The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, Trade and Society in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia

Appendix I: Affidavit of Admiral Jacob van Neck concerning his dealings in Patani in the year 1602.

275 A P P E N D I X I Affidavit of Admiral Jacob van Neck concerning his dealings in Patani in the year 1602. Around October 1604, the directors of the VOC in Amsterdam arranged to pass to the famous lawyer Hugo Grotius a bundle of affidavits that touch on the misdeeds of the Portuguese committed against the Dutch in the East Indies. This bundle, which is bound in white vellum and bears the title Boeck Tracterende vande Wreede, Verradische ende Hostile proceduren der Portugesen In Oost-Indien (Book Concerning the Evil, Treasonous and Hostile Proceedings of the Portuguese in the East Indies) is presently preserved among the papers of Baron H. van Zuylen van Nyevelt in the Nationaal Archief van Nederland in the Hague. The affidavits contained herein were perused by Grotius when drafting the historical chapters of his famous work De Jure Praedae Commentarius (On the Law of Prize and Booty) around that date.  The Hague, Nationaal Archief, Collectie 102, Baron H. van Zuylen van Nyevelt, suppl. 2, no. 13 (2.21.179.01 no. 13), Boeck Tracterende vande Wreede, Verradische ende Hostile proceduren der Portugesen In Oost-Indien (Book Concerning the Evil, Treasonous and Hostile Proceedings of the Portuguese in the East Indies), pp. 35–43. A transcript of the original Dutch has also been published in Coolhaas, “Een bron van het historische gedeelte van Hugo de Groots De Jure Praedae”, BMH 79 (1965): 453–60. Translated from the original Dutch by Dr Corinna Vermeulen, Noctua Taal en tekst, Leiden. Concerning the broader historic importance of this bundle of documents within the context of Grotius studies, see also GPFT, pp. 111–4. 25 MJdC.indd 275 10/24/13 5:31:37 PM The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre 276 In chapter XVII of his autobiography, Jacques de Coutre claimed that he had encountered the Dutch Admiral Jacob van Neck while in Patani. The admiral confirmed this incident, reminiscing in his affidavit filed on 10 October 1604 that “in this city [of Patani] came to me a jeweller born from Bruges, residing at Goa”. Although not mentioned by name, this reference is made unmistakenly to De Coutre. The following text translates the full affidavit of Van Neck into English. Portrait of the Dutch humanist Hugo Grotius, c.1613. In 1604 he received a set of affidavits from the directors of the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC as part of a packet of materials to assist him in writing his first major work on the law of war and the law of nations, De Jure Praedae Commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty). De Coutre is indirectly mentioned in two of the affidavits contained in this bound bundle. (Leiden, UB, Icones 66). 25 MJdC.indd 276 10/24/13 5:31:45 PM 277 Appendices: Appendix I Affidavit of Jacob Van Neck, Admiral, Concerning the Hostility of the Portuguese I,Jacob van Neck, hereby declare and testify on my manly integrity, honour, loyalty and piety—instead of a solemn oath—at the behest of the Directors of the East Indian Company in Amsterdam, that it is true that in the year of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 1600, on the first day of May, I set sail for the East Indies from the province of Holland with six ships, over which I had been appointed admiral. By the Lord’s merciful guidance, we arrived before the city of Banten with three of our ships on 30 March 1601. The governor of that place had me welcomed kindly on our ships, requesting me to visit him as soon as possible, which I did the next day. He received me with great joy, saying that he regretted (among other things) that he could not provide cargo for more than one of our ships at that time, and asked where I wanted to send the others. To which I replied that I intended to sail them to Banda in person. Having understood this, he began to advise me against it strongly, saying that the Portuguese had turned all the kings of Java against us with many presents and other cunning pretences and persuaded them to attack our ships by surprise, under the pretext of friendship, and take them from us. He also told me that a Portuguese captain by the name of Raja Lella had come to him requesting permission in the king...