MAURIZIO Count of NASSAU. - Prince of Orange (upon the death of his brother in 1618), hereditary stadholder of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland and subsequently of Utrecht, Overijssel, and Guelders, b. 13 Nov. 1567 at Dillenburg (Saxony), second son of Guglielmo d'Orange (the Silent) and Anna of Saxony, d. unmarried at The Hague on 23 Apr. 1625.
At the assassination of his father (1584), while the eldest son, Filippo Guglielmo, was in Spain as a hostage, he was placed alongside the English Count of Leicester, general stadholder, and, when the latter departed, he remained at the head of the army in the war of independence, which he reorganized, reconquering Breda (1590), Zutphen, Nijmegen, and Groningen, aided by the absence and then by the death of A. Farnese, who commanded the Spaniards. The Peace of Vervins (1598) deprived him of the assistance of Enrico IV and made defense more difficult; in 1604 Spinola conquered Ostend. The need for peace and resentment at military predominance led to the Twelve Years' Truce of 9 Apr. 1609. When the rivalries between the Arminians (moderates) and Gomarists (intransigents) penetrated the fabric of Dutch Calvinism, M. supported the latter party and, taking advantage of the truce, had his companion in the struggle, Ian van Olden Barneveld, beheaded as a rebel, with their complicity; as “grand pensionary” (advocate), the latter had successfully directed Dutch policy. When war resumed in 1621, M. could do little, being ill and opposed by the States General. His name is commemorated by M. Island, occupied by the Dutch in 1606 in the Indian Ocean.