consecutive princes put upon the consecutive Huygens by making them secretary and members of the Estates Council had important consequences for the family as a whole. As elsewhere in Europe, a new nobility of high courtly servants was rising – the noblesse de robe. Constantijn Sr. also had the ambition to make his position under the Stadholder hereditary within the Huygens family and to belong to this novel elite. The “friendship” between the princes and their secretary was one of mutual understanding of the 83 HUYGENS, C. & JORISSEN, T. (1873) Mémoires de Constantin Huygens : publiés pour la premiére fois, d'apres̀ les minutes de l'auteur, preécédes d'une introduction, La Haye, Nijhoff., À mes fils, p146 "Voyez de plus, si ce n'est pas bien raisonné que de porter en compte les mérites d'un estranger de ceste sorte, contre ce qu'il m'est permis de dire que nous méritions ou ensemble, ou teste pour teste, dans une Maison, où il y a tantost 80 ans de suitte que la fidélité de la nostre est approuvée au service de quatre Princes consécutifs.” 84 HUYGENS, C. & BLOM, F. R. E. (2003) Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen in twee boeken (De vita propria sermonum inter liberos), Amsterdam, Prometheus., p133. “Zo ben ik als Junius’ jonge collega aangesteld en heb ik mijzelf, mijn dagen en mijn werk voor het leven vastgeklonken in deze hoofse boeien.” 28
involved social and material benefits for Constantijn Huygens Sr. and his family, and the limits of the power-relationship between both parties. Huygens was not just a loyal servant; his life and position were dedicated to the prince, and by the acceptance of this devotion the prince shared a small part of his fame and position with Huygens. The latter, in turn, could use this share of power to enhance his social network and find increasingly better and visible ways to apply his broad talents in name and honor of the prince. In this act of reciprocity, the net effect was betterment of position for both – the prince’s stature grew through Huygens’s established work, and Huygens grew both by the realization of the act itself and through the consequential increase in the prince’s position. To make the circle round, the prince rewarded Huygens’s loyalty at several moments in his career with gifts that entailed concrete improvements in social position (and wealth), thus stimulating Constantijn Sr.’s ambition for social mobility. Furthermore, such gestures of course had its immediate positive effect on the benefactor. The Stadholder was known to be a generous donor and “shared his household” with a courtier of higher social standing. In modern terms, one might call this a “win-win-situation” serving the purposes of both. In order to grasp fully the importance of the House of Orange for Constantijn Sr. and his ambitions for his sons’ careers (including those of Christiaan Jr. until his early thirties), one has to take into account its socio-economic dimension for Constantijn Sr. (section iii). When merely relying on the language in which Constantijn Sr. put the connection with the House of Orange (section i) one runs the risk of missing out on this important aspect of the relationship between Constantijn Sr. and the Princes of Orange (section ii). The final section of this chapter shortly discusses Constantijn Sr.’s proximity to Prince Frederik Hendrik and Huygens’s key role in creating a more magnificent and powerful court at The Hague. His centrality in the strengthening of the Oranges’ dynastic representation further shows his knowledge of and involvement in aristocratic matters, later enabling him to be of crucial support for his son Christiaan Jr. during his years in Paris and London (see Part II). i. Chains of “Love,” “Affection” and “Friendship” In some respects, Huygens’s relationship with the consecutive Stadholders (Prince Frederik Hendrik in particular) and Her Highness Princess Douairière (Amalia van Solms, Frederik Hendrik’s consort) resembled a relationship of lovers. A recurring theme in Huygens’s language on the bond between him and the princes (or their direct kin) is an emphasis on love and friendship and a deep affection that has turned him (voluntarily) into a humble servant, even a slave. An old Huygens at the end of his life told his sons in his De vita 29
Page 1 and 2: Christiaan Huygens - A family affai
Page 3 and 4: Abstract Christiaan Huygens - A fam
Page 5 and 6: present-day patent (the monopoly on
Page 7 and 8: Court, Constantijn Sr. requested th
Page 9 and 10: court, diplomacy and natural philos
Page 11 and 12: II. A “Grand Tour” de Force in
Page 13 and 14: opportunity to see the world, learn
Page 15 and 16: A same strategic use of his musical
Page 17 and 18: Constantijn’s objective - putting
Page 19 and 20: authorities out- and inside the Rep
Page 21 and 22: Barendrecht argues, the foreign min
Page 23 and 24: Constantijn Sr. may have encountere
Page 25 and 26: patronage of different ambassadors
Page 27: could be employed in that context v
Page 31 and 32: Council of States (Raad van State)
Page 33 and 34: From Huygens’s defense it shows t
Page 35 and 36: “honesty”), thus inviting the r
Page 37 and 38: this constituted but a relative sma
Page 39 and 40: 1627 to approximately f 300.000 in
Page 41 and 42: Orange - which itself in turn showe
Page 43 and 44: correspondence with and poems for h
Page 45 and 46: advice to the Stadholder. 139 This
Page 47 and 48: Post) by its natural inclusion in t
Page 49 and 50: Amongst the highest of the bourgeoi
Page 51 and 52: In many ways, Constantijn Sr. was p
Page 53 and 54: and England refused the diplomatic
Page 55 and 56: knowledge of the natural sciences.
Page 57 and 58: Constantijn Sr. used in his writing
Page 59 and 60: make “dry” matter more interest
Page 61 and 62: emphasized by Erasmus and Castiglio
Page 63 and 64: the seemingly dominant position for
Page 65 and 66: prominent role in the rest of their
Page 67 and 68: within the Dutch aristocracy throug
Page 69 and 70: Importantly, Constantijn Sr. made s
Page 71 and 72: applications he would later give th
Page 73 and 74: Marquis de Chambonière, Vicquefort
Page 75 and 76: donated his books to many of his no
Page 77 and 78: Christiana presented his evidence o
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VI. Zulekoms at Court Three galas i
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the father’s plans for Christiaan
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It seems likely that the father sti
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the summer of 1655 - first to Paris
Page 87 and 88:
laudatory verse of Constantijn Sr.
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and sharing them with his brothers.
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appearances. Widely available and m
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than its literary value, may explai
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VII. The Business of Instruments -
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at many points the whole family Huy
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ii. Making and distributing instrum
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England in November 1658 346 and wa
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clocks. 357 Generally, the role of
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moment for these events. 363 As Huy
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the Zulichems, Father and Son: all
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from a repentant Petit himself, he
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VIII. Patronage and its Privileges
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You have acted wisely by not awaiti
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texts and inventions did vary a gre
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getting a privilege with the French
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operation” of Constantijn Sr. and
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observations. It is not true that C
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Appendix A The following list of bo
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Appendix B The following list of bo
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Folios - imprints of palaces, garde
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dans l’histoire………………
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BRUGMANS, H. L. & HUYGENS, C. (1935
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KAISER, F. (1846) Iets over de kijk
Page 135:
SLIVE, S. & REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON V
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Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

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