The Scandal of the Governor-General's Daughter

VOC Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen's anger could not be contained. His adopted daughter, Sara Specx, was caught in the act with Pieter Cortenhoeff, a sixteen-year-old boy, at his residence in 1629. Twelve-year-old Sara was the daughter of Jacques Specx, a member of the Raad van Indie or the Council of the Indies, and a Japanese woman, while Pieter was the son of senior merchant Jacob Cortenhoeff and a Burmese woman.

In 1627, when Sara was 10 years old, she was entrusted to Coen because her father had to return to the Netherlands. Specx was summoned by VOC leaders to provide extensive information regarding trade in Japan. Together with his wife, Eva Ment, the puritanical and Calvinist Coen educated and instilled his moral views in Sara.

Coen was known as a strict and stern leader, especially in highlighting the morals of Europeans in the colony. Coen, founder of Batavia, never hesitated to show his displeasure with concubinage, adultery, and prostitution. Not surprisingly, when he learned that his adopted daughter had committed immoral acts, Coen immediately demanded that Sara and Pieter be sentenced to death.

Coen, twice governor-general of the VOC, immediately summoned VOC officials in Batavia to discuss the young couple's execution. In the presence of the fiscal advocate, Anthony van den Heuvel, and two members of the Council of Indies, Pieter Vlack and Anthony van Diemen, Coen wanted Pieter beheaded and his adopted daughter drowned in a barrel. However, van Diemen was against executions.

“Although cruel corporal punishment was routinely meted out at the time, the punishment demanded by Coen in this case involving his adopted daughter was considered too harsh by most VOC officials in Batavia. As a result, the Raad van Justitie (the Council of Justice) stalled for time,” wrote Alfons van der Kraan in Anthony van Diemen: From Bankrupt to Governor-General, 1593-1636 (Part I)”, published in The Great Circle, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2004).

Opposing the Death Penalty

Although Coen was the number one person in Batavia, he could not decide on the death penalty. In the Batavian judicial system, all sentences involving the death penalty required not only the approval of the governor-general, but also the approval of the members of the Council of Indies. The tense atmosphere was inevitable when van Diemen opposed the death sentences for Sara and Pieter and refused to sign the Council Resolution.

According to historian W. Ph. Coolhaas in “Gegevens Over Antonio van Diemen”, published in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, Deel 103, 3/4de Afl. (1946), there were several factors that led van Diemen to oppose the death penalty. Apart from humanitarian grounds, Pieter was van Diemen's subordinate, and he had friendly relations with the young man's family.

Coolhaas said the friendly relationship was evident from a letter sent by Amsterdam's secretary, Boudewijn Cortenhoeff to Specx. In the letter, Boudewijn, who was Pieter's uncle, referred to van Diemen as “mynen goeden vriend en speelgenoot” or “a good friend and companion”. Thus, it can be assumed that there was a long-standing relationship between van Diemen and the Cortenhoeff family.

“Even so, in my opinion, it is unlikely that van Diemen would have said why he opposed Coen's decision; he would have refrained from telling others about the death penalty,” Coolhaas wrote.

The disagreement between Coen and van Diemen was notable because the two had a close relationship, both as colleagues and friends. For Coen, van Diemen was reliable, despite his bad reputation in the past. Coen even protected van Diemen from the bad judgment of VOC leaders in the Netherlands when they learned that van Diemen had falsified his identity when applying to become a VOC employee in the colony. For his good performance, Coen quickly promoted van Diemen.

Van Diemen arrived in Batavia as a common soldier in 1618. In less than ten years, however, he became one of the most influential men in Batavia after being appointed by Coen to the Council of Indies in 1624. “Van Diemen knew too well that he owed Coen a favor and his entire career; he also understood that Coen could take back everything he had at any time. However, since the sentence was against his conscience, van Diemen didn't hesitate to defy his superior,” Coolhaas wrote.

Van Diemen's refusal to sentence Pieter and Sara to death led to a tie in the Council of Justice. Coen then took another route to pass his wishes by urging Pieter Vlack, who was his brother-in-law. Vlack complied with Coen's request, and as a result, the death penalty was approved by a vote of two to one. Even so, the death penalty was only imposed on Pieter, while Sara was sentenced to public flogging.

The day after the sentence was approved, Pieter, who was being held in a dungeon, was taken to the place of execution and beheaded on scaffolding set up in front of the Coen residence. Sara was forced to witness the execution before being taken to Batavia's town hall where, with the doors wide open, she was flogged before a crowd of jeering soldiers and sailors.

Van Diemen's courage in refusing Coen's request caused the two to drift apart. “As van Diemen knew, it was very dangerous to cross swords with Governor-General Coen because he was a powerful, domineering, and vindictive man who could easily destroy him,” van der Kraan wrote.

However, a few days after Pieter's execution and the public humiliation of Sara, Coen fell ill and was unable to continue his duties. During July and August, Coen's condition continued to deteriorate until on September 20, 1629, after suffering from severe cramps, the governor-general breathed his last at the age of 42.

Specx Replacing Coen

Coen's death changed the course of van Diemen's life. At first, many people believed that van Diemen's career was over after he refused Coen's request. However, after the execution, it was the other way around.

“By sheer coincidence, on the day when Governor-General Coen lay dying in the Batavia fortress, the ship Hollandia arrived from the Netherlands and one of the passengers was Jacques Specx, Sara's father. While Specx was understandably devastated to learn what had happened to his daughter, at first he seemed to be able to hide his feelings,” van der Kraan wrote. In fact, Specx attended Coen's funeral on September 22, 1629.

Two days later, the Council of Indies gathered to choose Coen's successor. Although Coen was authorized to appoint his successor, the appointment wasn't made legally binding. There were rumors that Coen had whispered the name of his successor to the priest who accompanied him when he was dying. However, such an informal appointment was not acceptable. On the other hand, the Council of the Indies argued that they were “too few” to undertake such an important action as electing a governor-general, so they summoned three high officials to their meeting to vote.

Van der Kraan explained that when the VOC officials in Batavia gathered to decide on Coen's successor, Specx was present and quietly put his name forward for nomination. Next, he asked the VOC officials to vote. As a result, Specx received the most votes to succeed Coen. Apart from being the most senior member of the Council of Indies, Specx's election as governor-general was most likely because some VOC officials felt guilty about the sentence his daughter had received.

“They elected Specx to replace Jan Pieterszoon Coen as Governor-General of the VOC in Batavia by a vote of eight to five,” van der Kraan wrote.

However, after being appointed governor-general, Specx could no longer hide his anger at those who had agreed to Coen's request to punish Sara. He began to take revenge. His greatest anger was directed at the two judges of the Council of Justice who, at Coen's insistence, had sentenced his daughter. In addition, Specx also forced the Church Council to ban three members of the Council of Justice from attending holy communion in the church. This punishment was considered quite severe, given the close relationship between the Church Council and the VOC, which could have consequences for their position in Batavia.

Coen's brother-in-law, Pieter Vlack, who approved the severe punishment for Sara also had to pay for his actions. Although Specx didn't have the authority to dismiss him without the approval of the VOC Board of Directors, he ensured that Vlack's career in the Dutch East Indies was over. The absolute power of the governor-general could also be seen in Specx's decision to exile a priest to a ship in the harbor for trying to defend the three members of the Council of the Indies who had been banned from attending a holy communion in the church.

Van Diemen Replacing Brouwer

At the same time, van Diemen became Specx's confidant. In addition to his competence, van Diemen's opposition to Coen certainly attracted Specx's attention and made him an ally. The governor-general relied on van Diemen in particular to judge all administrative matters.

Van Diemen's career was on the rise. In mid-March 1632, van Diemen was in the Netherlands to attend a meeting of the VOC Board of Directors in the Zeeland town of Middelburg. At this meeting, they said they had decided to recall Jacques Specx because his performance as governor-general was unsatisfactory. The VOC officials had also decided on the more experienced Hendrik Brouwer as Specx's replacement.

The VOC directors asked van Diemen if he would be willing to return to the Dutch East Indies as director-general, the second highest official after the governor-general, who would succeed Brouwer at the end of the agreed three-year term.  

“Van Diemen now had a reasonable prospect of reaching the highest office in the Dutch East Indies. This offer was too good to refuse. He therefore agreed to return to the Dutch East Indies and a few months later, in late November 1632, van Diemen sailed on the Amsterdam for Batavia with his wife and some of his relatives,” van der Kraan wrote.

As with Coen and Specx, van Diemen also established a good relationship with Brouwer. At the end of 1635, when his three-year term expired, Brouwer resigned and was replaced by van Diemen, officially sworn in as governor-general on January 1, 1636.