View source for Johan van Banchem

'''Johan van Banchem''' (1615 – before 4 October 1694<!--As he was buried on 4 October(a fact that one would have to dig up from the article) that is the closest approximation of his inexact death date-->) was one of the leaders of the lynching of [[Johan de Witt]] and [[Cornelis de Witt]] on 20 August 1672. He was rewarded for this crime with an appointment as ''[[Schout|baljuw]]'' of The Hague by [[Stadtholder]] [[William III of England|William III]]. After a few years in this function he was arrested and convicted for gross abuse of his office. He was sentenced to death on 26 November 1680 by the ''[[Hof van Holland]]'' (the main court of law in the province of [[Holland]]), but appealed the verdict to the ''[[Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland]]'' (the supreme court of the [[Dutch Republic]]). He died in jail before this appeal was finished.

==Biography==
Van Banchem (alternately spelled ''Bancken'') was born in [[The Hague]], the son of Jan Gerritsz. van Banchem, a bailiff of the ''Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland'' (a namesake was the fourth president of this court, but in view of the father's patronym probably not the grandfather of Johan). He married Anna Deijm in 1649 and had several children from this marriage. He practiced law before the ''Hof van Holland'' (the main court of the province, the ''Hoge Raad'' being the federal supreme court) before he was [[Co-option|co-opted]] into the Hague ''[[vroedschap]]'' in 1655. In 1672 he was elected a ''[[schepen]]'' of The Hague. He was known as an ardent [[Orangism (Netherlands)|Orangist]] and an enemy of the [[Grand Pensionary]] [[Johan de Witt]].

===Murder of the De Witt brothers===
The year 1672 is also known as the [[Rampjaar|Year of Disaster]] in Dutch history, because through a concerted attack France, England, [[Prince-Bishopric of Münster|Münster]] and [[Electorate of Cologne|Cologne]] had conquered a large part of the Republic and brought about the end of the [[First Stadtholderless Period]]. William III had been appointed Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in early July, and Johan de Witt had resigned his office of Grand Pensionary on August 4, after having been severely wounded in an assassination attempt. He and his brother Cornelis were held responsible for the dire straits of the Republic by the common people, who also resented his policy of trying to prevent the elevation of William to the stadtholderate.

In mid-August Cornelis de Witt was falsely accused of a conspiracy to murder William. He was arrested and tortured, but refused to confess. He was then convicted of perjury because he denied knowing his accuser, a barber by the name of Tichelaar, and sentenced to banishment. The next day his brother Johan was lured to the jail, where Cornelis was recovering from the torture. When they were both in the jail the building was surrounded by the Hague civic militia, who were fiercely Orangist, because there were rumors that Cornelis would be allowed to escape.

Now Van Banchem, in his official capacity of alderman, made the officers of the militia swear an oath that they would prevent the escape of the De Witts. He started to incite the mob that was milling about the jail. After a detachment of federal cavalry had conveniently been withdrawn, the militia led by Van Banchem, Tichelaar, and a silversmith by the name of Hendrik Verhoeff stormed the jail. The brothers were dragged from the building and shot by the militia. The bodies were then left to the depredations of the Mob.

After this lynching, William, who probably was not in on the conspiracy to murder the De Witt brothers by van Banchem and the Rotterdam [[Regenten|Regent]] [[Johan Kievit]] and his brother-in-law [[Cornelis Tromp]] (who had given the signal for the assault on the jail), nevertheless prevented attempts by the authorities to punish those responsible. He even rewarded them by doling out pensions (to Tichelaar) and high offices. Van Banchem was made ''baljuw'' of The Hague on 20 September 1672.<ref>Historisch Genootschap; see also {{Aut|Rowen, H.H.}} (1986) ''John de Witt: Statesman of the "true Freedom" '', Cambridge U.P., {{ISBN|0-521-52708-2}}, pp. 217-222</ref>

===Career as ''baljuw''===
As ''baljuw'' (the equivalent of a [[Schout]])<!-- Best give a useful wikilink, not one that refers to a translation--> Van Banchem was both public prosecutor and head of police. His office did not pay a formal salary, but he was allowed to retain certain fines levied, and could also negotiate transactions with suspects to avoid prosecution. This was all above board in itself. However, Van Banchem started to abuse his position by falsely imprisoning innocent people in his private jail (the official Hague jail was a federal institution and not under his jurisdiction), and holding them for ransom. He also blackmailed clients of Hague prostitutes, who were often employed by Van Banchem to engineer compromising situations.

He was arrested in 1676 on multiple charges of extortion and false imprisonment. It is not unlikely that the attorney-general exacted some measure of revenge for the events of 1672 when he stringently prosecuted Van Banchem for crimes that were not unusual in those days. Van Banchem was even tortured. He was convicted and sentenced to death on 26 November 1680 by the ''[[Hof van Holland]]''.

However, Van Banchem appealed the conviction to the ''[[Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland]]''. While awaiting this appeal he managed to escape from jail in 1684. He fled to Amsterdam, where he tried to get the protection of burgomaster [[Coenraad van Beuningen]]. Van Beuningen, however, suspected him of plans to assassinate him and denounced him to the Amsterdam ''schout''. Banchem was brought back to The Hague and now more securely locked up in the same jail where he had dragged the De Witt brothers from.

Meanwhile, his appeal dragged on and he died in 1694, still in jail. He was buried in the Hague on 4 October 1694.<ref>Wagenaar and Van der Meij, ''op. cit''</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{in lang|nl}} "Banchem, Van", in: {{Aut|Historisch Genootschap}} (1906) ''Werken. Derde Serie No. 22. Register op de Journalen van Constantijn Huyghens, Jr.'', p.&nbsp;17

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060519032706/http://soc.kuleuven.be/io/ethics/paper/Paper%20WS2_pdf/Pieter%20Wagenaar_Otto%20van%20der%20Meij.pdf Pieter Wagenaar and Otto van der Meij, Villain or victim? A 17th century Dutch bailiff and the moral dilemmas he faced]
* {{in lang|nl}} [http://www.iisg.nl/~tsegsite/2005/4-wagenaar-vandermeij.pdf Een schout in de fout?]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

<!-- do we really need 7 (seven) categories to have him listed as dying in jail? -->

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banchem, Johan Van}}
[[Category:17th-century Dutch criminals]]
[[Category:1615 births]]
[[Category:1694 deaths]]
[[Category:Criminals from The Hague]]
[[Category:Dutch Orangists]]
[[Category:Dutch prisoners sentenced to death]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Dutch torture victims]]
[[Category:Dutch people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in Dutch detention]]
[[Category:Dutch people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by the Netherlands]]