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{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Frederick Coyett
|image = Frederick Coyett.jpg
|imagesize =
|caption = Bust of Coyett in Tainan
|order = 12th
|office = Governor of Formosa
|term_start = 30 June 1656
|term_end = 1 February 1662
|predecessor = [[Cornelis Caesar]]
|successor = ''none''
|order2 = 14th
|office2 = Opperhoofd at Dejima
|term_start2 = 4 November 1652
|term_end2 = 10 November 1653
|predecessor2 =
|successor2 =
|order3 = 9th
|office3 = Opperhoofd at Dejima
|term_start3 = 3 November 1647
|term_end3 = 9 December 1648
|predecessor3 =
|successor3 =
|birth_date = c. 1615 or 1620
|birth_place = [[Stockholm]], [[Swedish Empire]]
|death_date = 17 October 1687 (aged 67-72)
|death_place = [[Amsterdam]], [[Dutch Republic]]
|nationality = [[Swedish people|Swedish]]
|spouse = Susanna Boudaens (1645–1656)<br />Helena de Sterke (1658–?)<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu08_01/molh003nieu08_01_0534.htm |title=Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek |date=1930 |publisher=A.W. Sijthoff |editor-last=Molhuysen |editor-first=P. C. |volume=8 |location=Leiden |language=nl |trans-title=New Dutch Biographical Dictionary |chapter=Coyett, Frederik |editor-last2=Blok |editor-first2=P. J. |via=Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren}}</ref><br />G.M. Gossens (1687-1687)<ref name="ensi"/>
|children = [[Balthasar Coyett]]
}}

'''Frederick Coyett''' ({{zh|t=揆一|p=Kuíyī|poj=''Kûi-it''}}), born in [[Stockholm]] c. 1615 or 1620, buried in [[Amsterdam]] on 17 October 1687, was a [[Sweden|Swedish]] nobleman and the last colonial governor for the [[Taiwan under Dutch rule|Dutch colony of Formosa]]. He was the first Swede to travel to Japan and China and became the last [[governor of Formosa]] (1656–1662).<ref>Müllern, Gunnar (1963) ''Förste svensken i Japan. Han som miste Formosa''. Stockholm: Saxon & Lindstöms förlag.</ref>

==Name==
In common with many people of the time,{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} Coyett's name was spelled differently at different times and by different people. '''Frederick''' could also be '''Fredrik''' or '''Fredrick''', and '''Coyett''' was also spelled '''Coyet''', '''Coignet''' or '''Coijet'''.

==Early career==
Coyett was born in [[Stockholm]], Sweden,<ref>Olof Erickson Willman (1667) "Reesa till OstIndien, China och Japan", in ''Een kort beskriffning vppå trenne resor och peregrinationer, sampt konungarijket Japan'', Wisinghsborg, p. 235.</ref> in a family with Dutch/Flemish roots that migrated from [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] to Sweden in c. 1569. His father, a goldsmith, died in 1634 in Moscow. The prominent Swedish diplomat [[Peter Julius Coyet]] was his brother. From 1643 he worked for the Dutch East India Company.<ref>Müllern, Gunnar (1963) ''Förste svensken i Japan. Han som miste Formosa''. Stockholm: Saxon & Lindstöms förlag, p. 28, 33.</ref>
Coyett served twice as the [[VOC Opperhoofd in Japan]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uchiyama.be/ngvocopperhoofdennav.htm|title=Nederlanders in Japan|language=nl|access-date=2009-03-05}}</ref> serving as the chief officer in [[Dejima]] first between 3 November 1647 and 9 December 1648<ref>Historigraphical Institute (''Shiryō hensan-jo''), University of Tokyo, [http://www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/tokushu/kaigai/Diaries/Volumes/1B401B51-3013-4678-BC2B-3946AE2BF201.html "Diary of Frederick Coyet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605062550/http://www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/tokushu/kaigai/Diaries/Volumes/1B401B51-3013-4678-BC2B-3946AE2BF201.html |date=2011-06-05 }}; retrieved 2013-2-1.</ref> and then between 4 November 1652 and 10 November 1653.

==Deshima==
Frederick Coyett was the brother-in-law of [[François Caron]], both involved in releasing ten Dutch prisoners. Their discussion centered on the ''Nambu affair'' of 1643, when the skipper [[Hendrick Cornelisz Schaep]] and nine members of the crew of the ''Breskens'' were captured in [[Yamada, Iwate|Yamada]] in [[Iwate Prefecture]].

{{cquote|''The Breskens and her sister ship the Castricum (under [[Maarten Gerritsz Vries]]) had been sent by order of the [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies|Governor General]] in the Dutch East Indies, [[Antony van Diemen|Anthonio van Diemen]], to search for the Gold and Silver Islands that were said to lie somewhere northeast off the coast of Japan. They were also to investigate a route to northern Asia. In June 1643 the Breskens, which had been separated from the Castricum in a storm, entered the bay of Yamada in Nanbu domain in the northeast of [[Honshu]]. While searching for fresh water and food, ten crewmembers under Captain Schaep were apprehended and brought to the domain capital of [[Morioka]]. They were later sent to Edo.''

''Unhappily for the Breskens' crew, a group of four [[Jesuits]] intent on infiltrating into Japan had been caught at around the same time in a different part of Japan. As a result, bakufu officials were extremely anxious about the problem of coastal defenses. However after it was understood that the crew were Dutch and not Catholics, bakufu fears were calmed and the problem to be solved became one of deciding by which procedure the Dutch should be released.''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/tokushu/kaigai/Diaries/Volumes/D28C7BE5-C146-42F2-9FD9-0C729B86BA2D.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-06-28 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303232112/http://www.hi.u-tokyo.ac.jp/tokushu/kaigai/Diaries/Volumes/D28C7BE5-C146-42F2-9FD9-0C729B86BA2D.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

Coyett's superiors in Batavia considered his service as Opperhoofd satisfactory. He was able to maintain an optimal diplomatic stance vis-à-vis the bakufu in the face of several difficulties and provocations. His status was also enhanced when he and his brother Peter Julius were ennobled by Queen [[Christina of Sweden]] in 1649.<ref>Müllern, Gunnar (1963) ''Förste svensken i Japan. Han som miste Formosa''. Stockholm: Saxon & Lindstöms förlag, p. 69, 74.</ref>

==Governor of Formosa==
Coyett is mostly known as the last [[Dutch East India Company]] ({{langx|nl|Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie}}, ''VOC'') governor of [[Taiwan]].

On 10 February 1662 he was forced to surrender [[Fort Zeelandia (Taiwan)|Fort Zeelandia]] after a nine-month [[Siege of Fort Zeelandia|siege]] from a large Chinese force of 25,000 men and 1,000 ships under [[Koxinga]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/formosa/english/07.htm|title=Ilha Formosa: the Emergence of Taiwan on the World Scene in the 17th Century|website=www.npm.gov.tw|access-date=2009-07-17|archive-date=2016-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221648/http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/formosa/english/07.htm}}</ref> Coyett said that Chinese were "little better than poor specimens of very effeminate men", when he believed that there was no plan to invade Taiwan. The Dutch then changed their tune to "Formosa is lost" once the invasion was underway.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8gwAQAAIAAJ&q=epicene|title=Out of China or Yu Yonghe's tale of Formosa: a history of seventeenth-century Taiwan|year=2003 |author=Macabe Keliher |author2=Yonghe Yu |edition=illustrated |publisher=SMC Pub.|isbn=957-638-608-X|page=55 |access-date=Dec 20, 2011|quote=Coyett, declaring the news of an attack unfounded, and the Chinese soldiers "little better than poor specimens of very effeminate men." However, when Zheng and his epicine soldiers' ineluctable invasion became clear to the Dutch, the Batavia Council, and even the administrators in Holland, began to cry that "Formosa is lost."}}</ref> With his army decisively crushed by the Chinese under Koxinga, Coyett left Taiwan after the [[Siege of Fort Zeelandia]] with enough supply to reach [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]]. After three years imprisonment he was tried for [[high treason]], due to his failure to hold Taiwan or preserve vital commercial interests. Coyett was pardoned and exiled to [[Rosengain]], the most eastern of the [[Banda Islands]], before he was released in 1674. In 1684 he bought a house on Keizersgracht, on a spot where the [[Hemony]] brothers used to have their [[foundry]].

Coyett's son [[Balthasar Coyett]], born to his first wife Susanna Boudaens in 1650, followed his father into service with the Dutch East India Company, eventually rising to become the Governor of [[Ambon, Maluku|Ambon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Indonesia.htm|publisher=WorldStatesmen.org|title=Indonesia}}</ref>

==Inheritance in Batavia==
Coyett was a member of the [[Council of the Indies (Dutch)|Council of the Indies]]. Before serving as Commander for trading in the [[Dutch East India Company|VOC]], in 1704, Coyett was the Secretary of the Landraad (court of the first instance). On 8 December 1658 Coyett remarried to Helena de Stereke, a widow of [[Pieter van Alphen]]'s senior merchant. In 1736 he built a country house in a large field southeast of the walled city of Batavia. Coyett was known as a collector for [[Hinduism in Southeast Asia|Hindu]] and [[Buddhist art]], and known to decorate his country house with these objects. One of his collection is the statue of Hindu god Kubera which is currently displayed in the [[National Museum (Indonesia)|National Museum of Indonesia]].<ref name="ensi">{{cite web |url=https://jakarta.go.id/artikel/konten/1070/frederik-julius-coyett |title=Frederik Julius Coyett |date=2017 |website=Ensiklopedi Jakarta |publisher= Dinas Komunikasi, Informatika dan Statistik Pemprov DKI Jakarta |access-date=June 11, 2018 }}</ref>

Coyett remarried to G.M. Gossens (widow of Westpalm) a few days before his death, thus Gossens became the sole heir of Coyett's entire inheritance. In 1762, the country house was converted into a [[Chinese temple architecture|Chinese temple]] (''klenteng''). Some of Coyett's sculptures are still displayed in the building, currently the [[Vihara Buddhayana]] in [[Jakarta]].<ref name="ensi"/>

==Published works==
In 1675 he published ''Neglected Formosa'' ({{langx|nl|'t Verwaerloosde Formosa}}). In the book he accused the Dutch East India Company of ignorance and refusing to send backup, which caused him to lose Taiwan. The work was first published in Dutch and German. A Japanese translation was released in 1939, followed by a Chinese version in the 1950s. A complete English translation was not finished until 1975, though parts of Coyett's book were translated in [[William Campbell (missionary)|William Campbell]]'s ''Formosa Under the Dutch'', published in 1903.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Han Cheung|title=Taiwan in Time: The Swede who lost Formosa|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/01/28/2003686554|access-date=28 January 2018|work=Taipei Times|date=28 January 2018}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[VOC Opperhoofden in Japan]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Coyett |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Coyett |date=1675 |title='t verwaerloosde Formosa |publisher=by Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn ... en Michiel Pieters ... |trans-title=Neglected Formosa |language=nl |url=https://archive.org/details/tverwaerloosdef00coyegoog}}
**{{cite book |last=Coyett |first=Frederick |author-link=Frederick Coyett |chapter=Part III: Chinese Conquest of Formosa |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/formosaunderdut01campgoog#page/n399/mode/1up |orig-date=First published 1675 in '' 't verwaerloosde Formosa'' |pages=383–459 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Campbell (missionary) |title=Formosa under the Dutch: described from contemporary records, with explanatory notes and a bibliography of the island |year=1903 |publisher=Kegan Paul |location=London |isbn=978-957-638-083-9 |lccn=04007338 }}
{{refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|before=[[Willem Verstegen]]
|title=[[Opperhoofd at Dejima]]
|years= 3 November 1647 – 9 December 1648
|after=[[Dircq Snoecq]]}}
{{succession box
|before=[[Adriaen van der Burgh]]
|title=[[Opperhoofd at Dejima]]
|years=4 November 1652 – 10 November 1653
|after=[[Gabriel Happart]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Cornelis Caesar]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of governors of Formosa|Governor of Formosa]]|years=1656–1662}}
{{s-non|reason=Colony surrendered}}
{{s-end}}

{{Dutch Formosa}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coyett, Frederick}}
[[Category:1610s births]]
[[Category:1687 deaths]]
[[Category:Colonial governors of Dutch Formosa]]
[[Category:Swedish nobility]]
[[Category:Swedish people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:Nobility from Stockholm]]
[[Category:Recipients of Dutch royal pardons]]
[[Category:Coyet family|Frederick]]

Frederick Coyett - Revision history

imported>HHEHUM at 21:08, 9 April 2025