Read our sample translation of The Advocate of Holland
About the book
During the nine months Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the Land’s Advocate, is imprisoned, what thoughts pass through his mind? Nicolaas Matsier follows Van Oldebarnevelt from the morning of his sudden arrest up to his execution on the Binnenhof in The Hague.
In Matsier’s own words: ‘What fascinated me about Van Oldenbarnevelt was this powerful man’s isolation in his last months. He was incomunicado, as they say in Spanish, locked up in his own Binnenhof. Deprived from virtually all the information he was used to receiving, as he was used to pulling so many strings. Without access to his personal archive. Without a lawyer, without paper and ink, without charges. And largely without daylight and fresh air.’
