After the bankruptcy of the Dutch East India Company, the Indonesian archipelago came under the control of the newly founded Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On 16 May 1817, Pattimura led an armed rebellion that captured Fort Duurstede, killing the inhabitants of the fortress and fighting off Dutch reinforcements, on 29 May he was declared the leader of the Moluccan people.

But, there is a strong source validly said that Ambon, Seram, Ternate, were widespreaded with Catholicism in Maluku islands during Francis Xavier mission on 1547.

[6] On 16 May 1817, the rebels seized the Fort Duurstede and killed the 19 Dutch soldiers, including Resident Johannes Rudolph van den Berg and his family (who had arrived just two months earlier), his wife, three of his children and their governess.

[6] After the seizure, Pattimura's forces defended the fort and on May 20 defeated and killed Major Beetjes, Second Lieutenant E. S. de Haas, and their nearly 200 troops, leaving only 30 survivors.

On 16 December 1817, Pattimura together with Anthony Reebhok, Philip Latumahina, and Said Parintah were hanged in front of Fort Nieuw Victoria in Ambon.

He had researched Matulessy's ancestry and discovered that his grandfather had carried the hereditary title Pattimura (patih: prince; murah: magnanimous).

According to Dr. Dieter Bartels, anthropology professor in Yavapai College, Clarkdale, Arizona in the book Di Bawah Naungan Gunung Nunusaku (Under the Shade of Mount Nunusaku), oral history in Sahulau (Central Maluku) states that Mattulessy's ancestor used the title when they moved to Hulaliu so it is possible Mattulessy used the hereditary title.

On the authority of Johannes Latuharhary, Sapija and other Indonesian historians, Matulessy was declared a pahlawan nasional (national hero) in 1973 not under his name, but under the authoritative title Kapitan Pattimura.

[15][10] How widely this interpretation can vary is perhaps most clearly indicated by the fact that both the Republik Maluku Selatan and the Republic of Indonesia put forward Pattimura as their Freedom Hero.