Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1547-1619) is considered the first great statesman of the Netherlands. For over thirty years, during the Eighty Years' War, he was a state attorney and grand pensionary of the States of Holland. Side by side with Maurits van Oranje, he fights for independence. But then there is a break in their relationship. Oldenbarnevelt finds his humiliating end on the scaffold in the Binnenhof. How did that happen?