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| awards = Order of St Michael }} Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter ((:miˈxil ˈaːdrijaːnˌsoːn də ˈrœy̯tər); 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. He is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history, most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably being the Raid on the Medway. The pious De Ruyter was very much loved by his sailors and soldiers; from them his most significant nickname derived: ''Bestevaêr'' (older Dutch for 'grandfather'.) ==Early life== De Ruyter was born in 1607 in Vlissingen, Netherlands as the son of beer porter Adriaen Michielszoon and Aagje Jansdochter〔Prud’homme , 1996, p. 19〕 Little is known about De Ruyter's early life, but he probably became a sailor at the age of 11. It is said that once, when he was a child he climbed up ladders to get to the roof of his home town's church. Not knowing that De Ruyter was there, some workers then removed the ladders. De Ruyter had to smash the tiles on the church roof to get into the church and out the door. a In 1622 he fought as a musketeer in the Dutch army under Maurice of Nassau against the Spaniards during the relief of Bergen-op-Zoom. That same year he rejoined the Dutch merchant fleet and steadily worked his way up. According to English sources he was active in Dublin between 1623 and 1631 as an agent for the Vlissingen-based merchant house of the brothers. Although Dutch sources have no data about his whereabouts in those years, it is known that De Ruyter spoke Irish fluently. He occasionally travelled as supercargo to the Mediterranean or the Barbary Coast. In those years he usually referred to himself as "Machgyel Adriensoon", his name in the Zealandic dialect he spoke, not having yet adopted the name "De Ruyter". "De Ruyter" most probably was a nickname given to him. An explanation might be found in the meaning of the older Dutch verb ''ruyten'' or ''ruiten'' which means "to raid", something De Ruyter was known to do as a privateer with the Lampsins ship ''Den Graeuwen Heynst''. In 1631 he married a farmer's daughter named Maayke Velders. The marriage lasted until the end of the year 1631 when Maayke died after giving birth to a daughter who followed her mother in death three weeks later.〔Prud’homme , 1996, p. 23〕 In 1633 and 1635 De Ruyter sailed as a navigating officer aboard the ship ''Groene Leeuw'' (Green Lion) on whaling expeditions to Jan Mayen. At this point he did not yet have a command of his own. In the summer of 1636 he remarried, this time to a daughter of a wealthy burgher named Neeltje Engels, who gave him four children. One of these died shortly after birth; the others were named Adriaen (1637), Neeltje (1639) and Aelken (1642). In the midst of this, in 1637, De Ruyter became captain of a private ship meant to hunt for raiders operating from Dunkirk who were preying on Dutch merchant shipping. He fulfilled this task until 1640. After sailing for a while as ''schipper'' (skipper) of a merchant vessel named de ''Vlissinge'', he was contacted again by the Zeeland Admiralty to become captain of the ''Haze'', a merchant ship turned man-of-war carrying 26 guns in a fleet under admiral Gijsels fighting the Spanish, teaming up with the Portuguese during their rebellion. A Dutch fleet, with De Ruyter as third in command, beat back a Spanish-Dunkirker fleet in an action off Cape St Vincent on 4 November 1641. After returning he bought his own ship, the ''Salamander'', and between 1642 and 1652, he mainly traded and travelled to Morocco and the West Indies to amass wealth as a merchant. During this time his esteem grew among other Dutch captains as he regularly freed Christian slaves by redeeming them at his own expense. In 1650 De Ruyter's wife, who in 1649 had given him a second son named Engel, unexpectedly died. On 8 January 1652 he married the widow Anna van Gelder and decided the time had come to retire. He bought a house in Flushing, but his blissful family life did not last long. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michiel de Ruyter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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