SCHIMMELPENNINCK, Roger-Jean

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Born 15 February, 1761 at Deventer in Holland, he studied Classics and Law at Leiden, subsequently becoming a lawyer at Amsterdam, where he was made mayor in 1795 after the flight Stathouder. From 1798, he represented the Batavian Republic in France in Paris, and participated in the negotiations for the Peace of Amiens in 1802. Ambassador to London in 1803, he returned to Paris in 1804.
 
Of moderate opinion, he fought for the independence of Holland and occupied the post of Grand-pensionnaire at the head of the Batavian Republic, in the transitory period before the country was annexed to the Empire under Louis.
 
Schimmelpenninck opposed the creation of the Kingdom of Holland (1805) and retired from political life. He did however accept a seat on the French Senate as representative of his country when Holland was annexed in 1810. Grand-trésorier of the Order of the Golden Fleece (the Toison d'or), he received the title Comte de l'Empire on 10 April, 1811.
 
He voted for the deposition of the Emperor on 3 April, 1814. He played a role in the first chamber of the Etats-Généraux in 1815.
He died in Amsterdam on 25 March, 1825.

I. Delage, March, 2002

Bibliography
Schama, P., Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780-1813, London, 1977
Woolf, Stuart, Napoleon's integration of Europe, London: Routledge, 1991, 319 p.

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