Dirk Coetsee

Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee (1655 – 1725) was a Dutch colonist and the Hoofdheemraad (Chancellor) of the District of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein in South Africa for most of the 1690s and early 1700s.

As captain of the Stellenbosch Infantry, which comprised mostly Huguenots, he provided military backing for a rebellion which began in 1706 against the Governor of the Cape Colony, Willem Adriaan van der Stel, whom the vrijburghers (free burghers, i.e. citizens of the colony not in the employ of the Dutch East India Company) had accused of tyranny, corruption and racketeering.

The rebellion ultimately succeeded in 1707 when the Dutch East India Company recalled the Governor and other colonial officials.

[3] Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee established Coetzenburg/Coetsenburg, one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa, in 1682, on land granted to him by the Dutch Governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel, on the banks of the Eerste River at the foot of the Stellenbosch Mountain.

[19] The De Couches family also had homes in Le Marais in Paris which they fled with other Émigrés after the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572.

Intermarriage was not uncommon, due mainly to the dearth of marriageable expatriate British women at the Cape in the early years.

Indeed, under British rule there was no great divide between the urban Dutch bourgeoisie and the leading wine farmers.

The British set about cementing their alliances with the older colonial population by promoting agricultural production, particularly in the wine industry.

The portraits of Elison and his wife, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston were probably commissioned by their son, a wealthy Amsterdam merchant.

Like the sons of many established Émigré families in Kampen, Dirk de Couches pursued a career as an officer in the Dutch navy.

Thus in 1678, Dirk de Couches (Coetzee/Coetsee) decided to relocate to the Cape of Good Hope where the Dutch East India Company had established a permanent settlement in 1652.

[22] By this time, Dirk was an adelborst eerste klasse (English: a navy cadet equal to a second lieutenant.

[14] In 1682, the Dutch Governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel, granted Coetzee/Coetsee land at the foot of the Stellenbosch Mountain on the banks of the Eerste River which Coetsee named Coetsenburg.

)[23] In Dutch and German, "burg" means "fortress, castle, citadel, stronghold or acropolis"[24] (the first permanent European settlers in the area were primarily Dutch-speaking).

The Coetsenburg Estate lies on the banks of the Eerste River in the town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

[29] One gains access to the estate via Coetzenburg Road which crosses the Eerste River over an old wagon bridge at the site of the original ford, which is known as a drift in South Africa.

In 1682, he approached Commander Simon van der Stel and was in particular given a piece of land or place later called Coetsenburg, located close to Stellenbosch.

In 1706, Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee became the captain of the Stellenbocsch Infantry (Stellenbosch schutterij), replacing Henning Hüsing, the owner of the Meerlust Estate.

Because the Stellenbosch Infantry was composed mainly of French Huguenots, and given Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee's high status in the Huguenot-Cape Dutch colony, Coetzee/Coetsee became involved in organizing a revolt against the Dutch Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel, under the leadership of Adam Tas and Henning Hüsing, who charged the Governor with corruption relating to his enormous estate Vergelegen and monopolizing the wine and meat trade which left the burghers of the Cape Colony at a disadvantage.

Hüsing and Tas conspired with fellow Huguenots to establish a secret society called the "Brotherhood" to oust the Dutch Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel.

[35] Their plan was to petition the Heeren XVII (the Lords Seventeen) of the Dutch East India Company based in Batavia directly.

Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee, as captain of the Stellenbosch Infantry, ensured that their plot was backed up by military force in the event that the petition failed.

[36] After a mock trial, Van der Stel had the leaders of the rebellion, including Hüsing, Tas and Coetsee, thrown into the notorious "Black Hole" dungeon of the Castle of Good Hope.

However, fearing a broader rebellion in the Cape, and possibly the exposure of their own corruption, the Dutch East India Company removed the Governor, the Secunde (Lieutenant Governor) Samuel Elsevier, the Minister Petrus Calden and the Landdrost (magistrate) of Stellenbosch, Johannes Starrenburg, from their posts and they ordered that all the land in possession of Company officials had to be disposed of.

)< In the Cape Colony, the Board of the Landdrost (Magistrate) and Heemraad (Council) governed the country districts and answered directly to the Governor.

There were four Heemraden (council members) of which one was elected the Hoofdheemraad (Chancellor), all serving the district for two-year terms under the Landdrost (magistrate).

Dirk Coetzee/Coetsee served as Captain of the Stellenbosch Infantry from 1607 to 1608, succeeding Henning Hüsing, the owner of the Meerlust Estate.