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96-593: Earl Cowper , who later became Lord Chancellor of Great Britain , acquired the Cole Green estate c. 1700. He remodelled the estate in 1704 and made alterations to the house in 1711. The 5th Earl Cowper commissioned Samuel Wyatt and then William Atkinson to design a new house in a slightly different location in Regency-Gothic style; construction work started on site in 1806. The park was landscaped with advice from Humphry Repton , starting in 1799. Following

192-503: 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

288-646: 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

384-545: 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

480-703: 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

576-429: A bigamist. In The New Atalantis by Delarivier Manley , the married Hernando eloquently persuades an impressionable young woman that double marriage is lawful, seducing her with a sham marriage ceremony. Jonathan Swift referred to Cowper as "Will Bigamy". In his diary, Thomas Hearne recorded that Cowper was "well known to have had two wives at a time". The rumours may have gained traction because Elizabeth Culling

672-539: 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

768-618: 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 ,

864-524: 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

960-657: 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

1056-595: 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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1152-558: 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

1248-563: 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

1344-663: 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

1440-475: 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

1536-606: 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,

1632-543: 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

1728-467: 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

1824-421: 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

1920-415: 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

2016-540: 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

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2112-514: 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

2208-440: 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

2304-790: 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

2400-693: 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

2496-488: 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

2592-542: 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

2688-604: The Jacobites . He died at his residence, Cole Green near Panshanger in Hertfordshire on 10 October 1723. Mary, who was devastated by his death, outlived him by only a few months. 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

2784-566: 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

2880-517: 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 )

2976-589: The bill of attainder against Atterbury in 1723. Cowper was not a great lawyer, but Burnet says that he managed the Court of Chancery with impartial justice and great despatch; the most eminent of his contemporaries agreed in extolling his oratory and his virtues. It is notable that Queen Anne, despite her prejudice against the Whigs in general, came to have great respect and liking for Cowper, and continued to seek his advice even after he left office as Lord Chancellor. His younger brother, Spencer Cowper (1669–1728),

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3072-431: 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

3168-685: 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,

3264-740: 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

3360-521: 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

3456-597: 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

3552-528: 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;

3648-468: 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

3744-471: 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

3840-477: 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

3936-467: 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

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4032-483: 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

4128-546: The Panshanger ward of Welwyn Garden City, nor indeed any part of Welwyn Garden City. It actually lies within the parishes of Hertford and Hertingfordbury . 51°48′08″N 0°07′50″W  /  51.8023°N 0.1305°W  / 51.8023; -0.1305 William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper , PC , KC , FRS ( / ˈ k uː p ər / KOO -pər ; c.  1665  – 10 October 1723)

4224-843: 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

4320-519: 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

4416-406: 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

4512-513: 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

4608-533: 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

4704-674: 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

4800-491: 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

4896-472: The death of Queen Anne , George I appointed Cowper one of the Lords Justice for governing the country during the king's absence, and a few weeks later he again became Lord Chancellor. A paper which Cowper drew up for the guidance of the new king on constitutional matters, entitled An Impartial History of Parties , marks the advance of English opinion towards party government in the modern sense. It

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4992-427: The death of the 7th Earl Cowper in 1905, the estate was inherited by Ethel Grenfell, Baroness Desborough and, after she died in 1952 with no heir, the estate was sold in lots by auction the following year, but there was no interest in the house itself and it was demolished between 1953 and 1954. A large portion of the outlying farms forming part of the estate had been sold by auction on 30 May 1919. The park contains

5088-568: 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

5184-462: 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

5280-404: The first to hold this office. He presided at the trial of Dr Sacheverell in 1710, but resigned the seal when Harley and Bolingbroke took office in the same year. Queen Anne, who had high regard for him, "begged him with tears in her eyes" not to resign, and though she was reluctantly persuaded to accept his resignation, continued to consult him unofficially for the remainder of her reign. On

5376-454: 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

5472-413: The grounds. Panshanger Park is owned by Tarmac which extracts sand and gravel from the site. Although Panshanger House was demolished, the orangery , nursery garden wall, stables, and a number of cottages and estate buildings remain, all of which are listed by English Heritage . The eastern end has been open since 31 March 2014 as a 1,000 acre country park and nature reserve - with 200 acres open to

5568-635: 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

5664-510: 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

5760-523: The largest maiden (not pollarded) oak in the country, with a circumference of 7.6 metres. It is believed to have been planted by Queen Elizabeth I . Acorns from the tree have been used as seedlings for notable oaks in other parts of the country, such as the Prince Consort Oak in the Forest of Dean . Winston Churchill planted a sapling from the tree in the park and the tree can still be seen in

5856-539: 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

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5952-567: 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

6048-509: 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

6144-588: 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

6240-495: 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

6336-401: 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,

6432-500: 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

6528-461: 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

6624-404: 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

6720-461: The public. The park consists of wetlands , grasslands and reedbeds which serve as a home for a wide variety of damselfly and dragonfly species. The park is also home to kingfishers , waterfowl and osprey . The rest of the site will be opened as gravel extraction is completed. The Panshanger district of Welwyn Garden City, and the nearby Panshanger Aerodrome , are named after the Panshanger estate. However, Panshanger Park does not lie within

6816-410: 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,

6912-622: 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

7008-486: 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

7104-519: 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

7200-464: 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

7296-582: 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

7392-524: 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

7488-605: The unpopularity caused by the trial of his brother Spencer Cowper on a charge of murder. On 11 October 1705 he was sworn to the Privy Council , was appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal , and took his seat on the woolsack without a peerage. In the following year he conducted the negotiations between the English and Scottish commissioners for arranging the union with Scotland. In November of that year he succeeded to his father's baronetcy, and on 14 December 1706, he

7584-480: 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

7680-481: Was admitted to Middle Temple on 18 March 1681/82, was called to the bar on 25 May 1688, and built up a large practice. He gave his allegiance to the Prince of Orange on his landing in England in 1688, and was made King's Counsel and recorder of Colchester in 1694. Cowper had the reputation of being one of the most effective parliamentary orators of his generation. He lost his seat in parliament in 1702 owing to

7776-532: Was an English politician who became the first Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain . Cowper was the son of Sir William Cowper, 2nd Baronet, of Ratling Court, Kent , a Whig member of parliament of some mark in the two last Stuart reigns. Cowper was educated at St Albans School in Hertfordshire, and was later to acquire a country estate in the county and represent the county town in Parliament. He

7872-498: 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

7968-536: 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,

8064-409: Was created Viscount Fordwich and Earl Cowper , and a month later he resigned office on the plea of ill-health, but probably in reality because George I accused him of espousing the Prince of Wales 's side in the prince's quarrel with the king. Taking the lead against his former colleagues, Cowper opposed the proposed Peerage Bill brought forward in 1719 to limit the number of peers, and also opposed

8160-774: 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 ,

8256-490: Was great uncle of William Cowper , the poet. William Cowper was twice married: first, in about 1686, to Judith, daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Booth, a London merchant; and secondly, in 1706, to Mary , daughter of John Clavering, of Chopwell, Durham. The latter marriage seems to have been based on Cowper's admiration of her beauty although he demanded to see her undressed before the wedding. The 1st Earl left two sons and two daughters by his second wife: Elizabeth Culling

8352-403: 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

8448-400: 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

8544-419: Was of a station in life that perhaps would, in other circumstances, have led to her becoming Cowper's wife, rather than his mistress. In her will, she acknowledges that the children are her natural children, and the children were also acknowledged by Lord Cowper and his second wife, as will be seen from the correspondence. In his last years Cowper was accused, but probably without reason, of active sympathy with

8640-467: 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

8736-604: Was published by Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Lord Chancellors . Cowper supported the impeachment of Lord Oxford for high treason in 1715, and in 1716 presided as Lord High Steward at the trials of the peers charged with complicity in the Jacobite rising , his sentences on whom have been censured as unnecessarily severe. He warmly supported the Septennial Bill in the same year. On 18 March 1718 he

8832-576: Was raised to the peerage as Baron Cowper of Wingham, Kent. He was the youngest Lord Keeper for many years: the Queen, who had taken a great liking to him, joked that "she had given the Seals to a boy" and suggested that in future he should wear a wig to lend him gravity. When the union with Scotland came into operation in May 1707 the Queen in Council named Cowper Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain , he being

8928-629: 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

9024-665: Was the mistress of William Cowper, and bore him two children. She was the daughter of John Culling of Hertingfordbury Park, who died in 1687/8, and was buried in St Helen's, Bishopsgate . Her brother John died in January 1702/3 without issue, and Elizabeth inherited the estate. She died on 27 November 1703, and was buried at Hertingfordbury . Of her children, William, born on 14 November 1697, died in Paris on 31 October 1719. Mary, born on 10 September 1700, lived to maturity, and married one Robert Isaacson. Tory writers satirised Lord Cowper as

9120-539: Was tried for the murder of Sarah Stout in 1699, but was acquitted; the lady, who had allegedly fallen in love with Cowper, having committed suicide on account of his inattention—at least according to Cowper's lawyers. Spencer was one of the managers of the impeachment of Henry Sacheverell , was Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales (1714), Chief Justice of Chester (1717), and Judge of the Common Pleas (1727). He

9216-487: 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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