Schimmelpenninck appointed Grand Pensionary

Background. The Batavian Republic was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Informal talks mediated by Talleyrand began in Spring 1804 with the Batavian envoy in Paris, Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, who had a good personal rapport with Napoleon. Napoleon preferred a centralised organisation of the Dutch state, leading to a new constitution constructed in Summer 1804.

Appointment. Schimmelpenninck was asked to write a new constitution for the Batavian Republic by Napoleon in 1804. Upon finishing the constitution a year later, he returned to the Netherlands to assume power from the Uitvoerend Bewind. He was appointed Grand Pensionary on 29 April 1805, and inaugurated as Raadpensionaris on 10 May 1805.

Nature of Office. The title Grand Pensionary was chosen for sentimental reasons but had little connection with the former office of the States of Holland. The new office more resembled that of Stadtholder, though even William V, after 1787, had not possessed the powers Schimmelpenninck was to wield.