The historical Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (spellings vary), "Lord of Berkel, Rodenrys, etc.," was a prominent Dutch politician and statesman who was executed in The Hague on 13 May 1619.
He was beheaded at the age of 71, after a conviction on a charge of high treason for allegedly conspiring with the Spanish enemies of the Netherlands – though he maintained his innocence to the end of his life.
The surviving manuscript shows that most of Buc's edits consisted of small changes, "altering the tone or tweaking a phrase.
)[3] (Buc trimmed lines that could be considered anti-monarchical; he also cut a 14-line section in the opening scene, which described the prostitutes who cluster around London theatres.)
In 1619 as for a long period previously, the Bishop of London had the authority to approve or disapprove plays for their religious conformity, as the government did for political content; and Barnavelt touched on the sensitive subject of Arminian-Calvinist rivalry.
The prompter of the King's Men added details about stage props, sound effects (horns offstage), and other matters needed for performance, indicating that the manuscript was going to be used, and in all likelihood was used, as the prompt-book for the production;[4] and it also bears Buc's censorship marks.
Scholars have long recognized that Fletcher had a highly distinctive profile of linguistic usages that allows his share in collaborative works to be distinguished from others – like Francis Beaumont, or as in this case, Philip Massinger.
Filled with growing pride, he resents the power and the excellent reputation of the Prince of Orange, and he conspires to arouse sedition to regain the control he thinks he has lost.
Brought before the senate, he defends himself against charges of treachery by reiterating his real contributions to his nation, and he pathetically tries to console himself for his fall by recalling the esteem in which he was held by many monarchs in his younger days.
He swears, even as he stands on the scaffold awaiting execution, that he has not committed treason, and he dies praying for his prince and casting "honour and the world" behind him.
He is notoriously a smooth-tongued flatterer and a man who will promise anything; one soldier complains that no suitor ever left him dissatisfied, yet none ever received what he wanted.
Convinced by Barnavelt that suicide is the only way to preserve some semblance of honor, he resolves to die, then delays a few moments to speak of the pain of leaving his beloved young son, who sleeps nearby.
He is at first wary of the old statesman's plans and counsels him bluntly not to risk destroying the effects of his forty years of service to the state by giving vent to his ambition.
He restrains his followers, who are eager to vent their justifiable anger against Barnavelt, yet he is strong-willed enough to exert military force when it is necessary to put down rebellion in Utrecht.
They listen sympathetically to Barnavelt's initial plans, but they soon recognize his ambition for what it is and remain loyal supporters of order and the prince.
Barnavelt responds with an egotistic speech expressing deep jealousy of the Prince and a sense that his service to the State has been overlooked (an attitude he will sustain throughout the play).
The First Captain says that he can help out with gold to bribe Barnavelt's wife, and, in a moment of meta-theatricality, he remarks that if he had known, he could have procured a prostitute from amongst the "poor wretches" (1.1.183) that crowd around the London theaters.
He urges Groitus and Hogerbeets enroll companies of citizens (burghers) in the provincial cities to defend the sect against its enemy, the Prince of Orange, whose regular troops are garrisoned at Utrecht.
Once again, Modesbargen assumes the role of cautious objector, this time arguing that religion should not be made a cloak for subversive political activity.
In an aside, he extols the swift progression of his scheme: "I have one foote on his neck, / Ere long ile set the other on his head, / And sinck him to the Center" (1.2.80–82).
Leidenberch reports that the citizen-companies are ready to follow Barnavelt into war, and that the preachers "play their parts too, / And thunder in their Pulpitts, hell and dampnation / To such as hold against us" (2.1.587-89).
Coming forward, Barnavelt worries that a crisis is nearing: without the aid of the English garrison, the rebellion has a much poorer chance against the Prince of Orange.
Barnavelt launches into a characteristic tirade, reaffirming his hatred of the Prince and complaining about the ungratefulness of the State he worked so hard to defend.
The Prince says that the reduction of the armed towns has done much to stamp out the sect, but that powerful men who remain untouched are its real source of strength.
Although Leidenberch has been captured, the councilors note that it will be difficult to make a case against the other conspirators without the testimony of Modesbargen, who has fled to his ancestral castle in Germany.
Some citizens enter (below) and begin decorating the doors of houses with flowers, a 'Keramis-time' tradition (Kerstmis is the Dutch Christmas, but Barnavelt was tried in the summer; the detail seems to have been thrown in to add a bit of local colour).
He denies all of the charges vigorously, and asks why a man who had worked so hard to defend the State would want to undermine it, as his accusers suggest.
The Prince of Orange says that Barnavelt is very good at recalling his services to the state, but has glossed over the spottier moments in his recent record.
The Prince notes that the entire continent is watching the trial and that it would sully their reputation if they did not act on the clear evidence that has been presented at court.
A line from another Lord ends the play on a somber note: "farewell, great hart: full low thy strength now lyes, / He that would purge ambition this way dies" (5.3.189-90).