De Graeff

**De Graeff**, also known as _Graeff, De Graef, Gräff, De Graeff van Polsbroek_ and _De Graaff_) is the name of a Dutch patrician and aristocratic family that still exists today. The family peaked in Amsterdam and Holland in the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age. Due clever tactics they become one of the most influential families in the Dutch Republic.

## History

The (De) Graeff family descends from the Austrian Lords Von Graben. Wolfgang von Graben and his son Peter von Graben came 1476 to Holland [also named in 1483]. Graeff-family founder Pieter Graeff (born Peter von Graben) lived at the Amsterdam area. During that time _Graeff_ was the dutch spelling word of the german _Graben_. Both families shows the same coat of arms. That was also mentioned in the imperial Diploma of Nobility which was loaned to Andries de Graeff on 19 July 1677. According to an unverfivied family tradition the dutch-german Op den Graeff family descended from Wolfgang and Peter von Graben as well.

During the Dutch Golden Age the wealth of the De Graeff family was based on commercial transactions and their marriage policy. In terms of their political commitment, they belonged to the Republican faction and were critica against the House of Orange. Together with the Republican political leaders, the Bicker family and Johan de Witt, they strived for the abolition of stadtholdership. They desired the full sovereignty of the individual regions in a form in which the Republic of the United Seven Netherlands was not ruled by a single person. Instead of a sovereign (or stadtholder) the political and military power was lodged with the States General and with the regents of the cities in Holland. The De Graeff and Bicker families, for example, tried to imitate the centralistic, autocratic style of government of the Florentine Medici. The Dutch historian and archivist Bas Dudok van Heel said about the power of families like that of de Graeff and Bicker: _In Florence, families like Bicker and De Graeff would have been uncrowned princes_. During the Dutch Golden Age, members of the De Graeff family were also important patrons of art like such as Rembrandt, Govaert Flinck, Gerard ter Borch, Jacob van Ruisdael, Caspar Netscher, Gerard de Lairesse, Artus Quellinus and Joost van den Vondel.

The family spreades into different lines in The Netherlands, South Africa and the German-speaking countries. In 1885, diplomat Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek, of the Dutch main line was introduced in the new Dutch nobility with the predicate Jonkheer. In 2013 the worldwide Family Association Gräff-Graeff (Familienverband Gräff-Graeff e.V.) was founded for the Graeff lineage of Wolfgang von Graben. The chairmanship and administration of the Family Association must not be confused with the function of a head of the whole family and their different branches.

**Lineage (section):**
- Wolfgang von Graben († 1521)
    - Peter von Graben aka Pieter Graeff (* 1450/1460) → progenitor of "(De) Graeff" (_Holland_)
        - Jan Pietersz Graeff (arpund 1500-1553)
            - Lenaert Jansz de Graeff (1530/35-1578)
                - Dirk Reynier de Graeff (named 1596) → alleged progenitor of "De Graaff" (_Holland, Prussia_)
            - Dirck Jansz Graeff (1532-1589)
                - Jacob Dircksz de Graeff (1570-1638) → progenitor of "De Graeff van Polsbroek" (_Free Lords of Zuid-Polsbroek, Purmerland and Ilpendam_)
                    - Cornelis de Graeff (1599-1664)
                        - Pieter de Graeff (1638-1707)
                            - Johan de Graeff (1673-1714)
                                - Gerrit de Graeff (1711-1752)
                                    - Gerrit II de Graeff (1741-1811)
                                        - Gerrit III de Graeff (1766-1814)
                                            - Gerrit IV de Graeff (1797-1870)
                                                - Gerrit Arnold Theodoor de Graeff (1831–1889) → progenitor of a line in South Africa
                                                - Dirk de Graeff van Polsbroek (1833-1916)
                                                    - Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff (1872-1958)
                    - Andries de Graeff (1611-1678)
            - Jacob Jansz Graeff († ca 1580) → progenitor of a Dutch line and an illegitimate line