Jacomina de Witte

Who was Jacomina de Witte?

Jacomina de Witte was the central figure in a famous corruption case in the Netherlands in 1649.

Daughter of mayor Jacob de Witte and Jacomina Weijtsen. Since 1617 the spouse of Johan Oem van Wijngaarden, president of the legal court, she was accused of having accepted bribes in exhange for manipulating court cases through the office of her husband, for selling information and bribing officials of the court. She was put on trial in 1649, and was said to have been active in this role for thirty years. The trial attracted a lot of attention, and several women of the aristocraty, notably Amalia van Solms, was rumoured to have been involved. Her husband was freed from having been involved, while she was judged guilty in her absence and sentenced to exile and fined. She lived the rest of her life hidden from the authorities.

The Witte case led to a law change banning gifts to officials or their family members.