Van Aerssen belonged to one of the richest families of the Dutch Golden Age.

Through his French wife Margaret, he was Marquis of Saint André Montbrun and Ferrassières.

After a political career in the Netherlands, in 1683 he became tired of Dutch public affairs.

Accordingly, he acquired a one-third share of the Society of Suriname, the other shareholders being the Dutch West India Company and the city of Amsterdam.

[2] On 19 July 1688, a mutiny started, twenty soldiers advanced to his house,[3] and shot Van Sommelsdijck and his assistant Laurens Verboom.