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146-724: Several members of the house served during the Eighty Years war and after as stadtholder ("governor"; Dutch: stadhouder ) during the Dutch Republic . However, in 1815, after a long period as a republic, the Netherlands became a monarchy under the House of Orange-Nassau. The dynasty was established as a result of the marriage of Henry III of Nassau-Breda from Germany and Claudia of Châlon-Orange from French Burgundy in 1515. Their son René of Chalon inherited in 1530

292-586: A German consort probably was exacerbated by von Amsberg's former membership in the Hitler Youth under the Nazi regime in his native country, and also his following service in the German Wehrmacht . Beatrix needed permission from the government to marry anyone if she wanted to remain heiress to the throne, but after some argument, it was granted. As the years went by, Prince Claus was fully accepted by

438-585: A bridegroom candidate for Mary by his father Adolf of Cleves ; Mary and Philip were rumoured to be former love interests, although this is disputed by Arie de Fouw), whom she appointed as Stadtholder-General in 1477, now acted as Maximilian's lieutenant as Admiral of the Netherlands. Despite the reputation of the Burgundian court as luxurious and rich, Charles the Bold had lost his whole fortune in his last three disastrous campaigns. The Low Countries were rich but

584-604: A delegation to discuss the prospect of Mary's marriage to the six-year-old Dauphin (later King Charles VIII). The negotiation ended in failure as Louis XI demanded unacceptable terms, including the surrender of the Duchy of Burgundy and the French territories acquired by Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. The king then betrayed her secret letters to the burghers of Ghent, who then seized two men who were named in those letters – Hugonet and

730-564: A direct cognate, "stead holder" (in modern Dutch "stad" means "city", but the older meaning of "stad" – also "stede" – was "place", and it is a cognate of English "stead", as "instead of"); it was a term for a " steward " or " lieutenant ". However, this is not the word for the military rank of lieutenant, which is luitenant in Dutch. Stadtholder s in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence. If

876-451: A dog). Mary nursed the children herself, ordered the menus and dined out with merchants from Dijon. Mary cheered for her husband in tournaments, during which he proved a magnificent jouster, not just in feats of strength but in the luxury he lavished on the equipments, horses, accessories and ornaments as well. At first, they talked to each other in Latin. According to Haemers and Sutch,

1022-606: A few territories like the Free Imperial City of Dortmund , Corvey Abbey and Diocese of Fulda from First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Republic ( Treaty of Amiens ), which was established as the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda . William V died in 1806. Grandchildren Grandchildren Grandchildren After a repressed Dutch rebel action, Prussian and Cossack troops drove out

1168-579: A friend to Mary later in life and was one of her most constant companions. Philip the Good died in 1467 and Mary's father assumed control of the Burgundian State. Since her father had no living sons at the time of his accession, Mary became his heir presumptive . Her father controlled a vast and wealthy domain made up of the Duchy of Burgundy , the Free County of Burgundy , and the majority of

1314-473: A government to stay in office against the will of Parliament. In 1868, he tried to sell Luxembourg to France , which was the source of a quarrel between Prussia and France . William III had a rather unhappy marriage with Sophie of Württemberg , and his heirs died young. This raised the possibility of the extinction of the House of Orange-Nassau. After the death of Queen Sophie in 1877, William remarried to 20-year-old Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1879; he

1460-612: A hereditary kingship in Sweden and Denmark, and the Hohenzollerns were able to set themselves on a course to the rule of Germany. The House of Orange was no less gifted than those houses, in fact, some might argue more so, as their ranks included some the foremost statesmen and captains of the time. A 104 years separated the death of William the Silent from the accession of his great-grandson, William III, as King of England. Although

1606-545: A huntress with her husband's skills as a military leader. Also according to Roberts, the posthumous portraits produced during her husband's later reign (which were much more numerous) show a completely different image: he tended to utilize the profile portraits that portrayed her as a young (with less personal features and only recognizable by her items, such as the hennin , the brocaded garment, necklaces and brooches), virtuous, pious, passive bride whose wealth he possessed and could do with as he wanted and for whom he constructed

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1752-486: A lord had several dominions (or, being a vassal , fiefs ), some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder , to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a governor, who had only limited authority, but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land. The local rulers of the independent provinces of the Low Countries (which included

1898-411: A mythology of romantic love between the two. Olga Karaskova also opines that the manner she was placed in the premier position and her seal superimposed on his in their seals seems to indicate the conception she had of herself and the way she wanted to be seen by her contemporaries. During Maximilian's later reign, he commissioned numerous portrayals of Mary for various purposes. According to Karaskova,

2044-494: A passionate falconer though – In his cenotaph, where there are also Mary's and his statues, the belt of Mary's grandfather, Philip the Good, displays the image of a male falconer and a female falconer). Karaskova comments that the type of profile portraits that Roberts considers to be the products of Maximilian's preferences (which also presented her as youthful and wealthy) seemed to have existed and been copied since her lifetime and connected her to her ancestors, especially Philip

2190-561: A position he would hold until his death (his cousin William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg held the post in the remaining two provinces, Friesland and Groningen). Tensions nonetheless persisted between Orangists and republicans in the United Provinces, sometimes exploding into direct conflict. Maurice in 1618 and William III of Orange from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power:

2336-615: A posthumous son, William III (*November 14, 1650). Since the Prince of Orange upon the death of William II, William III, was an infant, the regents used this opportunity to leave the stadtholdership vacant. This inaugurated the era in Dutch history that is known as the First Stadtholderless Period . A quarrel about the education of the young prince arose between his mother and his grandmother Amalia (who outlived her husband by 28 years). Amalia wanted an education which

2482-596: A riding accident on March 8, 1702, leaving the main male line of the House of Orange extinct, and leaving Scotland, England and Ireland to his sister-in-law Queen Anne . The house of Orange-Nassau was relatively unlucky in establishing a hereditary dynasty in an age that favoured hereditary rule. The Stuarts and the Bourbons came to power at the same time as the Oranges, the Vasas and Oldenburgs were able to establish

2628-653: A ship without wind". Mary of Burgundy Mary of Burgundy ( French : Marie de Bourgogne ; Dutch : Maria van Bourgondië ; 13 February 1457 – 27 March 1482), nicknamed the Rich , was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy who ruled the Burgundian lands , comprising the Duchy and County of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands , from 1477 to her death. As the only child of Charles

2774-430: A strong ducal monarchy was established. He made sure that during their son's inauguration, Philip confirmed only the rights granted to territories by the time of Philip the Good. Olga Karaskova summarizes scholarly opinions on Mary's rule as follows: Mary of Burgundy as ruler seems to be rather a non sequitur topic for a study as her short reign — sandwiched between those more important of her belligerent father, Charles

2920-552: A symbol of the Dutch resistance during World War II . The moral authority of the Monarchy was restored because of her rule. After 58 years on the throne as the Queen, Wilhelmina decided to abdicate in favour of her daughter, Juliana. Juliana had the reputation of making the monarchy less "aloof", and under her reign the Monarchy became known as the "cycling monarchy". Members of the royal family were often seen riding bicycles through

3066-439: A time, it appeared that the Dutch royal family would die with Wilhelmina. Her half-brother, Prince Alexander , had died in 1884, and no royal babies were born from then until Wilhelmina gave birth to her only child, Juliana , in 1909. The Dutch royal house remained quite small until the later 1930s and the early 1940s, during which time Juliana gave birth to four daughters. Although the House of Orange died out in its male line with

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3212-585: The Act of Abjuration , the representative function of the stadtholder became obsolete in the rebellious northern Netherlands – the feudal lord himself having been abolished – but the office nevertheless continued in these provinces who now united themselves into the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands . The United Provinces were struggling to adapt existing feudal concepts and institutions to

3358-620: The French invaded Holland in 1795, William V was forced into exile, and he was never to return alive to Holland. After 1795, the House of Orange-Nassau faced a difficult period, surviving in exile at other European courts, especially those of Prussia and Britain. Following the recognition of the Batavian Republic by the 1801 Oranienstein Letters , William V's son William VI renounced the stadtholdership in 1802. In return, he received

3504-521: The Low Countries , a stadtholder ( Dutch : stadhouder [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər] ) was a steward , first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795). The title was used for the highest executive official of each province performing several duties, such as appointing lower administrators and maintaining peace and order, in

3650-404: The Low Countries . As a result, her hand in marriage was eagerly sought by a number of princes. The first proposal was received by her father when she was only five years old, in this case to marry the future King Ferdinand II of Aragon . Later she was approached by Charles, Duke of Berry ; his older brother, King Louis XI of France, was intensely annoyed by Charles's move and attempted to prevent

3796-708: The Netherlands . The House of Orange-Nassau stems from the younger Ottonian Line. The first of this line to establish himself in the Netherlands was John I, Count of Nassau-Siegen , who married Margaret of the Mark . The real founder of the Nassau fortunes in the Netherlands was John's son, Engelbert I . He became counsellor to the Burgundian Dukes of Brabant , first to Anton of Burgundy , and later to his son Jan IV of Brabant . He also would later serve Philip

3942-630: The Sire d'Humbercourt , two of her father's most influential councilors, and despite her pleadings, executed them on 3 April 1477. They then took away her other advisors too. Koenigsberger suspects that Louis XI might have forged the letters. Mary was compelled to sign a charter of rights known as the Great Privilege in Ghent on 10 February 1477, the occasion of her formal recognition as her father's heir (the " Joyous Entry "). Under this agreement,

4088-543: The States General to which they were officially credited. The marriage policy of the princes, allying themselves twice with the Royal Stuarts, also gave them acceptance into the royal caste of rulers. Besides showing the relationships among the family, the family tree below also points out an extraordinary run of bad luck. In the 211 years from the death of William the Silent to the conquest by France, there

4234-749: The Treaty of Senlis of 1493, which established peace in the Low Countries. Mary's marriage into the House of Habsburg proved to be a disaster for France because the Burgundian inheritance later brought it into conflict with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire . In 1493, Emperor Frederick III died. Maximilian became the de facto leader of the Empire and relinquished control of the Netherlands to his and Mary's son Philip. By this time, rebellions against Maximilian's authority had been subdued by force and

4380-505: The stadtholder of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland was normally also appointed Captain-General of the Dutch States Army and Admiral-General of the confederate fleet, though no stadtholder ever actually commanded a fleet in battle. In the army, he could appoint officers by himself; in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus rather limited, and by law he

4526-463: The 1570s he had to defend his core territories in Holland several times, but in the 1580s the inland cities in Holland were secure. William of Orange was considered a threat to Spanish rule in the area and was assassinated in 1584 by a hired killer sent by Philip. William was succeeded by his second son Maurits , a Protestant who proved an excellent military commander. His abilities as a commander and

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4672-482: The Bold , Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon , Mary inherited the Burgundian lands at the age of 19 upon the death of her father in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477. In order to counter the appetite of the French king Louis XI for her lands, she married Maximilian of Austria , with whom she had two children. The marriage kept large parts of the Burgundian lands from disintegration, but also changed

4818-549: The Bold, and her imposing spouse, Maximilian of Austria — is often marginalized by researchers. A somewhat ambiguous figure, whose image hovers somewhere in the space limited by two opposing concepts — an inexperienced and weak duchess, a mere pawn in the great political game played between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and a self-determined young princess who knew what she wanted and managed to dictate her will, praised by her biographers, Mary still remains generally in

4964-404: The Bold, who also had such profile portraits. After his marriage to Bianca Maria in 1494, Maximilian also presented himself with both of his wives simultaneously. There was a notable tendency, expressed most clearly in the representations of genealogical trees (one commissioned in 1497, and another ten years later): outwardly, the group looked united, but Maximilian turned his back on Bianca to face

5110-550: The Burgundian Netherlands.", even if most of the functions of the head of state were carried out by the energetic husband. Historian Jelle Haemers opines that she should not be made into a feminist icon. Maximilian tended to describe Mary as the Grand Dame, who could stand next to him as sovereigns. The devotion the people of the Low Countries had towards Mary (often idealized as earthly representation of

5256-881: The Duke in his capacity of duke, count or lord. In the 16th century, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V , also King of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, completed this process by becoming the sole feudal overlord: Lord of the Netherlands. Only the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories (the Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy and the Duchy of Bouillon ) remained outside his domains. Stadtholder s continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King Philip II , his son and successor in Spain and

5402-405: The Dutch people. In time, he became one of the most popular members of the Dutch monarchy, and his death in 2002 was widely mourned. On April 30, 1980, Queen Juliana abdicated in favour of her daughter, Beatrix. In the early years of the twenty-first century, the Dutch monarchy remained popular with a large part of the population. Beatrix's eldest son, Willem-Alexander , was born on April 27, 1967;

5548-1266: The English throne after the Glorious Revolution. As an arrière petit fils de France , albeit in the female line, he felt doubly insulted by his cousin Louis XIV 's occupation and seizure of his sovereign principality of Orange . His death without children of his own ensured the passing of Orange to a Dutch cousin and years of squabbles over the same, while securing the British throne to the more distantly related House of Hanover .   Prince of Orange    Member of House of Orange     King of France     Prince or Princess of France     King of England / House of Stuart     Prince/Princess of England     House of Palatine     King of Great Britain / House of Hanover     Elector of Brandenburg & King in Prussia / House of Hohenzollern   The regents found that they had suffered under

5694-577: The Estates were reluctant to pay. Moreover, the Burgundian state had lost one quarter of its tax revenue and due to new restrictions, a half of its government revenue in total. Thus the initial financial situation was very tense and Mary had to pawn a lot of her heirlooms to finance their armies. She also had to yield to the estates' demands regarding some of their privileges, in exchange for final support for Maximilian's war against France. Violet Soen shows that by political manipulation, Mary managed to tie

5840-542: The Estates. The Dutch Republic was attacked by France and England in 1672. The military function of stadtholder was no longer superfluous, and with the support of the Orangists , William was restored, and he became the stadtholder. William successfully repelled the invasion and seized royal power. He became more powerful than his predecessors from the Eighty Years' War. In 1677, William married his cousin Mary Stuart ,

5986-501: The French in 1813, with the support of the Patriots of 1785 . A provisional government was formed, most of whose members had helped drive out William V 18 years earlier. However, they were realistic enough to accept that any new government would have to be headed by William V's son, William Frederick (William VI). All agreed that it would be better in the long term for the Dutch to restore William themselves rather than have him imposed by

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6132-566: The French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to accept William IV, Prince of Orange , stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen , as stadtholder in the other provinces. On 22 November 1747, the office of stadtholder was made hereditary ( erfstadhouder ) everywhere (previously only in Friesland). As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) was stadtholder in all provinces, his function accordingly

6278-662: The French occupation. On 13 November 1813 he returned to the Netherlands to accept the invitation. On 16 March 1815 he assumed the title of King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The stadtholderate was taken as a political model by the Founding Fathers of the United States with regard to the executive powers – Oliver Ellsworth for example arguing that without its influence in the United Provinces, "their machine of government would no more move than

6424-525: The Frisian Nassaus, who were stadtholders in Friesland . His only son, William , married Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange , the eldest daughter of Charles I of England . These dynastic moves were the work of Amalia. Frederick Henry died in 1647 and his son succeeded him. As the Treaty of Munster was about to be signed, thereby ending the Eighty Years' War, William tried to maintain

6570-456: The Good . In 1403, he married the Dutch noblewoman Johanna van Polanen and so inherited lands in the Netherlands, with the Barony of Breda as the core of the Dutch possessions and the family fortune. A nobleman's power was often based on his ownership of vast tracts of land and lucrative offices. It also helped that much of the lands that the House of Orange-Nassau controlled sat under one of

6716-695: The Great Privilege in the process. After a five-year hiatus (because most of the members had either died in Charles the Bold's wars or defected to France), the Order of the Golden Fleece also got reorganized by Maximilian, as the new sovereign of the order. However, within the marriage, Mary retained her political primacy. Her subjects looked at Maximilian's foreigner status and his military ambitions with suspicion. They feared that he would prolong

6862-629: The Habsburgs, a struggle that climaxed with the War of the Spanish Succession in the years 1701–1714. When they had time, the couple indulged themselves with dancing, hunting, music and the love for animals. Mary tried to teach him iceskating, which he struggled to master. They read romances together. Soon after the wedding, she brought falcons into their bedroom (which they shared instead of living in separate apartments, and which already had

7008-510: The Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by his brother Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his heirs in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist and absolutist policies of Philip, the actual power of the stadtholder s strongly diminished, compared to the landvoogd (es) or governor-general. When, in 1581, during the Dutch Revolt , seven of the Dutch provinces declared their independence with

7154-414: The Netherlands . There are none of the religious connotations to the office as in some other monarchies. A Dutch sovereign is inaugurated rather than crowned in a coronation ceremony. It was initially more of a crowned/hereditary presidency, and a continuation of the status quo ante of the pre-1795 hereditary stadholderate in the Republic . In practice, the current monarch has considerably less power than

7300-585: The Netherlands into an undesirably strong influence from the German Empire that would threaten Dutch independence. Not just Socialists, but now also Anti-Revolutionary politicians including Prime Minister Abraham Kuyper and Liberals such as Samuel van Houten advocated the restoration of the Republic in Parliament in case the marriage remained childless. The birth of Princess Juliana in 1909 put

7446-596: The Netherlands—something between a kingship and a stadholdership. In 1814, he was awarded sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège as well. On March 15, 1815, with the support of the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna , William proclaimed himself King William I . He was also made grand duke of Luxembourg , and (to assuage French sensitivity by distancing

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7592-449: The Prince of Orange was inaugurated as King Willem-Alexander, becoming the Netherlands' first male ruler since 1890. His eldest daughter, Catharina-Amalia, as heiress apparent to the throne, became Princess of Orange in her own right. Unlike other royal houses, there has always been a separation in the Netherlands between what was owned by the state and used by the House of Orange in their offices as monarch, or previously, stadtholder, and

7738-514: The Romans or Holy Roman Emperor (that she could not have used in life). There was also a type of iconography created for the emperor's private use (instead of being used as a political declaration to the public), created by Bernhard Strigel: Mary, also presented in the imperial style as his empress, queen Ehrenreich and eternal companion, was shown with falcons outside the window and a hunting scene on her corsage, which seemed to imply courtly love and

7884-412: The Silent , became the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau. Nassau Castle was founded around 1100 by Dudo , Count of Laurenburg , the founder of the House of Nassau . In 1120, Dudo's sons and successors, Counts Rupert I and Arnold I , established themselves at Nassau Castle, taking for themselves the title " Count of Nassau ". In 1255 the Nassau possessions were split between Walram and Otto ,

8030-438: The States, the stadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy. In Zeeland , the Princes of Orange , who after the Dutch Revolt most often held the office of stadtholder there, held the dignity of First Noble , and were as such a member of the States of that province, because they held the title of Marquis of Veere and Flushing as one of their patrimonial titles. On the Republic's central 'confederal' level,

8176-470: The Virgin Mary) helped Maximilian, their children and the central government in the turbulent period following her death. In her lifetime, Mary's preferred symbols, which were often associated with her official image, were the falcon and the horse. Ann M.Roberts notes that the falcon seemed to be a substitute for the sword (which was used by her grandfather and father for their seals), that denoted her status and prowess and also seemingly equated her skills as

8322-518: The allies. At the invitation of the provisional government, William Frederick returned to the Netherlands on November 30. This move was strongly supported by the United Kingdom, which sought ways to strengthen the Netherlands and deny future French aggressors easy access to the Low Countries' Channel ports. The provisional government offered William the crown. He refused, believing that a stadholdership would give him more power. Thus, on December 6, William proclaimed himself hereditary sovereign prince of

8468-410: The armies of the Dutch Republic . In the early years of the 17th century there arose quarrels between stadtholder and oligarchist regents —a group of powerful merchants led by Johan van Oldebarnevelt —because Maurits wanted more powers in the Republic. Maurits won this power struggle by arranging the judicial murder of Oldebarnevelt. Maurice died unmarried in 1625 and left no legitimate children. He

8614-423: The beginning of the 16th century. Hendrik was succeeded by his son René of Chalon in 1538, who had inherited the title of Prince of Orange and the principality of that name from his maternal uncle Philibert of Chalon . In 1544, René died in battle aged 25. His possessions, including the principality and title, passed by his will as sovereign prince to his paternal cousin, William I of Orange . From then on,

8760-449: The case van Horn was honest about Mary's letter – at the time, he was trying to justify his act and get a pardon), but in reality, was not the perpetrator. Ultimately, Mary chose to pardon and defend Frederik van Horn. This decision would later help to lead to the Flemish revolts against Maximilian (1482–1492) . In 1482, a falcon hunt in the woods near Wijnendale Castle was organised by Adolph of Cleves, Lord of Ravenstein , who lived in

8906-419: The castle. Mary loved riding and was hunting with Maximilian and knights of the court when her horse tripped, threw her in a ditch, and then landed on top of her, breaking her back. She died several weeks later on 27 March from internal injuries, having made a detailed will. She was buried in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges on 3 April 1482. She was pregnant. Maximilian was devastated. She had initially hidden

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9052-407: The child's birth were mixed: the baby's grandfather, Duke Philip the Good , was unimpressed, and "chose not to attend the [ baptism ] as it was only for a girl ", whereas her grandmother Isabella of Portugal was delighted at the birth of a granddaughter. Her illegitimate aunt Anne was assigned to be responsible for Mary's education and assigned Jeanne de Clito to be her governess. Jeanne remained

9198-426: The chronicler Olivier de la Marche only offered a brief description of this important event was that as Premier maître d'hôtel , he likely had to accompany Maximilian to the battlefield at the time of the baptism. The motif of the Virgin and the Eagle would be seen again during Maximilian's "joyous entry" into Antwerp (1478), on one of the tableaux the city presented him. An eagle was shown offering his own blood to

9344-399: The cities and the countryside under Juliana. A royal marriage controversy occurred in 1966 when Juliana's eldest daughter, the future Queen Beatrix , decided to marry Claus von Amsberg , a German diplomat. The marriage of a member of the royal family to a German was quite controversial in the Netherlands, which had suffered under Nazi German occupation in 1940–45. This reluctance to accept

9490-434: The coincidence that combined the Duchess's favourite mode of portrayal and the manner of her death must have had an impact on the illustrator as well as the commissioner, in this case Maximilian. According to the documentary Der letzte Ritter by Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), in his conversations with their daughter Margaret, the emperor associated the call of the falcon with "the blackest day of his life" (he remained

9636-501: The commercial and mercantile centres of the world (see below under Lands and Titles ). The importance of the family grew throughout the 15th and 16th centuries as they became councilors, generals and stadholders of the Habsburgs (see armorial of the great nobles of the Burgundian Netherlands and list of knights of the Golden Fleece ). Engelbert II of Nassau served Charles the Bold and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , who had married Charles's daughter Mary of Burgundy . In 1496, he

9782-436: The country to the brink of civil war . Through Prussian military intervention in 1787 , Prince William V of Orange was able to suppress this opposition, and many leaders of the Patriot movement went into exile in France. The stadtholderate was strengthened with the Act of Guarantee (1788). The exiles returned with French armies in the winter of 1795 and overcame the frozen Dutch Water Line . William V fled to England, and

9928-403: The courtly "theater of devotion" that cast Margaret as Saint Anne and Mary as the Virgin, which are demonstrated by their actions and their self-insertions in the manuscripts associated with the Baptism of Philip the Fair (whose claims to territories through matrilineal inheritance would be strengthened through this association, which also cast him as the infant Jesus). Turel opines that the reason

10074-456: The daughter of the future king James II of England . In 1688, William embarked on a mission to depose his Catholic father-in-law from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. He and his wife were crowned the King and Queen of England on April 11, 1689. With the accession to the thrones of the three kingdoms, he became one of the most powerful sovereigns in Europe, and the only one to defeat Louis XIV of France . William III died childless after

10220-418: The days of happiness for the emperor. This iconography also seemed to be connected to the diptych Portrait of Emperor Maximilian and his family by Bernhard Strigel (mentioned below). In the Book of Hours of Mary and Maximilian (Berlin, SM, Kupferstichkabinett, Ms. 78 B 12, f. 220v.), the falcon and the hunt scene were shown, not as display of political significance, but only tragedy. Karaskova suggests that

10366-430: The death of Queen Wilhelmina, it continued in the female line as can be seen in other modern European monarchies, the name "Orange" continues to be used by the Dutch royalty and as evidenced in many patriotic songs, such as " Oranje boven ". The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I , during her reign, and the country was not invaded by Germany , as neighbouring Belgium was. Nevertheless, Queen Wilhelmina became

10512-423: The disputed duchess to consolidate their rule, but that does not mean they displayed emotional disavowal towards her, as shown by the famous diptych commissioned by Margaret to commemorate her mother and created by Jan Mostaert in 1520. Charles V, however, focused on his paternal ancestors, especially on Maximilian and Mary as true progenitors of his house. The falcon also returned and her role as Duchess of Burgundy

10658-428: The duke, who seemed to lose control and restarted conflicts with his brother, which ultimately led to his death. Mary assumed the rule of her father's domains upon his defeat in battle and death on 5 January 1477. In addition to the Duchy and County of Burgundy, her territories included the duchies of Limburg , Brabant , Luxembourg , and the counties of Namur , Holland , Hainaut . King Louis XI of France seized

10804-467: The dynasty from Valois to Habsburg (the Duchy of Burgundy itself soon became a French possession). This was a turning point in European politics, leading to a French–Habsburg rivalry that would endure for centuries. Long after Mary's death, her husband became Holy Roman Emperor . Their son became King Philip I of Castile , and their daughter, Margaret , became Duchess of Savoy . Mary of Burgundy

10950-506: The early Dutch Republic . As multiple provinces appointed the same stadtholder, the stadtholder of the powerful province of Holland at times functioned as the de facto head of state of the Dutch Republic as a whole during the 16th to 18th centuries, in an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary title under Prince William IV of Orange . His son, Prince William V ,

11096-534: The end of her rule, there was an event that exarcebated the division between the central government and other factions: the murder of Jehan (or Jan) van Dadizeele, on 20 October 1481. At the time, there were angry accusations against Maximilian and Filips van Horne (1421-1488),Lord of Gaasbeek, one of his closest counsellors. In 2023, a letter written by Frederik van Horn and preserved at the Gelders Archief (found by Haemers and van Driel) shows that van Horn

11242-429: The extent of her injury to calm him down. When he continued to display uncontrollable grief, she had to force him out of her chamber so that she could discuss matters of the state with her nobles, concerning which she asked them to keep their loyalty oath to him and their children. Maximilian was not present when she said her last words. The bankrupted court honoured her with a glorious funeral, as Maximilian melted down

11388-562: The family members called themselves "Orange-Nassau." Although Charles V pretended to resist the Protestant Reformation , he ruled the Dutch territories wisely with moderation and regard for local customs, and he did not persecute his Protestant subjects on a large scale. His son Philip II inherited his antipathy for the Protestants but not his moderation. Under the reign of Philip, a true persecution of Protestants

11534-556: The first immediate male heir to the Dutch throne since the death of his great-granduncle, Prince Alexander, in 1884. Willem-Alexander married Máxima Zorreguieta , an Argentine banker, in 2002; the first commoner ever to marry an heir apparent to the Dutch throne. They are parents of three daughters: Catharina-Amalia , Alexia , and Ariane . After a long struggle with neurological illness, Queen Juliana died on March 20, 2004, and her husband, Prince Bernhard , died on December 1 of that same year. Upon Beatrix's abdication on April 30, 2013,

11680-478: The first province to rebel, Holland, as a replacement of the royal stadtholder (He had previously held the post as an appointee of Philip II.). His personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. After his assassination, however, there was a short-lived move to install Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester as governor-general of Elizabeth I before Maurice in 1590 became stadtholder of five provinces,

11826-691: The forces of King Louis XIV of France under François Adhémar de Monteil, Count of Grignan , in the Franco-Dutch War in 1672, and again in August 1682. With the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the wars of Louis XIV, the territory was formally ceded to France by Frederick I in 1713. John William Friso drowned in 1711 in the Hollands Diep near Moerdijk , and he left his posthumously born son William IV, Prince of Orange . That son succeeded at that time his father as stadtholder in Friesland (as

11972-439: The heir in the case they had no children - a clause that the estates would try to repudiate after her death. With Maximilian by her side, Mary's position became stronger, politically and militarily. Although he came with no money nor army, nor support from the Empire, and no prior experience in governance, his competence in military matters and his prestige as the son of an emperor boosted the stability of her realms. He took over

12118-523: The iconography created by Mary and associated with her, that had not been erased from the memory of their contemporaries. In the Old Prayer Book of Maximilian of Austria ( l'Ancien livre de prières de Maximilien d'Autriche , 1486, Vienne, ÖNB, Cod. 1907, f. 61v), there are the depiction of three falcons that seemingly symbolize Mary, Philip the Fair and Maximilian: Mary was with Philip while Maximilian

12264-537: The independent and sovereign Principality of Orange from his mother's brother, Philibert of Châlon . As the first Nassau to be the Prince of Orange, René could have used "Orange-Nassau" as his new family name. However, his uncle, in his will, had stipulated that René should continue the use of the name Châlon-Orange. After René's death in 1544, his cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg inherited all of his lands. This "William I of Orange", in English better known as William

12410-490: The institutions of the United Provinces became more republican and entrenched as time went on, William the Silent had been offered the countship of Holland and Zealand, and only his assassination prevented his accession to those offices. This fact did not go unforgotten by his successors. The Prince of Orange was also not just another noble among equals in the Netherlands. First, he was the traditional leader of

12556-489: The king as they were discovered trying to go to see her. He ordered a mass expulsion and renamed the town Franchise. The king of France was anxious that Mary should marry his son Charles and thus secure the inheritance of the Low Countries for his heirs, by force of arms if necessary. By February 1477, neither her advisors nor the States General imagined that they could resist the French army. Chancellor Hugonet led

12702-475: The lack of strong leadership in Spain after the death of Philip II (1598) gave Maurits excellent opportunities to conquer large parts of the present-day Dutch territory. In 1585 Maurits was elected stadtholder of the provinces of Holland and Zealand as his father's successor and as a counterpose to Elizabeth's delegate, the Earl of Leicester . In 1587 he was appointed captain-general (military commander-in-chief) of

12848-428: The language of the joint States-General. Mary soon made her choice among the many suitors for her hand by selecting Archduke Maximilian of Austria (future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I), who became her co-ruler. The marriage took place at Ghent on 19 August 1477, she was 20 years old, while he was two years younger. Mary's marriage into the House of Habsburg initiated two centuries of contention between France and

12994-421: The maiden. The symbol for both Antwerp and Burgundy was also a virgin, while the eagle was the symbol of the House of Habsburg. The Antwerp (later, his loyal ally in his later turbulent regency) community seemed to welcome Maximilian as their saviour, but also wanted to subtly remind him of limits to his powers and his responsibilities as ruler together with Mary. Mary's son Philip succeeded to her dominions under

13140-459: The mother of his children (Unterholzner also notes that Maximilian always concentrated on the children of his first marriage in terms of succession politics, despite the fact that this was very risky; later, as the mother of his only (legitimate) children, Mary of Burgundy only became more important). Later, her children Philip and Margaret preferred to utilize the images of the undisputed dukes (which were shown in public spaces) instead of those of

13286-566: The nation in war and in rebellion against Spain. He was uniquely able to transcend the local issues of the cities, towns and provinces. He was also a sovereign ruler in his own right (see Prince of Orange article). This gave him a great deal of prestige, even in a republic. He was the center of a real court like the Stuarts and Bourbons, French speaking, and extravagant to a scale. It was natural for foreign ambassadors and dignitaries to present themselves to him and consult with him as well as to

13432-443: The necessary papal dispensation for consanguinity . As soon as Louis succeeded in producing a male heir who survived infancy, the future King Charles VIII of France , Louis wanted him to be the one to marry Mary, even though he was thirteen years younger than Mary. Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine , was a few years older than Mary and controlled a duchy that lay alongside Burgundian territory, but his plan to combine his domain with hers

13578-586: The new situation and tended to be conservative in this matter, as they had after all rebelled against the king to defend their ancient rights. The stadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, appointed by the States of each province (e.g. the States of Holland and West Friesland and the States of Friesland ). Although each province could assign its own stadtholder , most stadtholder s held appointments from several provinces at

13724-410: The offer lapse as liable to raise too much opposition in the other provinces. The house of Orange was also related by marriage to several of these key European dynasties of the time, Stuart , Bourbon , and Palatine , Hannover and Hohenzollern . These alliances had consequences for all of them. William III used his double relationship with the Stuarts to justify his co-equal status with his wife on

13870-594: The office of stadtholder was abolished that year, when the French revolutionary forces installed the Batavian Republic . Similarly, while from 1572 in the Southern Netherlands the Habsburg lords continued to appoint provincial stadtholders for the region, this ceased when they were annexed by France in 1794. In 1806, Napoleon established the Kingdom of Holland , putting his younger brother Louis on

14016-439: The opportunity to attempt to take possession of the Duchy of Burgundy proper and also the regions of Franche-Comté , Picardy and Artois . She called on her people to stay loyal to the house of Burgundy (there are still extant letters that Mary wrote to the Duchy of Burgundy and Arras asking for their support). Louis XI took over Arras, but the people refused to submit without her approval. Eighteen burgesses were decapitated by

14162-463: The original marriage contract stipulated that Maximilian could not inherit her Burgundian lands if they had children – this means that, the fact the couple produced heirs would give Maximilian troubles later. Some report that the original marriage contract stipulated that only common children of Mary and Maximilian could claim her Burgundian inheritance after her death. But one month after their marriage, she made an amendment that designated Maximilian as

14308-632: The other hand, the King of Prussia, Frederick William III —brother-in-law and first cousin of William I, had beginning from 1813 managed to establish his rule in Luxembourg, which he regarded as his inheritance from Anne, Duchess of Luxembourg who had died over three centuries earlier. At the Congress of Vienna, the two brothers-in-law agreed to a trade—Frederick William received William I's ancestral lands while William I received Luxembourg. Both got what

14454-522: The personal investments and fortune of the House of Orange. As monarch , the King or Queen has use of, but not ownership of, the Huis ten Bosch as a residence and Noordeinde Palace as a work palace. In addition, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam is also at the disposal of the monarch (although it is only used for state visits and is open to the public when not in use for that purpose). Soestdijk Palace

14600-421: The powerful Croÿ family to the crown. Mary would not gain back the Duchy of Burgundy, occupied by the French king, but she was able to keep her remaining lands intact. In 1478–1479, Maximilian carried out a campaign against the French and reconquered Le Quesnoy , Conde and Antoing . He defeated the French forces at Guinegate (modern Enguinegatte ), on 7 August 1479. Despite winning, he had to abandon

14746-541: The powerful leadership of William III as the ruler of the Netherlands and king in the British Isles and they left the stadtholdership vacant for the second time. As William III died childless in 1702 the principality became a matter of dispute between Prince John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz of the Frisian Nassaus and King Frederick I of Prussia , who both claimed the title Prince of Orange . Both descended from Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange . The King of Prussia

14892-459: The powers he had in wartime as military commander. These would necessarily be diminished in peacetime as the army would be reduced, along with his income. This met with great opposition from the regents. When Andries Bicker and Cornelis de Graeff , the great regents of the city of Amsterdam refused some mayors he appointed, he besieged Amsterdam. The siege provoked the wrath of the regents. William died of smallpox on November 6, 1650, leaving only

15038-495: The pre-existing authority of the Parlement of Paris , which was considered an amenable counterweight to the encroaching centralisation undertaken by both Charles the Bold and Philip the Good. The duchess also had to undertake not to declare war, make peace, or raise taxes without the consent of these provinces and towns and only to employ native residents in official posts. The Great Privilege also determined that Nederlands would be

15184-567: The present-day Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg ) made extensive use of stadtholder s, e.g. the Duke of Guelders appointed a stadtholder to represent him in Groningen . In the 15th century the Dukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and the constituent parts (duchies, counties, lordships) of these Burgundian Netherlands mostly each had their own stadtholder , appointed by

15330-488: The provinces and towns of Flanders , Brabant , Hainaut , and Holland recovered all the local and communal rights that had been abolished by the decrees of the dukes of Burgundy in their efforts to create a centralised state on the French model out of their disparate holdings in the Low Countries. In particular, the Parliament of Mechelen (established formally by Charles the Bold in 1470) was abolished and replaced with

15476-427: The question to rest. Wilhelmina was queen of the Netherlands for 58 years, from 1890 to 1948. Because she was only 10 years old in 1890, her mother, Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont , was the regent until Wilhelmina's 18th birthday in 1898. Since females were not allowed to hold power in Luxembourg, due to Salic law , Luxembourg passed to the House of Nassau-Weilburg , a collateral line to the House of Orange-Nassau. For

15622-486: The real power to the States General. He took this step to prevent the Revolutions of 1848 from spreading to his country. William II died in 1849. He was succeeded by his son, William III . A rather conservative , even reactionary man, William III was sharply opposed to the new 1848 constitution. He continually tried to form governments that were dependent on his support, even though it was prohibitively difficult for

15768-562: The reputation of being one of the wealthier royal houses in the world, largely due to their business investments in Royal Dutch Shell , Philips electronics company, KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines , and the Holland-America Line . How significant these investments are is a matter of conjecture, as their private finances, unlike their public stipends as monarch, are not open to public scrutiny. Stadtholder In

15914-751: The same time. After the Nassau-Dietz branch took over, the House of Orange-Nassau had acquired the following territories by the end of the 18th century in the Holy Roman Empire, located in present-day Germany: Around 1742, William IV of Orange established the Hochdeutsche Hofdepartement, an administrative centre located in The Hague inside the Dutch Republic, which looked after the family's possessions in Germany. William IV died in 1751, leaving his three-year-old son, William V , as

16060-428: The same time. The highest executive and legislative power was normally exerted by the sovereign States of each province, but the stadtholder had some prerogatives, like appointing lower officials and sometimes having the ancient right to affirm the appointment (by co-option ) of the members of regent councils or choose burgomasters from a shortlist of candidates. As these councils themselves appointed most members of

16206-469: The shade of her nearest kinsmen despite the abundant publications concerning the Duchy of Burgundy. In 2019, she was added to the Canon of the Netherlands . The committee headed by James Kennedy explained that, "her Habsburg marriage determined the international position of the Netherlands for centuries." and that "her personality and the leniency of her government" preserved "the unity of the core regions of

16352-626: The siege of Thérouanne and disband his army, either because the Netherlanders did not want him to become too strong or because his treasury was empty. In addition, he proved as ruthless as Charles in suppressing rebellions in the Low Countries. When conflicts broke out again between the Hooks and the Cods , the archduke was able to put the conflict under control and assured the Cod domination, disregarding

16498-498: The silverware for the occasion. Her two-year-old daughter, Margaret of Austria , was sent in vain to France, to marry the Dauphin, in an attempt to please Louis XI and persuade him not to invade the territories owned by Mary. Louis was swift to re-engage hostilities with Maximilian and forced him to agree to the Treaty of Arras of 1482 , by which Franche-Comté and Artois passed for a time to French rule, only to be recovered by

16644-517: The slightest idea how to conduct affairs of the state. Mary and Margaret tried to teach him French and Dutch but he proved a lazy student. Mary accompanied Maximilian on his many journeys, acting as the buffer between the German-speaking prince and their subjects. According to Juan Luis Vives, a near contemporary author, when her subjects approached her on political matters, she would consult her husband "whose will she regarded as law", but she

16790-505: The so-called "Changings of the Legislative" ( Wetsverzettingen ). By intimidation, the stadtholder s tried to extend their right of affirmation, while they also attempted to add the remaining stadholderships like Friesland and Groningen to their other holdings. In reaction, the regents in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, after the death of William II in 1650, appointed no stadtholder , and banned his son William from

16936-629: The sons of Count Henry II . The descendants of Walram were known as the Walram Line, and they became Dukes of Nassau and, in 1890, Grand Dukes of Luxembourg . This line also included Adolph of Nassau , who was elected King of the Romans in 1292. The descendants of Otto became known as the Ottonian Line, and they inherited parts of the County of Nassau , as well as properties in France and

17082-407: The stadtholder. As king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , William tried to establish one common culture. This provoked resistance in the southern parts of the country, which had been culturally separate from the north since 1581. He was considered an enlightened despot . The Prince of Orange held rights to Nassau lands (Dillenburg, Dietz, Beilstein, Hadamar, Siegen) in central Germany. On

17228-415: The stadtholder. Since William V was still a minor, the regents reigned for him. He grew up to be an indecisive person, a character defect which would come to haunt William V his whole life. His marriage to Wilhelmina of Prussia relieved this defect to some degree. In 1787, Willem V survived an attempt to depose him by the Patriots (anti-Orangist revolutionaries) after the Kingdom of Prussia intervened . When

17374-573: The stadtholdership by an Act of Seclusion , something overcome by popular feeling during the catastrophic events of 1672, the Dutch Year of Disaster ( Rampjaar ), when the future William III of England was swept to power. After the death of William III in 1702 they again abstained from appointing a stadtholder. These periods are known as the First Stadtholderless Period and the Second Stadtholderless Period . After

17520-538: The stadtholdership had been hereditary in that province since 1664), and Groningen . William IV was proclaimed the stadtholder of Guelders , Overijssel , and Utrecht in 1722. When the French invaded Holland in 1747, William IV was appointed stadtholder in Holland and Zeeland as well in the Orangist revolution . The position of stadtholder was made hereditary in both the male and the female lines in all provinces at

17666-419: The symbol of the falcon did not disappear, but returned as Maximilian needed to assert his and their descendants' right of inheritance. In public portraits, the image of Mary holding a falcon returned once during the inauguration of Charles V. In addition, Maximilian commissioned portraits of Philip the Fair and Charles V holding falcons (thus establishing a connection between them and Mary), so he had to depend on

17812-624: The throne. He abdicated his throne in 1810 in favour of his son Louis II . He ruled for nine days, until his uncle Napoleon took charge himself, annexing the kingdom to the French Empire, until its fall in 1813. Soon after the French army withdrew from the Netherlands, William Frederick , the son of William V , was invited by the Triumvirate of 1813 to become the first 'Sovereign Prince'. William had been living in exile in London during

17958-470: The title from the now-defunct principality ) the title 'Prince of Orange' was changed to 'Prince of Oranje'. The two countries remained separate, though they shared a common monarch via a personal union . William had thus fulfilled the House of Orange's three-century quest to unite the Low Countries. The institution of the monarch in the Netherlands is considered an office under the Constitution of

18104-576: The two times she tried to do this. In one case, recounted by Maximilian in the manuscript of the Weisskunig , his advisors tried to prevent him from unleashing war against a stronger French army who had concentrated at the front, but he was determined to carry it out. The advisors asked for help from Mary, who told him he could go but should come back to say farewell to her first. When he went back, she had him promptly locked up in his own apartment. After long negotiations, he agreed to go dancing instead and

18250-618: The war effort, concerning both military and financial details. By this time, the Burgundian side had lost a lot of military captains owing to defections to France both before and after Charles the Bold's death. The loss of the Duchy of Burgundy cut down the whole government's backbone, consisting of high administrators and military commanders who came from the French-speaking nobility in Burgundy and Picardy. Philip of Cleves , her cousin and childhood friend (who had been put forth as

18396-467: The war to regain the Duchy of Burgundy, and also that new successes would strengthen him and make him a second coming of Charles the Bold, whose legacy had left them with a feeling of distaste – a fear that would prove not unreasonable, considering his autocratic and militaristic tendencies during his later regency. Moreover, according to Philippe de Commines , Maximilian was too young, in a foreign land, had been "brought up very badly" and thus did not have

18542-440: Was 41 years older than her. On 31 August 1880, Queen Emma gave birth to their daughter and the royal heiress, Wilhelmina . There were considerably more concerns over the royal dynasty's future, when Wilhelmina's marriage with Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (since 1901) repeatedly resulted in miscarriages . Had the House of Orange died out, the throne would likely have passed to Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz , leading

18688-464: Was a mere official. His real powers, however, were sometimes greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the 'permanent' Eighty Years War . Maurice of Orange after 1618 ruled as a military dictator, and William II of Orange attempted the same. The leader of the Dutch Revolt was William the Silent (William I of Orange); he had been appointed stadtholder in 1572 by the States of

18834-603: Was also highlighted. Even during her lifetime, she became the centre of a cult that associated her with the Virgin Mary. It was not unusual for young women to be associated with the Virgin back then, but the similarity in their name made it easier and more provoking in the case of Mary. After her death, both Maximilian and her Burgundian subjects dedicated much artworks and propaganda to this cult. Noa Turel argues that Mary and her step-mother Margaret of York did willingly join

18980-505: Was always able to administer everything according to her own wishes and Maximilian, a mild husband, would never oppose her will. She managed internal affairs and attended all assemblies where the couple needed to raise revenue. Burgundian coinage showed that Maximilian was never endowed with the official rank that contemporary royal husbands such as Ferdinand of Aragon achieved in their wives' possessions. Apparently, she could impose her will on her spouse in military matters as well, as shown in

19126-643: Was appointed stadtholder of Flanders and by 1498 he had been named President of the Grand Conseil . In 1501, Maximilian named him Lieutenant-General of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands . From that point forward (until his death in 1504), Engelbert was the principal representative of the Habsburg Empire to the region. Hendrik III of Nassau-Breda was appointed stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland by Charles of Ghent in

19272-553: Was born in Brussels at the ducal castle of Coudenberg , to Charles the Bold , then known as the Count of Charolais, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon . Her birth, according to the court chronicler Georges Chastellain , was attended by a clap of thunder ringing from the otherwise clear twilight sky. Her godfather was Louis, Dauphin of France , in exile in Burgundy at that time; he named her for his mother Marie of Anjou . Reactions to

19418-606: Was chasing another bird, symbolically protecting wife and child, next to the German eagle and the combined coat-of-arms of the Houses of Austria and Burgundy. Maximilian also had a tendency to virtually "promote" Mary to the status of Empress in these posthumous portrayals: an image created by Jörg Kölderer in preparation for Mary's statue in Maximilian's cenotaph showed a coat-of-arms that incorporated her husband's symbols as King of

19564-442: Was ended by his death in 1473 (he started having stomach pains three days before his death; poison was suspected). Another suitor was George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (supported by his sister Margaret of York , Mary's stepmother), but his brother Edward IV, King of England , prevented the match for both political and personal reasons (he initially wanted to support his brother-in-law Anthony Woodville ). The king's move angered

19710-541: Was geographically nearer to their centre of power. In 1830, most of the southern portion of William's realm—the former Austrian Netherlands and Prince-Bishopric—declared independence as Belgium. William fought a disastrous war until 1839 when he was forced to settle for peace. With his realm halved, he decided to abdicate in 1840 in favour of his son, William II . Although William II shared his father's conservative inclinations, in 1848 he accepted an amended constitution that significantly curbed his own authority and transferred

19856-459: Was his grandson through his mother, Countess Luise Henriette of Nassau . Frederick Henry in his will had appointed this line as successor in case the main House of Orange-Nassau were to die out. John William Friso was a great-grandson of Frederick Henry (through Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau , another daughter) and was appointed heir in William III's will. The principality was captured by

20002-675: Was initiated and taxes were raised to an outrageous level. Discontent arose and William of Orange (with his vague Lutheran childhood) stood up for the Protestant (mainly Calvinist ) inhabitants of the Netherlands. Things went badly after the Eighty Years' War started in 1568, but luck turned to his advantage when Protestant rebels attacking from the North Sea captured Brielle , a coastal town in present-day South Holland in 1572. Many cities in Holland began to support William. During

20148-444: Was let out. In her official images and presentation, she was presented as an active, commanding ruler, usually on horseback and with a hawk. She adopted a more pacifistic image than her father, but her position as the rightful ruler was emphasized while Maximilian, armored and armed, tended to be shown behind his wife. This was in contrast with the profile portraits that Maximilian commissioned during his later reign as emperor, where she

20294-413: Was often shown as the passive side. In order to bolster support for the government, she focused the most on public appearances, especially public shows of piety. The 1482 winter was harsh and France had declared a salt blockade, but the political situation in the Netherlands was overall positive; the French aggression was temporarily checked, and internal peace was in large measure restored. Towards

20440-434: Was only one time that a son directly succeeded his father as Prince of Orange, Stadholder and Captain-General without a minority (William II). When the Oranges were in power, they also tended to settle for the actualities of power, rather than the appearances, which increasingly tended to upset the ruling regents of the towns and cities. On being offered the dukedom of Gelderland by the States of that province, William III let

20586-402: Was pointed at the resurgence of the House of Orange to power, but Mary wanted a pure English education. The Estates of Holland, under Jan de Witt and Cornelis de Graeff, meddled in the education and made William a "child of state" to be educated by the state. The doctrine used in this education was keeping William from the throne. William became indeed very docile to the wishes of the regents and

20732-572: Was restyled Stadhouder-Generaal . After William IV's death in 1751, his infant son was duly appointed stadtholder under the regency of his mother. The misgovernment of this regency caused much resentment, which issued in 1780 in the Patriot movement , seeking to permanently limit the powers of the stadholderate. The Patriots first took over many city councils, then the States of the province of Holland , and ultimately raised civil militias to defend their position against Orangist partisans, bringing

20878-501: Was sold to private investors in 2017. The crown jewels , comprising the crown , orb and sceptre , Sword of State , royal banner, and ermine mantle have been placed in the Crown Property Trust. The trust also holds the items used on ceremonial occasions, such as the carriages, table silver, and dinner services. The Royal House is also exempt from income, inheritance, and personal tax . The House of Orange has long had

21024-437: Was succeeded by his half-brother Frederick Henry (Dutch: Frederik Hendrik ), youngest son of William I. Maurits urged his successor on his deathbed to marry as soon as possible. A few weeks after Maurits's death, he married Amalia van Solms-Braunfels . Frederick Henry and Amalia were the parents of a son and several daughters. These daughters were married to important noble houses such as the house of Hohenzollern , but also to

21170-595: Was the last stadtholder of all provinces of the Republic, until fleeing French revolutionary troops in 1795. His son, William I of the Netherlands , in 1815 became the first sovereign king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The title stadtholder is roughly comparable to the historical titles of Lord Protector in England, Statthalter in the Holy Roman Empire and Governor-general of Norway . Stadtholder means "steward". Its component parts literally translate as "place holder," from Latin locum tenens , or as

21316-412: Was the person who committed the murder. According to van Horn, after the murder of Dadizeele, Mary wrote a letter to him, declaring that Dadizeele was a villain and a traitor who tried to replace her and Maximilian's faithful servants with the people he chose, as he saw fit, and that she would see the killing as revenge for herself. Haemers opines that she herself seemed to be preparing to kill Dadizeele (in

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