WILLIAM I, Prince of ORANGE, Count of Nassau, known as the Silent. — B. at Dillenburg (Nassau) on 24 Apr. 1533, d. assassinated at Delft on 10 July 1584. Eldest son of William of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg, both of them laterans, he became, at the age of eleven, the wealthiest lord in the Netherlands through inheritance from his cousin René of Nassau; hence Charles V wished him to be raised as a Catholic in Brussels. More sensitive to political issues than to strictly religious ones, he first clashed with Philip II over the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the provinces for which he had been appointed Stadtholder by the King (Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht) and over the recall of Cardinal Granvelle (1564).
Rather tolerant toward non-Catholics, also under the influence of his second wife, daughter of Maurice of Saxony—excessive tolerance that drew a rebuke from Pope Pius IV (1565)—William’s entire activity was rather that, political-national, of a lord who wished to guarantee his territories autonomy, possibly up to independence, within and, if not possible, outside the framework of Habsburg dominions, rather than that of a religious leader. Circumstances forced him to appear also as a religious leader, so that the struggle for the independence of the United Provinces came to be identified with a struggle for the freedom of Calvinists and Protestants. The conflict with Philip II, latent since 1564, became open in 1568, in the presence of the policy of force pursued by the Duke of Alba and later by Alexander Farnese. Only in 1573 did he decisively convert to Calvinism, while the war had already been raging for five years, amid alternating successes and defeats, for William was not always a general equal to his adversaries. Nevertheless, his entry into Brussels (Sept. 1577) was a spectacular success that earned him election as head of the United Provinces, which did not prevent the States, once Philip II was declared deposed, from turning toward Francis, Duke of Anjou. William’s skillful behind-the-scenes politics, however, stripped the French prince of power, and when William died (1584) the value of French aid had already been discounted in the eyes of the insurgents. Soon afterward, however, the Prince of Orange himself fell victim to an assassin, said to have been suborned by Farnese.
WILLIAM II, Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. — Son of Frederick Henry, b. at The Hague on 27 May 1626, d. 6 Nov. 1650. In 1647 William succeeded his father at a moment when the conflicts that had appeared between the States General and the executive power were making the internal situation more difficult than ever. Although the Peace of Westphalia secured the country its greatest political and economic prosperity, these internal struggles disturbed the young prince’s stadtholdership. He soon found himself embroiled in a dispute with the strengthened pacifist party, whose leaders demanded the immediate dismissal of the mercenary troops hired for the previous war.
The conflict reached its dramatic phase when William II did not hesitate to use force to bring the States to heel. Confident in the support of the popular masses, in July 1650 he ordered the arrest of six deputies from Dutch cities, including Jacob de Witt, burgomaster of Dordrecht, a champion of the sovereignty of the province of Holland, under whose leadership the opposition had flared up; at the same time he sent an armed force against Amsterdam, where resistance was strongest. These energetic measures met with success, and William succeeded in quelling all remaining rebellion; yet shortly afterward other incidents broke out. Indeed, in the agreement he concluded with Cardinal Mazarin (then engaged in the struggle against the Fronde), the Stadtholder had stipulated that any conquests made by the Dutch over the Spaniards should be ceded to him personally—Antwerp and the Duchy of Brabant (29 Oct. 1650). A new revolution seemed to loom over the country when William died suddenly.
WILLIAM III, Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. — B. at The Hague on 14 Nov. 1650, d. at Hampton Court on 19 Mar. 1702. Posthumous son of William II of Orange and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England, he had a troubled childhood; the stadtholdership in the United Provinces being suspended, as the star of the Grand Pensionary De Witt rose, and the ancestral principality of Orange was occupied by Louis XIV (1660); yet the restoration of the Stuarts in England also revived the fortunes of the House of Orange in Holland. Facing the French invasion, William was first named Captain General (1672) and soon afterward, in the patriotic enthusiasm of the defense against the invasion and in resentment against the plutocratic party of De Witt, Stadtholder. William, hitherto almost unknown and in poor health, soon gave proof of his qualities as a general and diplomat; though lacking great originality, he managed to neutralize the effects of French victories and to organize the union of Protestant and non-Protestant states of Europe, concerned about French hegemony, and to detach England from its alliance with France (1674).
The Peace of Nijmegen (1678), initially concluded by William with little regard for the interests of his allies, crowned his policy, which he then pursued through further agreements and leagues to secure himself against a renewed French offensive, especially after the latter’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); this, he declared, brought about the formation of the so-called League of Augsburg (1686), a league purely political in nature, comprising both Catholic and Protestant powers. It secured his rear while he pursued his design on England, where parliamentary and popular opposition to James II had quickly turned to William and his wife Mary, James’s eldest daughter, as a solution. Despite the hesitations of the Dutch, who saw their leading citizen (though not a king) becoming king in a neighboring nation, with the danger that he might then use English forces to impose his rule on Holland as well, William was able to prepare the military expedition that landed in England in Nov. 1688 and secured the throne for himself and his wife. King in England, Stadtholder in Holland, William divided his residence between the two countries, seeking to reconcile their often discordant interests, particularly in the maritime, commercial, and colonial spheres. The keystone of his joint Anglo-Dutch policy was distrust of Louis XIV’s policy, especially as the major issue of the Spanish succession drew near. Yet the War of the League of Augsburg (1689–97), which he conducted with limited success, did not achieve the goal of significantly weakening France, and death prevented him from seeing more than the beginning of that duel.
WILLIAM IV of Orange-Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. - Born at Leeuwarden on 1 Sept. 1711, posthumous son of John William Friso, Prince of Nassau.
The events of the War of the Austrian Succession and the danger which the country faced in 1747, when French forces violated its borders, provided the opportune moment for his elevation, and he was enthusiastically acclaimed Stadtholder of all the provinces (May 1747). William sought to reorganize the army in order to remedy the disasters of war, but failed to halt the enemy’s advance: at Lafelt the Dutch forces, though supported by the English army under the Duke of Cumberland, were defeated (July 1747). In September, Berg-op-Zoom fell into French hands. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle restored the external situation; but internally, the agitation aroused by tax impositions flared up again, while the sharp conflict between the petty bourgeoisie—who had hoped in William’s elevation for a democratic policy—and the aristocracy of the States persisted. William died in 1751. Too respectful of ancient customs and reluctant to admit the bourgeoisie to government, despite having abolished the hated tax farming system and improved the governance of the Indies, he was in general a mediocre statesman and military leader.
WILLIAM V of Orange-Nassau, last Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. - Born to William IV at The Hague on 8 March 1748. Upon his father’s death (1751), the States-General declared him heir and successor while he was still only three years old, and established a regency under his mother Caroline of Hanover and Louis Ernest of Brunswick, who was given supreme command of the army. In 1766 William was declared of age.
At that time the country was experiencing a certain revival. As the husband of Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina, niece of Frederick II of Prussia, the new Stadtholder strengthened ties with the German Protestants and seemed inclined toward a policy of peace; but France, exploiting the enthusiasm aroused in the country by the American Revolution and the activities of the democratic party led by Van der Capellen, drove him into conflict with England. The war proved disastrous for Holland, which no longer possessed the powerful fleet of former times, and cost it the loss of numerous colonies in America and India. In the following years, the anti-Orangist ferment continued; William attempted to suppress it, but the States of Holland firmly turned against him. Indeed, appeals for help were made to the English; only through the initiative of his consort did the Stadtholder save his position. She promptly secured the aid of Prussia, and a Prussian army entered Holland in September 1787, forcing the most ardent agitators to flee to France. In 1792 war broke out with Revolutionary France, ending with the enemy occupation under the command of Pichegru. On 18 January 1795, William embarked at Scheveningen and fled to England, where he issued a proclamation placing the Indian colonies under English authority. The Batavian Republic declared him deposed on 23 February. After several years in Nassau, William, the last Stadtholder of Holland, died on 9 April 1806.