Balthasar de Moucheron (also written Balthazar de Moucheron; c. 1552–1630) was a Zeeland merchant of Middelburg — a South-Netherlander of French descent (Zuid-Nederlander van Fransche afstamming) and “den ondernemenden Zeeuw” (the enterprising Zeelander) of Van der Woude’s portrait — who outfitted the Houtman brothers’ voyage of 1599 to Atjeh on the ships De Leeuw and De Leeuwin, dispatched Joris Spilbergh’s fleet of three ships and the yacht ‘t Lam to Atjeh in 1601 (which arrived in 1602), and was one of the founding Bewindhebbers (directors) of the VOC’s Zeeland chamber in 1602. He is the principal Dutch commercial figure of the pre-VOC Atjeh trade and the central merchant of the Moucheron firm that anchored the Zeeland interest in the early Dutch-Indies commerce.
Background and the Pre-VOC Voorcompagnieën
De Moucheron’s commercial career unfolded in the so-called voorcompagnieën (pre-VOC companies) period — the small independent Dutch trading companies that sailed to the East Indies in the years 1595–1602 before their consolidation into the VOC. The Moucheron firm was the principal Zeeland interest in the early Dutch-Indies trade and the chief rival of the Amsterdam companies in the pre-VOC period. Van der Woude treats Moucheron as the principal instance of the Zeeland merchant’s risk-tolerance in this period: “den ondernemenden Zeeuw”.
The Houtman Brothers’ Voyage of 1598–1599
After Cornelis de Houtman’s return from the first Dutch voyage to Bantam in 1597 and the subsequent legal disputes, Moucheron — who “waarschijnlijk, en tot zijn nadeel, geen geloof sloeg aan de geruchten over en processen tegen hem” (“probably, and to his detriment, gave no credence to the rumours and proceedings against him”) — gave Houtman command of two ships, De Leeuw and De Leeuwin, which left Vlissingen on 25 March 1598 with the English pilot John Davis as stuurman (helmsman/sailing-master). Trusting the experience of the De Houtman brothers — Cornelis having commanded the first Dutch voyage of 1595–1597 — Moucheron took them both into his service. Davis served as pilot on the secret instructions of the Earl of Essex, and his reports would later inform the English East India Company’s own early voyages, including James Lancaster’s.
The voyage to the Indies took fifteen months. The Madagascar population fled at the reappearance of the rough Dutchmen — this was the second Dutch landing there, the first having already left a bad reputation under De Houtman’s own first expedition. The fleet reached Atjeh in June 1599, anchoring off the roadstead on 24 June 1599. The good understanding with the Sultan lasted only briefly. With poisoned fruits and drinks, later with a kris-attack, the Atjehnese sought to be rid of the foreigners. The voyage ended in the ambush of 11 September 1599 in which many were killed — including Cornelis de Houtman — and many taken prisoner, including Frederik de Houtman (who would remain captive for twenty-six months). See Death of Cornelis de Houtman at Atjeh (1599).
The ships that escaped Atjeh made for Pedir, where they beat off an Atjehnese naval attack; they then touched at the Nicobars and, after much misfortune, reached Middelburg in the summer of 1600. De Moucheron suffered heavy losses from the expedition.
The Spilbergh Fleet of 1601–1602
Moucheron then outfitted the fleet of three ships and the yacht ‘t Lam under Joris Spilbergh, which left Middelburg on 5 May 1601. Near the Comoros the yacht became separated from the others and was so damaged that Cornelis Spex put in at Atjeh in early September 1602 and placed himself under James Lancaster’s command. Spilbergh himself arrived a few days later with the other two ships, having called at Ceylon on the way and conducted the first Dutch embassy to the King of Kandi. Spilbergh joined Lancaster in the capture of the Portuguese carrack of 3 October 1602 for an eighth of the prize. The Spilbergh voyage was the closing Dutch visit to Atjeh of the pre-VOC period — and, like the opening Houtman voyage of 1599, it was outfitted by Moucheron.
The Founding of the VOC (1602)
Moucheron was one of the founding Bewindhebbers of the VOC’s Zeeland chamber in 1602. The charter of 20 March 1602 listed him among the first Zeeland Bewindhebbers:
“De Camere van Zeelandt by Adriaen Hendircxsz. ten Haeff, Jacob Boreel, Jehan Lambertsz. Coole, Jacob Pietersz. de Weert, Cornelis Meunicx, Adriaen Bommené, Laurens Bacx, Everhardt Becquer, Arnoult le Clerck, Arnoult Verhouve, Gherardt van Schoonhove, Nicolaes Pieterssz., Balthazar van Vlierden, ende Balthzar de Moucheron.”
With the founding of the VOC, the separate Zeeland companies — including the Moucheron firm — were wound up, and their assets and personnel were absorbed into the united company. The absorption marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period and the beginning of the unified Dutch-Indies trade.
John Davis and the English Spy-Work
John Davis — the English pilot who had served as stuurman on the Houtman voyage — turned his spy-material to English advantage. As the Dutch had once wrung the secrets of the India trade from Portugal, England now sought profit from Dutch experience. The De Moucheron expedition was a key part of that intelligence-gathering: Davis’s reports would inform the English East India Company’s own early voyages, including James Lancaster’s. The Davis episode is a reminder that the early Dutch-Indies trade was carried on under the watchful eye of rival European powers, and that the same voyages that opened Dutch commerce with Atjeh also opened the English path to the Indian Ocean.
Significance
For Atjeh’s history, Balthasar de Moucheron is significant as the merchant-prince whose expedition of 1598 produced the first Dutch fatality at Atjeh and the first Dutch captivity at Atjeh — the two events that, taken together, set the tone for the Dutch-Atjeh relationship for the next decade. He is also a reminder that the early Dutch India trade was not exclusively Amsterdam: the South-Netherlander of French descent, operating out of Zeeland, was a typical figure of the pre-VOC wilde vaart (free trade) generation. In Van der Woude’s narrative, Moucheron is the principal Dutch commercial figure of the pre-VOC Atjeh trade and the central merchant of the Zeeland interest in the early Dutch-Indies commerce. The Houtman voyage of 1599 — the first Dutch visit to Atjeh — was outfitted by Moucheron; the Spilbergh voyage of 1601–1602 — the closing Dutch visit to Atjeh of the pre-VOC period — was also outfitted by Moucheron; and the founding of the VOC in 1602, which absorbed the Moucheron firm into the Zeeland chamber, marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period. Moucheron’s role in the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship is thus both foundational and transitional: he opened the trade and he shepherded it into the unified company that would carry it forward.
See Also
- Houtman brothers’ visit to Atjeh (1599)
- Cornelis de Houtman
- Frederik de Houtman
- Death of Cornelis de Houtman at Atjeh (1599)
- Joris Spilbergh
- Joris Spilbergh’s Atjeh visit (1602)
- Cornelis Spex
- John Davis
- James Lancaster
- Moucheron’s firm
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
- Founding of the VOC (1602)
- Capture of the Portuguese carrack off Atjeh (October 1602)
- Middelburg
- Vlissingen
- Pedir
- Nicobars
- Comoro Islands
- Aceh
- 1598
- 1599
- 1600
- 1601
- 1602
Source
Coen, Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandshen Handel in Indië (1598-1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. De Boer Jr., 1948), Hoofdstuk V “Voorgangers, Hollanders en mededingers tot 1614. Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” (pp. 109-110, 117-119), and Bijlage I (p. 369).
Balthasar de Moucheron, by J. H. de Stoppelaar (‘s Gravenhage, 1901).
Tijdens de O.I. Compagnie, by Dr. E. C. Godee Molsbergen, Oud-Hoogleeraar, Landsarchivaris te Batavia (Amsterdam: N.V. Swets & Zeitlinger Boekhandel en Uitgevers Mij., 1932), chapter XXIII (“Sint Thomas. De Madoera-ziekte. Malakka. Het groote kanon in Atjeh. Java. Paradijsvogels. Lélang. Koloniale Portugeezen”), p. 81 of the numbered-letter sequence, and chapter XXXII (“Het Kasteel van Verre”), pp. 114–118.