# President van Systens — The Black Tulip character guide

> President van Systens in The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Van Systens, the President van Systens, Mynheer van Systens, Mynheer Peter van Systens

**First appearance:** 0024-xxv-the-president-van-systens

## Snapshot

The nervous president of Haarlem's Horticultural Society, presiding over a tulip contest that keeps threatening to become a political trial.

## Who they are

Van Systens wants nothing more than to award a prize for the black tulip and return to respectable obscurity, but every witness who enters his drawing-room drags him deeper into danger. He trembles when Rosa confesses to consorting with a prisoner of state, and pales when Boxtel's claim collapses before the Prince. His fussy, fearful propriety makes him the perfect foil for the ruthless men around him, and his drawing-room becomes the stage where the novel's central theft is finally exposed.

## Relationships

### [Rosa Gryphus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/characters/rosa_gryphus)

_professional_

President van Systens, as head of the Horticultural Society, interacts with Rosa as an authority figure judging the tulip competition.

### [Isaac Boxtel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/characters/isaac_boxtel)

_psychological_

Boxtel deceives President van Systens by falsely presenting himself as the grower of the black tulip, manipulating the society's judgment.

### [Rosa Gryphus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/characters/rosa_gryphus)

_professional_

President van Systens, as head of the Horticultural Society, interacts with Rosa as an authority figure judging the tulip competition.

## In the story

### [The Opening of the Flower](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxii-the-opening-of-the-flower)

Addressee of the letter; the President of the Horticultural Society of Haarlem.

### [The President Van Systens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxv-the-president-van-systens)

Van Systens, President of the Horticultural Society, meets Rosa but mistakenly believes the tulip belongs to Boxtel. He advises Rosa to settle the dispute with Boxtel.

### [A Member of the Horticultural Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxvi-a-member-of-the-horticultural-society)

Frustrated by Rosa's interruption of his report, but eventually moved by her sincerity; he is interrupted by the arrival of the Prince.

### [The Third Bulb](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxvii-the-third-bulb)

Hosts the meeting and is instructed by the Prince to take charge of Rosa and the tulip.

### [XXX: Wherein the Reader Begins to Guess the Kind of Execution That Was Awaiting Van Baerle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxx-wherein-the-reader-begins-to-guess-the-kind-of-execution-that-was-awaiting-van-baerle)

Rosa and the tulip are left at his house by Prince William.

### [Haarlem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxxi-haarlem)

Leads the Horticultural Committee in the procession, dressed in dark crimson velvet, purple silk, and black cloth, carrying an enormous nosegay.

### [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/chapters/xxxiii-conclusion)

Present at the festival; receives Boxtel's body after his death.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/characters/president_van_systens
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_tulip_se/characters