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Lords Seventeen - Heeren XVII
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Lords Seventeen, Chamber of Seventeen, Council of Seventeen, Assembly of Seventeen or Heeren XVII
The administration of the Dutch East India Company consisted of six Boards or Chambers. The most considerable, that of Amsterdam, had twenty-four directors, eight chosen by the magistrates of Amsterdam, and two by the Provinces of Gelderland and Friesland. The second chamber was that of Middelburgh, where the work of the Directors was carried on half the year. It is said that the town and the country round supplied the greater number of seafarers for the ships. This Chamber consisted of twelve Directors chosen by the cities of Zeeland, and one by Gelderland. The other Chambers were that of Delft, which included one representative from Overyssel; Rotterdam, including one from Dort; Hoorn, which had one from Alkmaar; and Enkhuizen, of which one was nominated by the nobles of Holland. But the supreme control was invested in the Assembly of Seventeen, of which eight were deputed from the Chamber of Amsterdam, four from Middelburgh, and one from each other Chamber, including one alternatively from the specially nominated towns. There was also a Council of the Directors, through which the Company communicated with the States General.
(Trotter 1928:21-22)