Johan van oldenbarnevelt biography sample

The Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt () was the principal architect of the independence of the republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands after the death of William the Silent.

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was born on Sept.

14, , in the province of Utrecht, in the small city of Amersfoort, into a family of very minor nobility. At the age of 16 he began the study of law in an attorney's office at The Hague, then in undertook 4 years of formal legal studies in the universities of Louvain, Bourges, Cologne, Heidelberg, and probably Padua.

In he returned to practice law in The Hague and Delft. He chose the party of the Prince of Orange in and took part in the vain attempt to relieve Haarlem in and in the successful relief of Leiden in From until he was the pensionary (chief legal officer) of Rotterdam, but his legal duties were subordinated to political tasks, principally representation of the town in the States of Holland, and he acquired increas