Saturday 20 April 1661
Here comes my boy to tell me that the Duke of York had sent for all the principal officers, &c., to come to him to-day. So I went by water to Mr. Coventry’s, and there staid and talked a good while with him till all the rest come. We went up and saw the Duke dress himself, and in his night habitt he is a very plain man. Then he sent us to his closett, where we saw among other things two very fine chests, covered with gold and Indian varnish, given him by the East Indy Company of Holland. The Duke comes; and after he had told us that the fleet was designed for Algier (which was kept from us till now), we did advise about many things as to the fitting of the fleet, and so went away. And from thence to the Privy Seal, where little to do, and after that took Mr. Creed and Moore and gave them their morning draught, and after that to my Lord’s, where Sir W. Pen came to me, and dined with my Lord. After dinner he and others that dined there went away, and then my Lord looked upon his pages’ and footmen’s liverys, which are come home to-day, and will be handsome, though not gaudy. Then with my Lady and my Lady Wright to White Hall; and in the Banqueting-house saw the King create my Lord Chancellor and several others, Earls, and Mr. Crew and several others, Barons: the first being led up by Heralds and five old Earls to the King, and there the patent is read, and the King puts on his vest, and sword, and coronet, and gives him the patent. And then he kisseth the King’s hand, and rises and stands covered before the king. And the same for the Barons, only he is led up but by three of the old Barons, and are girt with swords before they go to the King.
That being done (which was very pleasant to see their habits), I carried my Lady back, and I found my Lord angry, for that his page had let my Lord’s new beaver be changed for an old hat.
Then I went away, and with Mr. Creed to the Exchange and bought some things, as gloves and bandstrings, &c. So back to the Cockpitt, and there, by the favour of one Mr. Bowman, he and I got in, and there saw the King and Duke of York and his Duchess (which is a plain woman, and like her mother, my Lady Chancellor).
And so saw “The Humersome Lieutenant” acted before the King, but not very well done. But my pleasure was great to see the manner of it, and so many great beauties, but above all Mrs. Palmer, with whom the King do discover a great deal of familiarity.
So Mr. Creed and I (the play being done) went to Mrs. Harper’s, and there sat and drank, it being about twelve at night. The ways being now so dirty, and stopped up with the rayles which are this day set up in the streets, I would not go home, but went with him to his lodging at Mr. Ware’s, and there lay all night.
58 Annotations
First Reading
A. De Araujo • Link
"given him by the East Indy Company of Holland" he gets all these presents, then the English take New Amsterdam from the Dutch and name the city after him! go figure...
Mary House • Link
Strange that the Duke of York would summon and receive his principal officers in night dress. What is meant by "rayles" sent up in the street? Would these be barriers of some type to hold back the crowds of spectators watching the coronation ceremonies?
john lauer • Link
Railings, barricades, set up for crowd control, I'm guessing.
dirk • Link
"and in his night habitt he is a very plain man"
Could still be said of many in high places...
David A. Smith • Link
"with whom the King do discover a great deal of familiarity"
Well, hello, my Lady Castlemaine, how blushingly healthy you look! :)
This is only our third view of the flamboyant head-turner who will become a Force.
July 13: "the King and Dukes there with Madame Palmer, a pretty woman that they have a fancy to, to make her husband a cuckold."
October 14: "Here I also observed, how the Duke of York and Mrs. Palmer did talk to one another very wantonly through the hangings."
But this is the first time that Sam is willingly to record that the King has had her (past tense). I doubt it will be the last ....
Vicente • Link
"...The ways being now so dirty, and stopped up with the rayles which are this day set up in the streets, I would not go home, but went with him to his lodging at Mr. Ware's, and there lay all night….” I guess thee would call it a dirty night out. There again he lay, no sexual implication there.
Strange,
where man Ware is in lodging,
not the lodging the man in Ware.
dirk • Link
"I found my Lord angry, for that his page had let my Lord's new beaver be changed for an old hat”
A storm in a teacup? “Vestis virum facit” (Quintilianus, Institutio oratoria 8, 5)
Susan • Link
I was trying to find a definition for 'bandstring' and found a manual of polite behaviour. As we have had several examples of bad manners, honourable or dishonourable behaviour and road rage induced by class awareness recently, I thought this manual might be a timely read! Here it is:
http://www.sealedknot.org/knowbas…
Vicente • Link
"...and in his night habitt he is a very plain man... Ah! how we need all the help we can muster to put on dressings of success.
Fine linen often conceals scabby skin.
- Proverb, (Danish)
Pauline • Link
Susan, I am "forc'd to fetch a profound sigh to recover [my] breath”
This website is too delicious to be real!
I think we need to take a look at what our players are wearing to get a real idea of these bandstrings. From OED I find:
band, n.2
1599 B. JONSON Cynthia’s Rev. V. iv, This is called the solemn *band-string. 1689 SELDEN Table T. 85 If a man..twirls his Bandstrings. 1691 WOOD Ath. Oxon. II. 556 He [wore] snakebone bandstrings (or bandstrings with very large tassels). 1816 SCOTT Antiq. ix, Wi’ mony a button and a bandstring about it.
And for the “band” referenced:
n2. esp. A flat strip of a flexible substance (e.g. any fabric, leather, india-rubber, paper), used to bind round an object.
1611 COTGR., Bande, a band: properly a long and narrow peece of any stuffe.
Anyone remember where our portraits of how these guys dressed are?
Vicente • Link
'tis before belts and braces and ties to hold up the proverbial pantaloones. I do believe a cummi band will do
as for Belt:
In 1820, five years before Nelsons Column was built (to celebrate his life and death on the 21st October 1805 at the battle of Trafalgar) braces and suspenders were first made and sold by Albert Thurston
history of Suspenders and Braces by Albert Thurston
http://www.albertthurston.com/his…
The French probably invented braces. They wore strips of ribbon fixed into buttonholes called "bretelles" around the time of the French Revolution. Napoleon had a pair decorated with bumblebees, a symbol of his native Corsica
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.co…
what supported the the loin clothe.?
Susan • Link
Googling "bandstring" comes up with not much relevant and what seems to be a German rock group (or it may be porn) & google nannying me and assuming I mean band string (two words) and finding me sites to do with the strings sections of school bands. So, does anyone know what a bandstring is/was in this context? I know from the Manners Manual site I found that it is impolite to fiddle with them in company, but that could apply to many things!!
Wim van der Meij • Link
"The Humersome Lieutenant" is "The Humorous Lieutenant" by John Fletcher.
Mary • Link
Bandstrings
Liza Picard (Restoration London) gives a clue. Strings, often with elaborate tassels or pom-poms at their ends, were used to fasten the neckband of the gentleman's shirt. Strings of this sort seem more worthy of mention than purely functional drawstrings around the waist.
Note: barristers in Britain still wear 'bands' rather than any other sort of necktie when in court attire
Firenze • Link
Night dress: my understanding is that in this period (and for a century after), this was day wear, but more informal than the full-on (probably with bandstrings) outfit that you would don in public. So, for example, a nightcap was originally some kind of warm cap you wore on your (shaven) head in lieu of your wig.
Wim van der Meij • Link
According to Warrington the newly created Earls are: Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, and Earl of Clarendon (extinct); Arthur (Lord Capell), Viscount Malden and Earl of Essex; Thomas (Lord Brudenell), Earl of Cardigan; Charles Howard, Lord Dacre, Viscount Howard of Morpeth, and Earl of Carlisle; Sir Arthur Annesley (Viscount Valentia), Lord Annesley, and Earl of Anglesea; Sir John Granville, Viscount Lansdowne, and Earl of Bath (extinct).
The Barons are: John Crewe, Baron Crew of Stene (extinct);Denzil Holles, Baron Holles of Ifield (extinct); Sir Frederic Cornwallis of Eye (now merged in the earldom); Sir Horace Townshend, Bart., Baron Townshend, of King's Lynn (merged in the marquessate); Sir A.A. Cooper, Bart., Baron Ashley of Wimborne St. Giles (merged in the earldom of Shaftesbury); Sir George Booth, Bart., Baron Delamere, of Dunham Massey (extinct).
I am not sure these names add a lot..., but isn't it a pity some of these wonderful titles are extinct.
Harry • Link
my Lord, my Lady
Reminds me of Edith Piaf's song:"Milord". The French often refer to a milord when they try to show that they master local colour.
Can anyone explain the use of the "my" before "Lord" and "Lady". Note that the title of Lady covers a larger population, since it extends to wives of knights. Yesterday it led to our confusion between Lady Sandwich (may one call her Lady Jemina?), wife of a lord, and Lady Batten, wife of plain Sir William.
Susan • Link
Dunham Massey was the local "big house" near to where I lived as a child. The Booth family had built the original house in Tudor times. They lived there until the mid 18th century when the female heiress, Mary married the Earl of Stamford whose descendants are still around, although Dunham Massey is now administered by the National Trust and open to the public. So the family continued, but through the female line, so no Booths (who became Earls of Warrington later on).
Susan • Link
Here's some history (and a picture) of Dunham Massey. What is interesting from this diary entry point of view is that it states the family had been on the Parliamentary side during the Civil War, but somehow, here is George Booth being made a baronet and his son gets an Earldom. Someone else, apart from the Earl of Sandwich, was seemingly careful to change sides at the right time....
http://www.heritage.me.uk/houses/…
Kevin Sheerstone • Link
Harry, "my" before Lord and Lady
Usually, when Sam refers to "My Lord" or "milord" he is referring to Sandwich, who was, after all, not only a "Lord", but, de facto, Sam's lord. His reference to "my Lady Wright" seems to me to be arbitrary: "Lady Wright" would have been just as correct. And no, I'm afraid we cannot refer to Lady Sandwich as "Lady Jemima Sandwich". (Had the Sandwiches had a daughter named Jemima, she would have been accorded the courtesy title "Lady Jemima Sandwich".) To complicate matters further, if Lord Sandwich predeceases his wife, she will then be known as "Jemima, Lady Sandwich", the title "Lady Sandwich" being acquired by the wife of the new Lord Sandwich.
There are actually people who understand all this stuff, but I suspect they are confined to the College of Heralds, and to the Earl Marshal of England (The Duke of Norfolk(!)). Just type "British Aristocracy -Titles" into any search engine and you will be overwhelmed. My advice, for what it's worth: don't go there - that way lies madness!
Christo • Link
' . . then the English take New Amsterdam from the Dutch . . ' Wrong! It was a swap:
'. . the Dutch have not forgotten their founding of New Amsterdam. Every Dutch person knows how we bought it from the Indians, and that Breukelen (Brooklyn), Brede straat (Broadway) and Vlissingen (Flushing - Meadows) have been Anglicised. It is interesting, though, that in Dutch collective memory it was not seized at gunpoint in the name of the future James II, but was traded for Surinam, in central America, at the treaty of Utrecht. Though admittedly with hindsight not the best deal, it does not feel much like capitulation.'
http://books.guardian.co.uk/revie…
Andrew Hamilton • Link
strips of ribbon fixed into buttonholes called "bretelles"
Its a long way from “bandstrings” (whatever they are), but this brings to mind a bawdy old French song that begins:
M’ont donner cent sous
Pour acheter des bretelles.
Je garde mes cent sous pour aller au bordelle.
Et en chemin faisant…
A. Hamilton • Link
Its a long way from "bandstrings"
Not to mention good manners…
Harry • Link
"my" before Lord and Lady
Kevin, thank you for the explanation. It occurred to me after I sent my anotation that this use of "my" before Lord or Lady might have French origins. After all they still use Monsieur et Madame, yet to the best of my knowledge they did not refer to "mon" Duc or "mon" Marquis, and Monseigneur is a single word. There is plenty of "my" in Shakespeare!
Andrew Hamilton • Link
Origins of New York
In 1664 Charles II claimed the territory between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers by right of discovery (a convenient pretext), gave it to his brother the Duke of York, and moved against the Dutch by sending a fleet under Richard Nicholl to demand the surrender of New Amsterdam. The province (New Netherlands) was renamed New York, and Nicholl became governor in place of Peter Stuyvesant. Nine years later, during the Anglo-Dutch wars, a Dutch fleet reconquered New York, but in 1674 (Treaty of Utrecht) it was ceded back to England. http://www.usahistory.info/coloni…
Rex Gordon • Link
"in his night habitt, a very plain man" ... Ah yes, no man is a hero to his valet.
A. Hamilton • Link
We went up and saw the Duke dress himself,
What, no valet de chambre? Business-like duke: "Rising early in the morning, we proceed to light the fire/Then our majesty adorning in our workaday attire/we proceed without delay on the duties of the day..."
JWB • Link
re Manners
Macaulay:"There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles II. But the seamen were not gentlemen, and the gentlemen were not seamen."
History of England. Vol. i. Chap. ii.
Glyn • Link
Bandstrings
And yet perhaps American usage is closer here than English usage here. Most Brits would have heard of things "being done on a shoestring" budget, but only a small minority would know what a *shoestring* is.
Ruben • Link
"We went up and saw the Duke dress himself,"
to be invited to this "ceremony" was an honor. This was true at least for the King (English or French), till the French Revolution. It could take one or two hours to finish the job and the guests would stand all the time.
I remember that during a visit to Henry VIII's Hampton Court castle, I got an explanation like this: "the King had his dinner with a lot of people looking". "The more he had the better for the State". I am not sure this explanation is true.
In Italian they say something like: "Non e vero ma ben trovato" (sorry for the bad grammar) trans.: may be it is not true, but still it is a good explanation...
Nix • Link
"to be invited to this 'ceremony' was an honor" --
Echoing this ancient honor, it is still a mark of favor to be invited to an actor's dressing room before or after a performance, or (at least in Mexico) to a matador's dressing room before the corrida.
Grahamt • Link
My Lord but Your Majesty:
I always understood that nobility was "My" (My Lord) but royalty was "Your" (Your Highness/Majesty) but I can't understand why "My Lord" becomes "Your Lordship(s)"
Emilio • Link
"We went up and saw the Duke dress himself"
My understanding is that this ceremony was an innovation of Louis XIV to keep his nobility in line. During his minority, the nobility had rebelled for years (the Fronde) before Mazarin had finally been able to crush the revolt. When Louis became king he 'honored' certain nobles by calling them to stand by while he dressed, to monopolize their day and leave them with little time for plotting. The practice also had the effect of reminding them every day who held the power.
The King and Duke were far from the only ones to adopt the custom, though. If we remember back to 20 Jan 1659/60, Downing called our Sam to a bedside audience to report on guest arrangements he had been making:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Nix • Link
"reminding them ... who held the power" --
Well, maybe, but it seems there would be some risk of undermining the sense of power when you let them see you in your underwear. As Samuel puts it, "and in his night habitt he is a very plain man."
One of the cliches that athletes use, faced with formidable opponents, is that "they put their pants on one leg at a time, just like us." Would a king want his subjects -- especially his politically powerful and ambitious subjects -- to be thinking that?
A. Hamilton • Link
"reminding them"
The Commissioners don't need reminding that the Duke has power over them, since they serve (I think) at his pleasure. Pepys knows who is boss even if he gets to see that the Duke doesn't cut a fine figure in his pjs. This transaction does seem mutually rewarding. The Duke's reward is that he doesn't have to dress or put on airs to do business; the Commissioners, that they are accorded insider's privilege, and can gossip discretely about HRH in his night clothes, the mission to Algiers, and other court buzz.
A. Hamilton • Link
Erratum: For "Commissioners" read "Principal officers." The Duke, as Nix suggests, was indeed an impolitic man. But in this case, I think he felt he was dealing with staff, not the political opposition.
Josh • Link
Wot, is no one to regale us with the japes and thigh-slaps of "The Humersome Lieutenant"? Oh, all right, and as might be expected it's known to lit history as "The Humorous Lieutenant," which may date from 1618, 1620, or 1619, and be Fletcher's unassisted work, or written in collaboration with Massinger, unless he cobbled it together with Beaumont. If you accept the final alternatives of each factoid, perhaps this potted plot can be trusted:
"Set in Syria. A prince, Demetrius is in love with Celia, a prisoner, His father, Antigonus king of Syria also falls in love with her. Demetrius goes off to war, his father tries to seduce Celia in vain. She loves Demetrius. When Demetrius returns, Antigonus tells him that Celia is dead; he shuts himself up is despair. Meanwhile Antigonus tries to gain Celia's love by a love-potion but fails; he is finally so impressed by her loyalty and virtue that he restores her to his son. There is a subplot involving a comic lieutenant who is marvelously brave when he thinks he is sick, but his courage fails him when he is well. He drinks the love-potion intended for Celia and falls in love with the king."
Disputes may be routed to
http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/…
Vicente • Link
Draw string: dict: 1970's a string , cord or tape inserted into hems or casings or laced through eyelets for use in closing a bag or controlling fullness in garments or curtains. Probably so common for centuries that when it dissappeared from clothes like underwear, Pj's, shoes it did not register. Mainly because it is such a hassle to insert a ribbon, rope or string[or tie], everyone sighed with relief. 'Tis why some items may called drawers because of the drawer string.
How did one hold up Items of clothing that hang around the girth? Probably it was why farm clothing like bibs, overalls and aprons were used, no other way to cover the mid section & below [ not that it matters to-day, the mid section must be seen and not commented on]
Vicente • Link
a band string 18c painting : http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/l/p-liotar…
Liotard, Jean-Etienne (Swiss, 1702-1789), Portrait of Julie de Thellusson-Ployard, 1760, pastel on parchment, Oskar Reinhart Foundation, Winterthur. On the Web at CGFA. Her lace mantelet, her engageantes, her tucker, and the narrow trim along her robings are all in different patterns but similar styles of mostly plain light ground with a very modest quantity of dense gimp-outlined figures (probably cloth stitch). (The lace on her mantelet runs in unusually straight lines rather than the typical sinuous 18th century esthetic.) Lovely stuff, and while you're at it, note the way the ends of the ribbons are trimmed, how a ribbon is used as a drawstring for the mantelet, the miniature worn on her wrist attached with a toothed-edge ribbon, and the utterly plain knotted black cord or narrow ribbon that adorns her neck.
Vicente • Link
two insights into The Humorous Lieutenant " he most notorious instance being the Lieutenant's venereal disease [in the play]
the other is
"Our lives are but our marches to the grave."
- The Humorous Lieutenant (act III, sc. 5, l. 76) [Life]
http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/…"
Emilio • Link
"reminding them"
Oops, mea culpa. I didn't mean to imply that the Duke meant to pull rank in the same way that Louis or Downing did, although that is the natural reading of what I posted. As A. Hamilton notes, it is also convenient for the Duke to be able to do business in his night clothes. In this case I think the situation even levels the ground a bit between the Duke and his servants--they respect his rank, but as an employer he implies they can deal with him as a "plain man", without artificial formality. Sam will certainly have no fear about approaching the Duke with his ideas in the future, which says much for the Duke's effectiveness as a manager, at least with his more trusted servants.
As with anything, much would depend on the circumstances of these early morning interviews, and especially on the tone the one in charge set for the meeting.
Jackie • Link
In the Court of Louis XIV, people spent years plotting just to be invited into the Royal bedchamber for this ceremony. Careers could be made or ruined by the words that the King spoke to them, or by what they were asked to do. Less than 30 years later, William III sacked one of his main officials by not speaking to him when he handed him his shirt.
Of course, for Charles II, the entire Court would gather for the long ceremonial for undressing the King and putting him to bed (with blessings from the various clergy present) and as soon as they'd gone, he'd be out of there via his private connecting door to where he'd actually spend the night in the arms of one of his woomen, sneaking back in time for the great ceremonial morning dressing of the King.
Kevin Sheerstone • Link
Grahamt-Lords & Lordships
Good point. "Your Lordships" does not seem to be a simple pluralizing of "My Lord". I think we do need an etymologist. But there's worse to come: peers up to Marquess can be addressed as "My Lord", but Dukes are addressed as "Your Grace", unless they are Royal Dukes, in which case they are addressed as "Your Royal Highness"
I think we have reached the madness to which I referred earlier!
Vicente • Link
Re: Intimidation vs. Intimacy, : when you want 'sumert'[like good advice] to try the friendly approach. If yer want action then Intimidate; 'tis a simple rule;
I always got things done when it was at the 'deli' or other simple meeting,eating and imbibing relaxing neutral turf : If was to be done "my way" then dark blue suit, red [power]tie, or best whites/blues with all the tin foil, ribbonets and other paraphernalia ,along with any other marks of priviledge like cap and gown, especially those dark somber body/face hiding togas, when handing down an edict for the Gallows. The Dias, high back backed Chair, big clean desks, etc., etc.
'Tis lesson time for Sam on how Power works behind the Throne.
Marina • Link
Is this a fragment of one of the literary works?And who is the author?
vicente • Link
Marina: no literature source just the product of a litter mind.
Second Reading
Bill • Link
"in his night habitt, a very plain man"
"No man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre," a saying of the Prince de Conde.
---Diary and correspondence of Samuel Pepys, the diary deciphered by J. Smith. 1854.
Bill • Link
[They] have broad brim'd Hats, made of Reeds, Straw, or Palmeto leaves. These Hats are as stiff as boards, and sit not plyant to their heads: for which reason they have Bandstrings or Necklaces fastened to their Hats ,- which coming under their chins are there tyed, to keep their Hats fast to their heads.
---A New Voyage Round the World. W. Dampier, 1699.
Gland (ouvrage de fil) de colet, Band-string
---Dictionnaire royal françois et anglois. A. Boyer, 1702
"Gland de colet": tassel of the throat; "ouvrage de fil": piece of thread, yarn
Bill • Link
"So back to the Cockpitt"
The Cockpit at Whitehall, the residence of the Duke of Albermarle.
---Wheatley, 1899.
Martin • Link
Surprising amount of confusion about lords and lordships 10 years ago. It's quite easy really.
When you are talking *about* a lord or lady (baron through marquess, wives of knights, certain judges, certain children of peers, etc) you now just use the title, Lord X or Lady Y. (However, in Pepys' time it was perfectly normal, and not wrong as suggested above, to call them My Lord X and My Lady Y -- parallel with French Monsieur, Madame, Monseigneur, Dutch Mynheer, etc.)
When you are talking *to* a lord or lady you use 'my lord' or 'my lady' in the places where you would use 'sir' or 'madam'. You use 'your lordship' in the places where you would use the pronoun 'you'. 'Good morning, my lord. Would your lordship like some breakfast?' (Obviously this is the deferential or very polite form, as is 'his/her lordship' in the third person, but you can still encounter it in some places, e.g. the House of Lords, where you will also meet the plural forms 'my lords' and 'your lordships'.)
For anyone with an honorific of the form His/Her X, e.g. His Excellency, His Grace, Her Majesty, you use that, in second-person form, *both* as a form of address and to replace 'you': 'Good morning, your Grace. Would your Grace care for some coffee?'
john • Link
Martin, in his well-written comment: "but you can still encounter it in some places, e.g. the House of Lords,"
Indeed, I recall being a bit bemused when I first read certain legal judgements that started wih "My Lords!" and sometimes noted what "their Lordships" would think.
Gerald Berg • Link
Christo well points out the swap of New Amsterdam for Surinam but wrongly calls it a bad deal. Considering New York was lost to the British in 1776 and Surinam was ceded by the Dutch in 1954 not so bad at that.
Terry Foreman • Link
BAND-STRINGS
strings for fastening neck-band: often elaborate and ornamented with tassels
(L&M Large Glossary)
Terry Foreman • Link
"But my pleasure was great to see the manner of it"
Pepys may be referring to a special method of presentation made necessary by the stage of the Cockpit an Whitehall, which probably had a semi-circular architectural facade with five doorways in it. (L&M note)
Terry Foreman • Link
"The Duke comes; and after he had told us that the fleet was designed for Algier (which was kept from us till now), we "
L&M: Cf. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… and https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Third Reading
MartinVT • Link
"in his night habitt he is very plain man"
To continue the comparisons:
"Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked" — Bob Dylan (It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding))
"The emperor has no clothes" — Hans Christian Andersen (The Emperor's New Clothes)
"Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus" — Francis P. Church (Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus)
LKvM • Link
"(Had the Sandwiches had a daughter named Jemima, she would have been accorded the courtesy title "Lady Jemima Sandwich".)"
They did have a daughter named Jemima, the girl with the crooked neck that we met in the early pages of the diary.
San Diego Sarah • Link
"East Indy Company of Holland" -- amazing how long the British have had this [lazy?] habit of calling The Netherlands "Holland". This is like calling the USA "Texas", or referring to the UK of GB "England", "Wales", "Scotland" or "Ireland".
The "United East India Company", or "United East Indies Company" (also known by the abbreviation "VOC" in Dutch) was the brainchild of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the leading statesman of the independent Dutch Republic (AKA The United Providences).
Note; this did not include the Dutch people living under Spanish occupation in the other half of the country.