Republican Johan de Witt was promoted to Grand Pensionary at age 28 and went on to rule for the rest of his life. He reigned during the Dutch Golden Age when the Dutch East India Company dominated the Asian trade routes and Dutch artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer thrived.
De Witt worked to maintain this golden age. He successfully saw the Dutch Republic through both the First and Second Anglo-Dutch Wars. However, a French invasion defeated the Dutch during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
Dutch citizens then turned on De Witt and his brother Cornelius. Cornelius was charged with treason. When De Witt went to visit his brother in prison, a mob descended on the two men. They were beaten and cut and dragged through the streets. Once they were dead, members of the mob cut off pieces of their dead and sold it in the streets.
