| Summary: | The Grand Pensionary (Dutch: raadpensionaris) of Holland was often seen by his contemporaries as the leader of the Dutch Republic. This is not surprising. Holland was the most powerful region, and, in practice, the Grand Pensionary of Holland therefore determined politics not only in his own region, but often also in the States General. Historians have also questioned whether he was a servant (minister) or director (prime minister) of the States of Holland. To gain a better understanding of what the somewhat ambiguous office of Grand Pensionary entailed, Jaap de Haan compares the administration of three seventeenth-century office holders: Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Johan de Witt and Gaspar Fagel. He distinguishes an administrative, an executive, a political and a representative function. The first minister in Spain, England, France, Sweden and Brandenburg – the counterpart of the Grand Pensionary – also exercised these four functions. The Grand Pensionary of Holland can therefore be considered the prime minister of the Republic.
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