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107-509: Heraldic visitations were tours of inspection undertaken by Kings of Arms (or alternatively by heralds , or junior officers of arms , acting as the kings' deputies) throughout England , Wales and Ireland . Their purpose was to register and regulate the coats of arms of nobility , gentry and boroughs , and to record pedigrees . They took place from 1530 to 1688, and their records (akin to an upper class census ) provide important source material for historians and genealogists . By

214-503: A Whig majority, quickly resolved that the throne was vacant, and that it was safer if the ruler were Protestant. There were more Tories in the House of Lords , which would not initially agree, but after William refused to be a regent or to agree to remain king only in his wife's lifetime, there were negotiations between the two houses and the Lords agreed by a narrow majority that the throne

321-423: A coronet ). At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II , the kings of arms used a crown trimmed with sixteen acanthus leaves alternating in height, and inscribed with the words Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam ('Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy great mercy'; Psalm 51 ). When this crown is shown in pictorial representations, nine leaves and the first three words are shown. Recently,

428-646: A Convention of the Estates of Scotland , which met on 14 March 1689. He sent it a conciliatory letter, while James sent haughty uncompromising orders, swaying a majority in favour of William. On 11 April, the day of the English coronation, the Convention finally declared that James was no longer King of Scotland. William and Mary were offered the Scottish Crown; they accepted on 11 May. William encouraged

535-545: A Dutch rump state . In addition to differing political outlooks, William found that his lifestyle differed from his uncles Charles and James, who were more concerned with drinking, gambling, and cavorting with mistresses. The following year, the Republic's security deteriorated quickly as an Anglo-French attack became imminent. In view of the threat, the States of Gelderland wanted William to be appointed Captain-General of

642-703: A Dutch army, William landed at Brixham in southwest England on 5 November 1688. He came ashore from the ship Den Briel , proclaiming "the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain". William's fleet was vastly larger than the Spanish Armada 100 years earlier: approximately consisting of 463 ships with 40,000 men on board, including 9,500 sailors, 11,000 foot soldiers, 4,000 cavalry and 5,000 English and Huguenot volunteers. James's support began to dissolve almost immediately upon William's arrival; Protestant officers defected from

749-539: A champion of their faith. In 1685, his Catholic uncle and father-in-law, James, became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. James's reign was unpopular with Protestants in the British Isles , who opposed Catholic Emancipation . Supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, William invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution . In 1688, he landed at

856-618: A colonel, another a knight, a third a peer, and a fourth an earl ." William's reputation in Scotland suffered further damage when he refused English assistance to the Darien scheme , a Scottish colony (1698–1700) that failed disastrously. Although the Whigs were William's strongest supporters, he initially favoured a policy of balance between the Whigs and Tories . The Marquess of Halifax ,

963-524: A few intimates, were allowed to disturb him. The next year only Grave and Maastricht remained in French hands. Fagel now proposed to treat the liberated provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel as conquered territory ( Generality Lands ), as punishment for their quick surrender to the enemy. William refused but obtained a special mandate from the States General to appoint all delegates in

1070-657: A friend, and often having maintained secret contacts with him for years, many English politicians began to urge an armed invasion of England. William at first opposed the prospect of invasion, but most historians now agree that he began to assemble an expeditionary force in April 1688, as it became increasingly clear that France would remain occupied by campaigns in Germany and Italy, and thus unable to mount an attack while William's troops would be occupied in Britain. Believing that

1177-595: A further illness later in 1678, she never conceived again. Throughout William and Mary's marriage, William had only one reputed mistress, Elizabeth Villiers , in contrast to the many mistresses his uncles openly kept. By 1678, Louis XIV sought peace with the Dutch Republic. Even so, tensions remained: William remained suspicious of Louis, thinking that the French king desired " universal kingship " over Europe; Louis described William as "my mortal enemy" and saw him as an obnoxious warmonger. France's annexations in

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1284-558: A greater sense of urgency in November 1677 when William married his cousin Mary , Charles II of England's niece. An Anglo-Dutch defensive alliance followed in March 1678, although English troops did not arrive in significant numbers until late May. Louis seized this opportunity to improve his negotiating position and captured Ypres and Ghent in early March, before signing a peace treaty with

1391-417: A growing number of supplementary papers, including warrants, lists of persons who disclaimed any pretence to arms, lists of persons summoned to appear before the heralds (including those who had not appeared), records of fees paid, and miscellaneous correspondence. Visitations were conducted by or in the name of the two provincial Kings of Arms , Clarenceux and Norroy , within their respective provinces. In

1498-563: A joint monarchy in England dated from the 16th century, when Queen Mary I married Philip of Spain . Philip remained king only during his wife's lifetime, and restrictions were placed on his power. William, on the other hand, demanded that he remain as king even after his wife's death. When the majority of Tory Lords proposed to acclaim her as sole ruler, William threatened to leave the country immediately. Furthermore, she, remaining loyal to her husband, refused. The House of Commons , with

1605-469: A later date printed), to simplify the process of recording coats of arms. The persons whose pedigrees were recorded were required (from about 1570 onwards) to certify them by signature, and where these original draft pedigrees have survived they are known as "originals with signatures". The signed copies were taken back to the College of Arms, where fair copies were made to a higher standard and preserved as

1712-663: A letter from Charles, in which the English king stated that he had made war because of the aggression of the De Witt faction. The people thus incited, De Witt and his brother, Cornelis , were brutally murdered by an Orangist civil militia in The Hague on 20 August. Subsequently, William replaced many of the Dutch regents with his followers. Though William's complicity in the lynching has never been proved (and some 19th-century Dutch historians have made an effort to disprove that he

1819-475: A major offensive, however, at the end of 1676. Intended to capture Valenciennes , Cambrai and Saint-Omer in the Spanish Netherlands. Louis believed this would deprive the Dutch regents of the courage to continue the war any longer. In this, however, he was mistaken. The impending French offensive actually led to an intensification of Dutch-Spanish cooperation. Still, the French offensive of 1677

1926-606: A more republican Netherlands. The Dutch authorities did their best at first to ignore these intrigues, but in the Second Anglo-Dutch War , one of Charles's peace conditions was the improvement of the position of his nephew. As a countermeasure in 1666, when William was sixteen, the States officially made him a ward of the government, or a "Child of State". All pro-English courtiers, including Zuylenstein, were removed from William's company. William begged De Witt to allow Zuylenstein to stay, but he refused. De Witt,

2033-817: A new crown has been made for the Lord Lyon, modelled on the Scottish Royal crown among the Honours of Scotland . This crown has removable arches which will be removed at coronations to avoid any hint of lèse majesté . Garter King of Arms is the herald of the Order of the Garter as is in Scotland Lord Lyon King of Arms the herald of the Order of the Thistle . The Norroy and Ulster King of Arms

2140-543: A part of the 2,797,859  guilder debt the House of Stuart owed the House of Orange. Charles was unable to pay, but William agreed to reduce the amount owed to 1,800,000 guilders. Charles found his nephew to be a dedicated Calvinist and patriotic Dutchman and reconsidered his desire to show him the Secret Treaty of Dover with France, directed at destroying the Dutch Republic and installing William as "sovereign" of

2247-467: A permanent appointment on his 22nd birthday. Meanwhile, William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States to appoint William stadtholder. In return, William would ally the Republic with England and serve Charles's interests as much as his "honour and the loyalty due to this state" allowed. Charles took no action on

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2354-421: A short treatise, perhaps by one of William's tutors, Constantijn Huygens . In these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence , fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange-Nassau . William was seen, despite his youth, as the leader of the "Orangist" party, heir to the stadholderships of several provinces and the office of Captain-General of

2461-415: A significant minority refused to acknowledge their claim to the throne, instead believing in the divine right of kings , which held that the monarch's authority derived directly from God rather than being delegated to the monarch by Parliament. Over the next 57 years Jacobites pressed for restoration of James and his heirs. Nonjurors in England and Scotland, including over 400 clergy and several bishops of

2568-540: A strong candidate for the English throne should his father-in-law (and uncle) James be excluded because of his Catholicism. During the crisis concerning the Exclusion Bill in 1680, Charles at first invited William to come to England to bolster the king's position against the exclusionists, then withdrew his invitation—after which Lord Sunderland also tried unsuccessfully to bring William over, but now to put pressure on Charles. Nevertheless, William secretly induced

2675-399: A true and perfect returne, together with this your warrant, and what you have done therein, at the time and place above appointed. Given under my hand and Seale this first day of July, anno Dom. 1664. Edward Bysshe, Clarenceux The resulting volumes now make up the collection of Visitation Books at the College, which contain a wealth of information about all armigerous people from the period. If

2782-514: A week before his birth, making William III the prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he married his first cousin Mary, the elder daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York , the younger brother and later successor of King Charles II . A Protestant , William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic French ruler Louis XIV in coalition with both Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded William as

2889-416: Is the herald of the (now dormant) Order of St Patrick . Other British orders of chivalry have their own kings of arms: William III of England William III (William Henry; Dutch : Willem Hendrik ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange , was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland , Zeeland , Utrecht , Guelders , and Overijssel in

2996-440: Is the last person to successfully invade England by force of arms. William summoned a Convention Parliament in England, which met on 22 January 1689, to discuss the appropriate course of action following James's flight. William felt insecure about his position; though his wife preceded him in the line of succession to the throne, he wished to reign as king in his own right, rather than as a mere consort . The only precedent for

3103-790: The Act of Seclusion , which forbade the province of Holland from appointing a member of the House of Orange as stadtholder. After the English Restoration , the Act of Seclusion, which had not remained a secret for long, was declared void as the English Commonwealth (with which the treaty had been concluded) no longer existed. In 1660, William's mother Mary and grandmother Amalia tried to persuade several provincial States to designate William as their future stadtholder, but they all initially refused. In 1667, as William III approached

3210-693: The Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690, after which James fled back to France. Upon William's return to England, his close friend Dutch General Godert de Ginkell , who had accompanied William to Ireland and had commanded a body of Dutch cavalry at the Battle of the Boyne, was named Commander in Chief of William's forces in Ireland and entrusted with further conduct of the war there. Ginkell took command in Ireland in

3317-642: The British Library is particularly rich in such records. Many visitation records have been published over the years, by the Harleian Society , by county record societies , and a few privately (see listing below ). However, because until relatively recently the College of Arms restricted access to its records, many of the older published editions were necessarily based on the unofficial second- or third-generation copies in other collections, and may therefore not always be reliable. From as early as

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3424-534: The City of London ; and South Wales . The Northern Province, the jurisdiction of Norroy King of Arms, comprised that part of England north of the River Trent, i.e. the counties of Chester , Cumberland , Derby , Durham , Lancaster , Northumberland , Nottingham , Stafford , Westmorland and York ; and North Wales . The Trent ran through Staffordshire, and the county was therefore technically divided between

3531-488: The Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England , Ireland , and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. He ruled Great Britain and Ireland with his wife, Queen Mary II , and their joint reign is known as that of William and Mary . William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange , and Mary, Princess Royal , the daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland . His father died

3638-542: The Dutch States Army as soon as possible, despite his youth and inexperience. On 15 December 1671, the States of Utrecht made this their official policy. On 19 January 1672, the States of Holland made a counterproposal: to appoint William for just a single campaign. The prince refused this and on 25 February a compromise was reached: an appointment by the States General for one summer, followed by

3745-566: The Thames on his way. He was discovered and brought back to London by a group of fishermen. He was allowed to leave for France in a second escape attempt on 23 December. William permitted James to leave the country, not wanting to make him a martyr for the Roman Catholic cause; it was in his interests for James to be perceived as having left the country of his own accord, rather than having been forced or frightened into fleeing. William

3852-517: The University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius (though never officially enrolling as a student). While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft , William had a small personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck , and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein , who (as an illegitimate son of stadtholder Frederick Henry of Orange )

3959-431: The right to bear arms to Protestant subjects, unduly interfere with parliamentary elections, punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates, require excessive bail or inflict cruel and unusual punishments . William was opposed to the imposition of such constraints, but he chose not to engage in a conflict with Parliament and agreed to abide by the statute. The Bill of Rights also settled

4066-503: The "office copies". Sometimes the signed copies were also retained at the College, but in other cases, no longer considered of official interest, they might pass into private hands: once in general circulation, further copies were often made, which might in turn be revised or augmented. As a result of these processes of transmission, a number of variant manuscript copies of any one visitation record may now survive, possessing varying degrees of accuracy and authority. The Harleian Collection of

4173-473: The 1530s, officers of arms on visitation frequently also compiled what were known as "church notes". These were fieldnotes (usually in the form of sketches) of coats of arms observed on church monuments , in stained glass windows, or on display in private houses. Sometimes, drawings were also made of non-heraldic antiquities, such as medieval architectural features, views of towns, Roman inscriptions and even Stonehenge . The 17th-century visitations generated

4280-685: The Captain-General or Admiral-General of the Netherlands could not serve as stadtholder in any province. Even so, William's supporters sought ways to enhance his prestige and, on 19 September 1668, the States of Zeeland appointed him as First Noble . To receive this honour, William had to escape the attention of his state tutors and travel secretly to Middelburg . A month later, Amalia allowed William to manage his own household and declared him to be of majority age. The province of Holland,

4387-740: The Church of England and Scottish Episcopal Church as well as numerous laymen, refused to take oaths of allegiance to William. Ireland was controlled by Roman Catholics loyal to James, and Franco-Irish Jacobites arrived from France with French forces in March 1689 to join the war in Ireland and contest Protestant resistance at the Siege of Derry . William sent his navy to the city in July, and his army landed in August . After progress stalled, William personally intervened to lead his armies to victory over James at

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4494-719: The Constables of the Hundred of Clackclose in Norfolk, giving them notice of two and a half months to muster the local gentry in the Black Swan Inn at Downham Market at 8 am: These [ letters patent ] are to require you and in his Majestie's name to charge and comand you, that forthwith upon sight hereof you sumon these Baronets, Knights, Esq and Gentlemen, whose names are here under written, personally to appear before me Edward Bisshe, Knight, Clarenceux King of Armes of all

4601-686: The Crown and like the Chief Herald of Ireland and the old Ulster King of Arms needs no warrant from any other office bearer. In the Kingdom of Spain , the power to certify coats of arms has been given to the Cronistas de Armas (chroniclers of arms). The English and Scottish kings of arms are the only officers of arms to have a distinctive crown of office, used for ceremonial purposes such as at coronations (as opposed to peers, who instead wear

4708-521: The Duke of York, later King James II of England (James VII of Scotland). Mary was eleven years his junior and he anticipated resistance to a Stuart match from the Amsterdam merchants who had disliked his mother (another Mary Stuart), but William believed that marrying Mary would increase his chances of succeeding to Charles's kingdoms, and would draw England's monarch away from his pro-French policies. James

4815-597: The Dutch States Army as one of the most disciplined and best-trained European armed forces. This had not been enough to keep France from making conquests in the Spanish Netherlands, which William and the regents blamed mainly on the Spaniards; the Dutch expected the once powerful Spanish Empire to have more military strength. During the war with France, William tried to improve his position by marrying, in 1677, his first cousin Mary , elder surviving daughter of

4922-528: The Dutch blamed the Imperial commander, de Souches , and after a failed attempt to capture Oudenaarde , largely due to obstructionism from de Souches, he was relieved of command. Frustrated, William joined the army under Rabenhaupt with 10,000 troops instead of campaigning further in the Spanish Netherlands. He assumed command of operations at Grave , which had been besieged since 28 June. Grave surrendered on 27 October. The Dutch were split by internal disputes;

5029-468: The Dutch on 10 August. The Battle of Saint-Denis was fought three days later on 13 August, when a combined Dutch-Spanish force under William attacked the French army under Luxembourg . Luxembourg withdrew and William thus ensured Mons would remain in Spanish hands. On 19 August, Spain and France agreed an armistice, followed by a formal peace treaty on 17 September. The war had seen the rebirth of

5136-471: The English army (the most notable of whom was Lord Churchill of Eyemouth , James's most able commander), and influential noblemen across the country declared their support for the invader. James at first attempted to resist William, but saw that his efforts would prove futile. He sent representatives to negotiate with William, but secretly attempted to flee on 11 December, throwing the Great Seal into

5243-477: The English people would not react well to a foreign invader, he demanded in a letter to Rear-Admiral Arthur Herbert that the most eminent English Protestants first invite him to invade. In June, Mary of Modena, after a string of miscarriages, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward Stuart , who displaced William's Protestant wife to become first in the line of succession and raised the prospect of an ongoing Catholic monarchy. Public anger also increased because of

5350-467: The French army quickly overran the provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht. On 14 June, William withdrew with the remnants of his field army into Holland, where the States had ordered the flooding of the Dutch Waterline on 8 June. Louis XIV of France, believing the war was over, began negotiations to extract as large a sum of money from the Dutch as possible. The presence of a large French army in

5457-483: The French supply lines. In September 1673, the Dutch situation further improved. The resolute defence by John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen and Hans Willem van Aylva in the north of the Dutch Republic finally forced the troops of Münster and Cologne to withdraw, while William crossed the Dutch Waterline and recaptured Naarden . In November, a 30,000-strong Dutch-Spanish army, under William's command, marched into

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5564-538: The Lords Commissioners for the office of Earle Marshall of England, there to answer their misdemeanors and contempts. And if there shall be any of the degrees and quallities above ment[i]oned omitted within yo Liberties in these my directions, that you likewise insert their names and warn them accordingly. Hereof charge them not to fayle as they will avoid the perill as may ensue by any of their neglects or contempts herein. Of these particulars your are to make

5671-788: The South, East, and West parts of this Realme of England, from the river of Trent Southward, upon Thursday the fifteenth day of September, by eight of the clock in the morning, at the sign of the Black Swan in Downham, where I intend to sit for the Registring of all the Gentry within the said Hundred; and to that end you likewise give them notice, that they bring with them such armes and crests as they use and bear, with such other evidence or matter of record and credit as (if need require) may justifie

5778-843: The Southern Netherlands and Germany (the Réunion policy) and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, caused a surge of Huguenot refugees to the Republic. This led William III to join various anti-French alliances, such as the Association League, and ultimately the League of Augsburg (an anti-French coalition that also included the Holy Roman Empire , Sweden , Spain and several German states) in 1686. After his marriage in November 1677, William became

5885-459: The States General to send Charles the "Insinuation", a plea beseeching the king to prevent any Catholics from succeeding him, without explicitly naming James. After receiving indignant reactions from Charles and James, William denied any involvement. In 1685, when James II succeeded Charles, William at first attempted a conciliatory approach, at the same time trying not to offend the Protestants in England. William, ever looking for ways to diminish

5992-406: The States of Holland end their interference. To appease Charles, they complied on 30 September 1661. That year, Zuylenstein began to work for Charles and induced William to write letters to his uncle asking him to help William become stadtholder someday. After his mother's death, William's education and guardianship became a point of contention between his dynasty's supporters and the advocates of

6099-513: The States of these provinces anew. William's followers in the States of Utrecht on 26 April 1674 appointed him hereditary stadtholder. On 30 January 1675, the States of Gelderland offered him the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen . The negative reactions to this from Zeeland and the city of Amsterdam made William ultimately decide to decline these honours; he was instead appointed stadtholder of Gelderland and Overijssel. Baruch Spinoza 's warning in his Political Treatise of 1677 of

6206-428: The Union (see Politics and government of the Dutch Republic ). He was viewed as the leader of the nation in its independence movement and its protector from foreign threats. This was in the tradition of the princes of Orange before him: his great-grandfather William the Silent , his grand-uncle Maurice , his grandfather Frederick Henry , and his father William II . From early 1659, William spent seven years at

6313-652: The accession of William III in 1689, no further commissions to carry out visitations were commanded. The reasons behind this cessation of the programme have been a matter of debate among historians. Philip Styles, for example, related it to a declining willingness of members of the gentry to attend visitations, which he traced to a growing proportion of " newly risen " families, who lacked long pedigrees and were therefore apathetic about registering them. However, Janet Verasanso has challenged this interpretation, finding that (in Staffordshire, at least) gentry enthusiasm for coats of arms as an enhancement to social standing persisted to

6420-494: The age of 18, the Orangist party again attempted to bring him to power by securing for him the offices of stadtholder and Captain-General . To prevent the restoration of the influence of the House of Orange, De Witt, the leader of the States Party , allowed the pensionary of Haarlem , Gaspar Fagel , to induce the States of Holland to issue the Perpetual Edict . The Edict, supported by the important Amsterdam politicians Andries de Graeff and Gillis Valckenier , declared that

6527-432: The authority to grant armorial bearings has been delegated to a chief herald that serves the same purpose as the traditional king of arms. Canada also has a chief herald , though this officer grants arms on the authority of the governor general as the king's representative through the herald chancellor 's direct remit. Scotland's only king of arms, the Lord Lyon , exercises the royal prerogative by direct delegation from

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6634-439: The centre of anti-Orangism, abolished the office of stadtholder, and four other provinces followed suit in March 1670, establishing the so-called "Harmony". De Witt demanded an oath from each Holland regent (city council member) to uphold the Edict; all but one complied. William saw all this as a defeat, but the arrangement was a compromise: De Witt would have preferred to ignore the prince completely, but now his eventual rise to

6741-431: The commission renewed, and mounted several visitations. Although Molyneux's last visitation – of Wexford – was the last proper visitation, two other expeditions occurred after 1618 by subsequent Ulster Kings of Arms. The visitations were not very extensive. The officers would not often be found in the disturbed countryside. Thus the visitations are confined to areas under firm control of the Dublin administration. Today,

6848-513: The document remained unsigned at William II's death and was therefore void. On 13 August 1651, the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (Supreme Court) ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother, his grandmother and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg , husband of his paternal aunt Louise Henriette . William's mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society. William's education

6955-436: The end of the 17th century. The end of the visitations did not have much effect on those counties far removed from London, some of which had only been rarely visited over the entire period of the visitations. There was never a systematic visitation of Wales. There were four visitations in the principality, and on 9 June 1551, Fulk ap Hywel, Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary , was given a commission to visit all of Wales. This

7062-462: The end of the Republic's existence. William answered famously: "There is one way to avoid this: to die defending it in the last ditch." On 7 July, the inundations were complete and the further advance of the French army was effectively blocked. On 16 July, Zeeland offered the stadtholdership to William. Johan de Witt had been unable to function as Grand Pensionary after being wounded by an attempt on his life on 21 June. On 15 August, William published

7169-429: The fifteenth century, the use and abuse of coats of arms was becoming widespread in England . One of the duties conferred on William Bruges , the first Garter Principal King of Arms , was to survey and record the armorial bearings and pedigrees of those using coats of arms and correct irregularities. Officers of arms had made occasional tours of various parts of the kingdom to enquire about armorial matters during

7276-428: The fifteenth century. However, it was not until the sixteenth century that the process began in earnest. The first provincial visitations were carried out under warrant granted by Henry VIII to Thomas Benolt , Clarenceux King of Arms , dated 6 April 1530. He was commissioned to travel throughout his province (i.e. south of the Trent ) with authority to enter all homes and churches. Upon entering these premises, he

7383-710: The following lists, the Deputies are the officers of arms who actually carried out the visitations. Where no Deputy is named, the visitation can be assumed to have been conducted by the King of Arms in person. The Southern Province, the jurisdiction of Clarenceux King of Arms, comprised that part of England south of the River Trent , i.e. the counties of Bedford , Berks , Buckingham , Cambridge , Cornwall , Devon , Dorset , Essex , Gloucester , Hereford , Hertford , Huntingdon , Kent , Leicester , Lincoln , Middlesex , Monmouth , Norfolk , Northampton , Oxford , Rutland , Salop , Somerset , Southampton , Suffolk , Surrey , Sussex , Warwick , Wilton , Worcester , and

7490-454: The formal thanks of the House of Commons and was awarded the title of Earl of Athlone by the king. A series of Jacobite risings also took place in Scotland, where Viscount Dundee raised Highland forces and won a victory on 27 July 1689 at the Battle of Killiecrankie , but he died in the fight and a month later Scottish Cameronian forces subdued the rising at the Battle of Dunkeld . William offered Scottish clans that had taken part in

7597-576: The heart of the Republic caused a general panic, and the people turned against De Witt and his allies. On 4 July, the States of Holland appointed William stadtholder, and he took the oath five days later. The next day, a special envoy from Charles II, Lord Arlington , met William in Nieuwerbrug and presented a proposal from Charles. In return for William's capitulation to England and France, Charles would make William Sovereign Prince of Holland, instead of stadtholder (a mere civil servant). When William refused, Arlington threatened that William would witness

7704-510: The lands of the Bishops of Münster and Cologne. The Dutch troops took revenge and carried out many atrocities. Together with 35,000 Imperial troops, they then captured Bonn , an important magazine in the long logistical lines between France and the Dutch Republic. The French position in the Netherlands became untenable and Louis was forced to evacuate French troops. This deeply shocked Louis and he retreated to Saint Germain where no one, except

7811-539: The leading politician of the Republic, took William's education into his own hands, instructing him weekly in state matters and joining him for regular games of real tennis . After the death of William's father, most provinces had left the office of stadtholder vacant. At the demand of Oliver Cromwell , the Treaty of Westminster , which ended the First Anglo-Dutch War , had a secret annexe that required

7918-567: The need to organize the state so that the citizens maintain control over the sovereign was an influential expression of this unease with the concentration of power in one person. Meanwhile, the front of the war against France had shifted to the Spanish Netherlands . In 1674, Allied forces in the Netherlands were numerically superior to the French army under Condé , which was based along the Piéton river near Charleroi . William took

8025-459: The needed information. When a King of Arms , or Herald, visited a county, his presence was proclaimed by presenting the King's royal commission to the local gentry and nobility, which required them to provide evidence of their right to use a coat of arms . The Sheriff would collect from the bailiff of each hundred within his county a list of all people using titles or arms. In the early days,

8132-509: The offensive and sought to bring on a battle by outflanking the French positions but the broken ground forced him to divide his army into three separate columns. At Seneffe , Condé led a cavalry attack against the Allied vanguard and by midday on 11 August had halted their advance. Against the advice of his subordinates, he then ordered a series of frontal assaults which led to very heavy casualties on both sides with no concrete result. William and

8239-588: The office of supreme army commander was implicit. De Witt further conceded that William would be admitted as a member of the Raad van State , the Council of State, then the generality organ administering the defence budget. William was introduced to the council on 31 May 1670 with full voting rights, despite De Witt's attempts to limit his role to that of an advisor. In November 1670, William obtained permission to travel to England to urge Charles to pay back at least

8346-400: The officers of arms were not presented with sufficient proof of the right to use a coat of arms, they were also empowered to deface monuments which bore these arms and to force persons bearing such arms to sign a disclaimer that they would cease using them. The visitations were not always popular with members of the landed gentry, who were required to present proof of their gentility. Following

8453-632: The original visitation and related manuscripts are in the custody of the Chief Herald of Ireland . Copies are also deposited at the College of Arms in London. (see also: Cornish heraldry ) King of Arms In England, the authority to grant a coat of arms is subject to the formal approval of the Earl Marshal in the form of a warrant . In jurisdictions such as the Republic of Ireland

8560-552: The park of the country house in Soestdijk. In 1674 Wilhelm bought the estate from Jacob de Graeff, which was later converted into Soestdijk Palace . This first involvement of the authorities did not last long. On 23 December 1660, when William was ten years old, his mother died of smallpox at Whitehall Palace , London, while visiting her brother, the recently restored King Charles II. In her will, Mary requested that Charles look after William's interests, and Charles now demanded that

8667-515: The passage of the Toleration Act 1689 , which guaranteed religious toleration to Protestant nonconformists . It did not, however, extend toleration as far as he wished, still restricting the religious liberty of Roman Catholics, non-trinitarians , and those of non-Christian faiths. In December 1689, one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, the Bill of Rights,

8774-553: The power of France, hoped that James would join the League of Augsburg, but by 1687 it became clear that James would not join the anti-French alliance. Relations worsened between William and James thereafter. In November, James's second wife, Mary of Modena , was announced to be pregnant. That month, to gain the favour of English Protestants, William wrote an open letter to the English people in which he disapproved of James's pro-Roman Catholic policy of religious toleration. Seeing him as

8881-516: The powerful Amsterdam mercantile body was anxious to end an expensive war once their commercial interests were secured, while William saw France as a long-term threat that had to be defeated. This conflict increased once ending the war became a distinct possibility when Grave was captured in October 1674, leaving only Maastricht. On both sides, the last years of the war saw minimal return for their investment of men and money. The French were preparing

8988-708: The proposal, and continued his war plans with his French ally. For the Dutch Republic, 1672 proved calamitous. It became known as the Rampjaar ("disaster year") because in the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War , the Netherlands was invaded by France and its allies: England, Münster , and Cologne . Although the Anglo-French fleet was disabled by the Battle of Solebay , in June

9095-410: The question of succession to the Crown. After the death of either William or Mary, the other would continue to reign. Next in the line of succession was Mary II's sister, Anne , and her issue, followed by any children William might have had by a subsequent marriage. Roman Catholics, as well as those who married Catholics, were excluded. Although most in Britain accepted William and Mary as sovereigns,

9202-622: The regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint lives". William and Mary were crowned together at Westminster Abbey on 11 April 1689 by the Bishop of London , Henry Compton. Normally, the coronation is performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury , but the Archbishop at the time, William Sancroft , refused to recognise James's removal. William also summoned

9309-486: The rising a pardon provided that they signed allegiance by a deadline, and his government in Scotland punished a delay with the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe , which became infamous in Jacobite propaganda as William had countersigned the orders. Bowing to public opinion, William dismissed those responsible for the massacre, though they still remained in his favour; in the words of the historian John Dalberg-Acton , "one became

9416-476: The same, to the intent that I knowing how they use and challenge their Titles and by what right and authoritye they beare or pretend to bear Armes, I may accordingly make entrance thereof, and register the same in the office of Armes, or else proceed as my commission enjoyneth me in that behalfe, and to disclaim and make infamous such as usurp the title of Esquires or Gentlemen; and to convent all such as shall refuse to conforme themselves unto my said commission before

9523-575: The south-western English port of Brixham ; James was deposed shortly afterward. William's reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him and his wife to take power. During the early years of his reign, William was occupied abroad with the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), leaving Mary to govern Britain alone. She died in 1694. In 1696 the Jacobites , a faction loyal to the deposed James, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore James to

9630-464: The spring of 1691, and following the Battle of Aughrim , succeeded in capturing both Galway and Limerick , thereby effectively suppressing the Jacobite forces in Ireland within a few more months. After difficult negotiations a capitulation was signed on 3 October 1691—the Treaty of Limerick . Thus concluded the Williamite pacification of Ireland, and for his services, the Dutch general received

9737-582: The throne. In Scotland, William's role in ordering the Massacre of Glencoe remains notorious. William's lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew the Duke of Gloucester , the son of his sister-in-law Anne , threatened the Protestant succession. The danger was averted by placing William and Mary's cousins, the Protestant Hanoverians , in line to the throne after Anne with the Act of Settlement 1701 . Upon his death in 1702, William

9844-524: The trial of seven bishops who had publicly opposed James's Declaration of Indulgence granting religious liberty to his subjects, a policy which appeared to threaten the establishment of the Anglican Church . On 30 June 1688—the same day the bishops were acquitted—a group of political figures, known afterward as the " Immortal Seven ", sent William a formal invitation . William's intentions to invade were public knowledge by September 1688. With

9951-532: The two provinces; but for the purposes of visitation it was generally treated (sometimes through a process of deputation) as falling under the jurisdiction of Norroy. Since the practices of Ulster King of Arms so closely followed those of the English College of Arms, it is hardly surprising that the Irish officers of arms undertook heraldic visitations in their province. The purpose behind these visitations

10058-415: The visiting herald would tour the homes of the gentry and nobility, but from the late 1560s these persons were summoned to attend a central "place of sitting" – usually an inn – at a particular time. They were to bring their arms, and proof of their right to use them, most often by way of detailing their ancestral right to them, which would also be recorded. Where an official grant of arms had been made, this

10165-480: Was a success. The Spaniards found it difficult to raise enough troops due to financial constraints and the Allies were defeated in the Battle of Cassel . This meant that they could not prevent the cities from falling into French hands. The French then took a defensive posture, afraid that more success would force England to intervene on the side of the Allies. The peace talks that began at Nijmegen in 1676 were given

10272-516: Was also recorded. Other ancient arms, many of which predated the establishment of the College of Arms , were confirmed. The officer would record the information clearly and make detailed notes that could be entered into the records of the College of Arms when the party returned to London . An example of the text of a herald's visitation writ is the following, issued by Edward Bysshe , then Clarenceux King of Arms , dated 1 July 1664 and addressed to

10379-498: Was an accessory), he thwarted attempts to prosecute the ringleaders, and even rewarded some, like Hendrik Verhoeff , with money, and others, like Johan van Banchem and Johan Kievit , with high offices. This damaged his reputation in the same fashion as his later actions at Glencoe . William continued to fight against the invaders from England and France, allying himself with Spain , Brandenburg , and Emperor Leopold I . In November 1672, he took his army to Maastricht to threaten

10486-427: Was authorized to "put down or otherwise deface at his discretion ... those arms unlawfully used". He was also required to enquire into all those using the titles of knight , esquire , or gentleman and decided if they were being lawfully used. By this writ , Henry VIII also compelled the sheriffs and mayors of each county or city visited by the officers of arms to give aid and assistance in gathering

10593-536: Was born, his father died of smallpox ; thus, William was the sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth. Immediately, a conflict arose between his mother and his paternal grandmother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William ( Willem ) to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder . William II had intended to appoint his wife as their son's guardian in his will; however,

10700-774: Was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard and the Scottish noblewoman Lady Anna Mackenzie . From April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius . The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange ,

10807-403: Was his paternal uncle. Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his uncle Cornelis de Graeff pushed the States of Holland to take charge of William's education and ensure that he would acquire the skills to serve in a future—though undetermined—state function; the States acted on 25 September 1660. Around this time, the young prince played with De Graeff's sons Pieter and Jacob de Graeff in

10914-465: Was not carried out, however, as he was degraded and executed for counterfeiting the seal of Clarenceux King of Arms . This is regrettable, since no visitation of all Wales was ever made by the officers of arms. The principal records to emerge from the visitations were pedigrees, initially recorded on loose sheets of paper, and afterwards bound together as notebooks. In some cases, the sheets would include blank shields which had been drawn in advance (or at

11021-400: Was not inclined to consent, but Charles II pressured his brother to agree. Charles wanted to use the possibility of marriage to gain leverage in negotiations relating to the war, but William insisted that the two issues be decided separately. Charles relented, and Bishop Henry Compton married the couple on 4 November 1677. Mary became pregnant soon after the marriage, but miscarried . After

11128-467: Was passed. The Act, which restated and confirmed many provisions of the earlier Declaration of Right , established restrictions on the royal prerogative . It provided, amongst other things, that the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, infringe the right to petition , raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent, deny

11235-629: Was succeeded in Britain by Anne and as titular Prince of Orange by his cousin John William Friso . William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650. Baptised William Henry ( Dutch : Willem Hendrik ), he was the only child of Mary, Princess Royal , and stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange . Mary was the elder daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and sister of kings Charles II and James II and VII . Eight days before William

11342-533: Was twofold: to prevent the assumption of arms by unqualified people, and to record the arms of the gentry that were unknown to Ulster office. The first visitation was held by Nicholas Narbon , the second Ulster King of Arms , in 1569. He was authorized to reform practices which were contrary to good armorial practice. He conducted six visitations ( Dublin in 1568–1573, Drogheda and Ardee in 1570, Dublin in 1572, Swords in 1572, Cork in 1574, and Limerick in 1574). One of his successors, Daniel Molyneux had

11449-487: Was vacant. On 13 February 1689, Parliament passed the Bill of Rights 1689 , in which it deemed that James, by attempting to flee, had abdicated the government of the realm, thereby leaving the throne vacant. The Crown was not offered to James's infant son, who would have been the heir apparent under normal circumstances, but to William and Mary as joint sovereigns. It was, however, provided that "the sole and full exercise of

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