- First name
- Pieter
- Last name
- Swartendijck
- Date of Birth
- [1643]
- Date of Death
- 1685
- Born in
- -
- Died in
- -
Pieter Swartendijck studied law in Leiden (1665). After his studies, he worked as an advocate for the Supreme Court of Holland in The Hague. Swartendijck’s office, according to the ‘kohier van de 200ste penning’—a tax register concerning the 200th penny, exacted in the Province of Holland on someone’s personal capital both movable and immovable property—was located in the Vlamingstraat in The Hague (cf. Berk, 1901, p. 115).
On 30 May 1677, the Pieter Swartendijck of the Supreme Court added a testimony to the dossier of the dispute between Rebecca de Spinoza, Daniel de Casseres, and Hendrick van der Spijck—written on the cover of the document of May 7—in which the heirs express fear that the estate of ‘Baruch d’Espinosa, brother and uncle of the petitioners’ (‘Baruch Espinosa, Broeder, ende Oom vande Supplianten’) might be debt-ridden. In the deed, Swartendijck states that Rebecca and Daniel only wanted to accept the estate under ‘benefit of inventory’ (benefitie van Inventaris). Swartendijk writes that:
[they] are afraid that the estate of the aforesaid Baruch d’Espinosa may well be covered with many debts, in the sense that the simple acceptance by the petitioners would be damaging and hazardous. Therefore, the petitioners are convinced that they should only accept the same estate under the benefit of inventory; ...
Quoted in: Walther and Czelinski, vol. 1, p. 366, no. 154.
Swartendijck signed the deed together with ‘letters of the benefit of inventory’ (‘brieven van benefitie van Inventaris’). The dossier also contained special instructions (committimus) as well as a request of release (Clausule van relieff).