Album amicorum of Johannes Rufelaert

A National Synod was held in Dordrecht from 13 November 1618 to 29 May 1619. The aim was to put an end to a heated theological dispute about predestination. More than a hundred theologians from home and abroad, delegates from the States General, ministers and elders were gathered. Johannes Rufelaert thought it was an ideal opportunity to create a memory album. And he was not the only one: so far, some twenty sy/node/alba have been traced. It was not easy to gather all those present in one album according to a fixed system, but Rufelaert succeeded quite well with 101 contributions.

A remarkable inscription in his album is that of Theodorus Heijngius. Not because of the Seneca quote ‘an avenging God is hot on the heels of the proud’, but because of the addition to the dating: ‘ipso decoll. die Barnfeldii’ (exactly on the day of Barnevelt’s beheading). The theological dispute had a political equivalent, in which the old Grand Pensionary Johan van Oldebarnevelt was diametrically opposed to Stadtholder Prince Maurits. On 13 May 1619, the old man was beheaded in the face of great public interest.