Count Johann Moritz of Nassau-Siegen

A controversial personality

Johann Moritz of Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679) is a prominent and now also controversially remembered historical figure. This is due to his political, military and cultural achievements, which recent research is increasingly linking to his work in colonial contexts and in the transatlantic slave trade.

From Siegen to Pernambuco

His father Johann VII of Nassau-Siegen resided in the Upper Castle in Siegen. Johann Moritz initially joined the military in the United Netherlands, as he and his many siblings had to be accommodated or financially secured elsewhere due to the manageable size of the County of Nassau-Siegen. After his involvement in the succession disputes over the county in the early 1630s ended in defeat, Johann Moritz was appointed Governor General of the Dutch West India Company in Dutch Brazil (Pernambuco) in 1636. In addition to his economic and military successes (e.g. the conquest of Portuguese colonial bases), it was in particular the collections, painters, scientific treatises he commissioned and his advocacy of religious freedom that shaped his reputation as a “humanist prince” right up to the present day. More recent research has raised the question of whether and to what extent these achievements would have been possible without profits from the enslavement trade and the labour of enslaved people.

Back in Europe

After eight years in the colony Johann Moritz held various political, military and religious offices in the Netherlands and Brandenburg: on behalf of the Brandenburg Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, he administered the towns of Cleves, Mark and Minden (from 1649 and 1658), became Master of the Order of St. John in Brandenburg in 1652 and commanded Dutch troops in wars against England and France (1665-1667, 1671-1674). When he was elevated to the rank of Prince of the Empire in 1652, he gifted the crown to the city of Siegen. Historians have also emphasized his importance as a diplomat and mediator. In most of the places where he stayed, his work is linked to outstanding building projects (e.g. the Lower Castle in Siegen, the Mauritshuis in The Hague or the “Garden City of Cleves”), which characterizes his assessment to this day.