Thomas Hees

Thomas Hees (1634 - 1693) was a Dutch diplomat, active in the negotiations of the States General with the corsairs of Barbary.

He completed his medical studies in Angers and then returned to the Republic in 1660 where he was named doctor(geneesheer) at the "Collegium Medicum" of Amsterdam.

The Dutch government retaliated with a number of punitive expeditions, the most famous of which were the three missions of Michiel de Ruyter.

In 1674, Algiers decided that it could not keep fighting against all of the European maritime powers and called on the States General to send an envoy to negotiate the terms of a potential peace.

[3] Before Hees could acquire a guarantee of a stable peace, It took four years of constant lengthy negotiations, which he described in his diary, preserved at the National Archives in The Hague[4].

" Thomas Hees with his nephews Jan and Andries Hees and a servant " by Michiel van Musscher , oil on canvas, 1687, Rijksmuseum . The coat of arms above the mirror depicts the lion of the County of Holland .