Netherlands Banknotes 100 Gulden Banknote 1970 Michiel de Ruyter
The Dutch Bank - De Nederlandsche Bank
Obverse: Portrait of Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. He is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history, most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably being the Raid on the Medway. The pious De Ruyter was very much loved by his sailors and soldiers; from them his most significant nickname derived: Bestevaêr (older Dutch for 'grandfather'.)
Reverse: Compass-card or rhumbcard design at center. Top left are two windows (bulls eye). Denominations in numerals top right and bottom left.
Date of signature: 14 May 1970
Date of issue: 15 December 1972
Withdrawn from circulation: between 23 October and 23 July 1986
Final date for exchange: 23 July 2016
Banknotes of the Dutch guilder
1966-1972 Issue
Luitenant-Admiraal Michiel Adriaanszoon de Ruyter
Michiel Adriaanszoon De Ruyter, (born March 24, 1607, Vlissingen, United Provinces [Netherlands] — died April 29, 1676, Syracuse, Sicily [Italy]), Dutch seaman and one of his country’s greatest admirals. His brilliant naval victories in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars enabled the United Provinces to maintain a balance of power with England.
Employed at sea at the age of nine, De Ruyter by 1635 had become a merchant captain. After serving as rear admiral of a Dutch fleet assisting Portugal against Spain in 1641, he returned to the merchant service for the next 10 years, fighting against the Barbary pirates off the north African coast. With the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652 – 1654), he accepted a naval command, serving with distinction under Maarten Tromp and attaining the rank of vice admiral in 1653 after his victory off Texel. De Ruyter’s successes in battle have been attributed to his development of an effective combat order, stressing fleet discipline.
In 1659 De Ruyter supported Denmark against Sweden in the Baltic in the First Northern War (1655 – 1660). He fought against the English (1664 – 1665) off the Guinea Coast of Africa, helping to restore the Dutch West India Company’s commercial dominance in the area, but he was unsuccessful in subsequent campaigns against the English in the West Indies.
Returning to the United Provinces in 1665, De Ruyter was named lieutenant admiral of Holland and worked closely with Johan De Witt to strengthen the Dutch navy. In the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665 – 1667), his greatest victories were in the Four Days’ Battle (June 1666) and in the raid on the Medway (June 1667), in which much of the English fleet was destroyed; the latter victory accelerated the Anglo-Dutch peace negotiations that had begun at Breda in April 1667. De Ruyter’s blaming Admiral Cornelis Tromp for the defeat in the St. James’s Day battle in August 1666 resulted in the withdrawal of Tromp’s commission and his resignation from the navy until 1673, when the two distinguished commanders were reconciled.
De Ruyter’s performance in the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672 – 1674) has been considered his greatest achievement: his victories over larger Anglo-French forces off Solebay (1672) and Ostend and Kijkduin (1673) prevented an invasion of the Dutch Republic from the sea. In 1675 – 1676 he fought against the French in the Mediterranean and was mortally wounded off Sicily.