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75-657: The canal was constructed between 1823 and 1827 on the initiative of the Dutch King : Belgium (as it subsequently became) and the Netherlands had become a united country under the terms agreed at the Congress of Vienna . After Belgium broke away in 1830, traffic to and from Belgium was blocked by the Dutch until 1841. Between 1870 and 1885, the canal was enlarged to a depth of six and a half metres at its centre, and to

150-572: A separation of church and state existed in the kingdom. However, William himself was a strong supporter of the Reformed Church . This led to resentment among the people in the mostly Catholic south. William had also devised controversial language and school policies. Dutch was imposed as the official language in (the Dutch-speaking region of) Flanders ; this angered French-speaking aristocrats and industrial workers. Schools throughout

225-512: 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

300-572: A draught of up to 12.5 metres. 51°08′48″N 3°46′57″E  /  51.1466°N 3.78239°E  / 51.1466; 3.78239 This article about a location in Zeeland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This East Flanders location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843)

375-684: A large number of deserters from the Batavian army accompanied the retreating British troops to Britain. There William formed the King's Dutch Brigade with these troops, a military unit in British service, that swore oaths of allegiance to the British king, but also to the States General, defunct since 1795, "whenever those would be reconstituted." This brigade trained on the Isle of Wight in 1800 and

450-486: 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

525-541: A new University of Leuven , the University of Ghent and the University of Liège . The northern provinces, meanwhile, were the centre of trade. This, in combination with the colonies ( Dutch East Indies , Surinam , Curaçao and Dependencies , and the Dutch Gold Coast ) created great wealth for the kingdom. However, the money flowed into the hands of Dutch directors. Only a few Belgians managed to profit from

600-558: A new constitution, presided over strong economic and industrial progress, promoted trade and founded the universities of Leuven , Ghent and Liège . The imposition of the Reformed faith and the Dutch language, as well as feelings of economic inequity, caused widespread resentment in the southern provinces and led to the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution in 1830. William failed to crush the rebellion and in 1839 he accepted

675-491: A new constitution, which granted him extensive powers, and he was a strong proponent of economic development, founding several universities and promoting trade. However, his efforts to impose the Reformed faith and the Dutch language in the southern provinces, combined with economic grievances, sparked the Belgian Revolution in 1830. Unable to suppress the rebellion, William ultimately accepted Belgian independence in 1839 under

750-660: A parolee, William was not allowed to take part in the hostilities anymore. After the Peace of Tilsit William received a pension from France in compensation. In the same year, 1806, his father, the Prince of Orange died, and William not only inherited the title, but also his father's claims on the inheritance embodied in the Nassau lands. This would become important a few years later, when developments in Germany coincided to make William

825-536: A perceived mismanagement of the war effort. High costs of the war came to burden the Dutch economy, fueling public resentment. In 1839, William was forced to end the war. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was dissolved by the Treaty of London (1839) and the northern part continued as the Kingdom of the Netherlands . It was not renamed, however, as the "United"-prefix had never been part of its official name, but rather

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900-561: 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:

975-690: A reformed Batavian Republic. Meanwhile, William's brother-in-law Frederick William III of Prussia , neutral at the time, promoted a Franco-Prussian convention of 23 May 1802, in addition to the Treaty of Amiens , that gave the House of Orange a few abbatial domains in Germany, that were combined to the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda by way of indemnification for its losses in the Batavian Republic. The stadtholder gave this principality immediately to his son. When war broke out between

1050-561: A width of 17 metres at its base and 68 metres at the surface level: bridges being rebuilt accordingly along the Belgian sector. The famous Cluysen - Ter Donck Regatta was organised here for many decades (1888-1954) and during the 1913 Expo of Ghent the European Rowing Championships took place on the canal. Further development and major enlargement took place during the subsequent century, most notably during

1125-585: 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

1200-619: The Battle of Wagram , where he was wounded in the leg. Tsar Alexander I of Russia played a central role in the restoration of the Netherlands. Prince William VI (as he was now known), who had been living in exile in Prussia, met with Alexander I in March 1813. Alexander promised to support William and help restore an independent Netherlands with William as king. Russian troops in the Netherlands participated with their Prussian allies in restoring

1275-646: The Duke of Nassau . The Great Powers had already agreed via the secret Eight Articles of London to unite the Low Countries into a single kingdom, it was believed that this would help keep France in check. With the de facto addition of the Austrian Netherlands and Luxembourg to his realm, William had fulfilled his family's three-century dream of uniting the Low Countries. Feeling threatened by Napoleon, who had escaped from Elba , William proclaimed

1350-920: The Dutch Republic , and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia . Until 1806, William was formally known as William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau , and between 1806 and 1813 also as Prince of Orange. In Berlin on 1 October 1791, William married his maternal first cousin (Frederica Louisa) Wilhelmina of Prussia , born in Potsdam . She was the daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia . After Wilhelmina died in 1837, William married Countess Henrietta d'Oultremont (28 February 1792, in Maastricht – 26 October 1864, in Schloss Rahe ), created countess of Nassau, on 17 February 1841, also in Berlin. As eldest son of

1425-641: The Flanders campaign , he commanded the Dutch troops and fought against the French invasion. The family went into exile in London in 1795 following the Batavian Revolution . As compensation for the loss of his father's possessions in the Low Countries, William was appointed ruler of the newly created Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda in 1803. When Napoleon invaded Germany in 1806, William fought on

1500-556: The French Empire and Prussia in 1806, William supported his Prussian relatives, though he was nominally a French vassal. He received command of a Prussian division which took part in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt . The Prussians lost that battle and William was forced to surrender his troops rather ignominiously at Erfurt the day after the battle. He was made a prisoner of war, but was paroled soon. Napoleon punished him for his betrayal, however, by taking away his principality. As

1575-789: The Fürst (Prince) of a diverse assembly of Nassau lands that had belonged to other branches of the House of Nassau . But before this came about, in 1809 tensions between Austria and France became intense, resulting in the War of the Fifth Coalition . William did not hesitate to join the Austrian army as a Feldmarschalleutnant (major-general) in May 1809 As a member of the staff of the Austrian supreme commander, Archduke Charles he took part in

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1650-580: 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

1725-654: The Prussian side and was deposed upon French victory. With the death of his father in 1806, he became Prince of Orange and ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau , which he also lost the same year after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and subsequent creation of the Confederation of the Rhine . He spent the following years in exile in Prussia. In 1813, following Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig ,

1800-807: The University of Leiden . In 1790 he was appointed a general of infantry in the Dutch States Army of which his father was Captain general , and he was made a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands . In November 1791 he took his new bride to The Hague . After the National Convention of the French Republic had declared war on the Dutch Republic in February 1793, William was appointed commander-in-chief of

1875-506: The William V, Prince of Orange , William was informally referred to as Erfprins (Hereditary Prince) by contemporaries from his birth until the death of his father in 1806 to distinguish him from William V. Like his younger brother Prince Frederick of Orange-Nassau he was tutored by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler and the Dutch historian Herman Tollius . They were both tutored in

1950-438: 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

2025-674: The veldleger (mobile army) of the States Army (his father remained the nominal head of the armed forces). As such he commanded the troops that took part in the Flanders Campaign of 1793–95. He took part in the Battles of Veurne and Menin (where his brother was wounded) in 1793, and commanded during the Siege of Landrecies (1794) , whose fortress surrendered to him. In May 1794 he had replaced general Kaunitz as commander of

2100-580: The Batavian Republic in the summer of 1795. However, the neutral Prussian government forbade this. In 1799, William landed in the current North Holland as part of an Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland . The hereditary prince was instrumental in fomenting a mutiny on the Batavian naval squadron in the Vlieter , resulting in the surrender of the ships without a fight to the Royal Navy , which accepted

2175-1007: 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

2250-566: 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

2325-662: 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

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2400-575: The Great Powers impose him on the country. The Dutch population were pleased with the departure of the French, who had ruined the Dutch economy, and this time welcomed the prince. After having been invited by the Triumvirate of 1813 , on 30 November 1813 William disembarked from HMS  Warrior and landed at Scheveningen beach, only a few yards from the place where he had left the country with his father 18 years before, and on 6 December

2475-510: 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

2550-414: The Netherlands a kingdom on 16 March 1815 at the urging of the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna . His son, the future king William II , fought as a commander at the Battle of Waterloo . After Napoleon had been sent into exile, William adopted a new constitution which included many features of the old constitution, such as extensive royal powers. He was formally confirmed as hereditary ruler of what

2625-532: The Orange-Nassau territories were restored to William; he also accepted the offer to become Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands . William proclaimed himself king of the Netherlands in 1815. In the same year, he concluded a treaty with King Frederick William III in which he ceded the Orange-Nassau to Prussia in exchange for becoming the new grand duke of Luxembourg. As king, he adopted

2700-646: The Prince of Orange, and Prince Frederick to invade the new state. Although initially victorious in this Ten Days' Campaign , the Royal Netherlands Army was forced to retreat after the threat of French intervention . Some support for the Orange dynasty (chiefly among the Flemish ) persisted for years, but the Dutch never regained control over Belgium. William nevertheless continued the war for eight years. His economic successes became overshadowed by

2775-465: The Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda before Napoleon's conquests forced him out of power. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, William returned to the Netherlands, where he was invited to assume the role of Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands. In 1815, William proclaimed himself king of the Netherlands and concurrently became the grand duke of Luxembourg. His reign saw the adoption of

2850-662: 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,

2925-400: The Treaty of London. William's later years were marked by dissatisfaction with constitutional changes and personal reasons, leading to his abdication in 1840 in favor of his son, King William II . He spent his final years in Berlin, where he died in 1843. William was the son of William V, Prince of Orange , the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic , and Wilhelmina of Prussia . During

3000-413: The combined Austro-Dutch forces on the instigation of Emperor Francis II who apparently had a high opinion of him. William was victorious at the Battles of Gosselies and Lambusart and proved to be an able commander, but the French armies ultimately proved too strong, and the general allied leadership too inept. Despite a well-executed attack by William on the French left, the allied army under Coburg

3075-436: 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

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3150-429: The disappointment about the loss of Belgium, and his intention to marry Henrietta d'Oultremont (paradoxically both "Belgian" and Roman Catholic ) made him wish to abdicate . He fulfilled this intent on 7 October 1840 and his eldest son acceded to the throne as King William II . William I died in 1843 in Berlin at the age of 71. With his wife Wilhelmina , King William I had six children: Stadtholder In

3225-401: The dynasty. Dynastic considerations of marriage between the royal houses of Great Britain and the Netherlands, assured British approval. After Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig (October 1813), the French troops retreated to France from all over Europe. The Netherlands had been annexed to the French Empire by Napoleon in 1810. But now city after city was evacuated by the French occupation troops. In

3300-442: 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 ,

3375-556: The early 1960s. In February 2015, Flanders and the Netherlands signed a treaty for the construction of a new lock at Terneuzen, scheduled for completion in 2021 and costing €920M. The new lock is about the same size as those of the contemporaneous expansion project of the Panama Canal . Today the Ghent-Terneuzen canal is 200 metres wide and 32 kilometers (20 mi) long, capable of accommodating ships of up to 125 000 gross tonnage. The largest permitted vessel size has increased, correspondingly, to 265 metres long x 34 metres wide, with

3450-488: The economic growth. Feelings of economic inequity were another cause of the Belgian uprising. William was also determined to create a unified people, even though the north and the south had drifted far apart culturally and economically since the south was reconquered by Spain after the Act of Abjuration of 1581. The north was commercial, Protestant and entirely Dutch-speaking; the south was industrial, Roman Catholic and divided between Dutch and French-speakers. Officially,

3525-440: The ensuing power vacuum a number of former Orangist politicians and former Patriots formed a provisional government in November 1813. Although a large number of the members of the provisional government had helped drive out William V 18 years earlier, it was taken for granted that his son would have to head any new government. They also agreed it would be better in the long term for the Dutch to restore him themselves, rather than have

3600-478: 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,

3675-454: The independence of Belgium in accordance with the Treaty of London . William's disapproval of changes to the constitution, the loss of Belgium and his intention to marry Henrietta d'Oultremont , a Roman Catholic, led to his decision to abdicate in 1840. His eldest son acceded to the throne as King William II . William died in 1843 in Berlin at the age of 71. King William I's parents were the last stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange of

3750-438: The kingdom were required to instruct students in the Reformed faith and the Dutch language. Many in the south feared that the king sought to extinguish Catholicism and the French language. In August 1830 Daniel Auber 's opera La muette de Portici , about the repression of Neapolitans , was staged in Brussels. Performances of this opera seemed to crystallize a sense of nationalism and "Hollandophobia" in Brussels, and spread to

3825-429: The military arts by General Frederick Stamford . After the Patriot revolt had been suppressed in 1787, he in 1788–89 attended the military academy in Brunswick which was considered an excellent military school, together with his brother. In 1790 he visited a number of foreign courts like the one in Nassau and the Prussian capital Berlin, where he first met his future wife. William subsequently studied briefly at

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3900-481: 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

3975-405: The north and the south, although the population of the north (2 million) was significantly less than that of the south (3.5 million). The States General's primary function was to approve the king's laws and decrees. The constitution contained many present-day Dutch political institutions; however, their functions and composition have changed greatly over the years. The constitution was accepted in

4050-427: The north, but not in the south. The under-representation of the south was one of the causes of the Belgian Revolution. Referendum turnout was low, in the southern provinces, but William interpreted all abstentions to be yes votes. He prepared a lavish inauguration for himself in Brussels , where he gave the people copper coins (leading to his first nickname, the Copper King ). The spearhead of King William's policies

4125-413: 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

4200-410: 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

4275-426: The provisional government offered him the title of king . William refused, instead proclaiming himself " Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands ". He also wanted the rights of the people to be guaranteed by "a wise constitution". The constitution offered William extensive, nearly absolute powers: ministers were only responsible to him, while a unicameral parliament (the States General ) exercised only limited power. He

4350-441: The rest of the south. Rioting ensued, chiefly aimed at the kingdom's unpopular justice minister, Cornelis Felix van Maanen , who lived in Brussels. An infuriated William responded by sending troops to repress the riots. However, the riots had spread to other southern cities. The riots quickly became popular uprisings. An independent state of Belgium emerged out of the 1830 Revolution. The next year, William sent his sons William ,

4425-428: 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

4500-445: 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

4575-461: The stadtholder and the British government of 11 March 1800. Instead the stadtholder was allowed to sell them to the Royal Navy for an appreciable sum. The stadtholder, feeling betrayed by the British, left for Germany. The hereditary prince, having a more flexible mind, went to visit Napoleon at St. Cloud in 1802. He apparently charmed the First Consul, and was charmed by him. Napoleon raised hopes for William that he might have an important role in

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4650-411: The stadtholder decided to flee to Britain, and his sons accompanied him. (On this last day in Holland his father relieved William honorably of his commands). The next day the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. Soon after the departure to Britain the hereditary prince went back to the continent, where his brother was assembling former members of the States Army in Osnabrück for a planned invasion into

4725-431: 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

4800-411: The surrender in the name of the stadtholder. Not all the local Dutch population, however, was pleased with the arrival of the prince. One local Orangist was even executed. The hoped-for popular uprising failed to materialise. After several minor battles the hereditary prince was forced to leave the country again after the Convention of Alkmaar . The mutineers of the Batavian fleet, with their ships, and

4875-449: 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

4950-453: Was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange , the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic , and Wilhelmina of Prussia , William experienced significant political upheavals early in life. He fought against the French invasion during the Flanders campaign , and after the Batavian Revolution in 1795, his family went into exile. He briefly ruled

5025-403: 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

5100-423: Was economic progress. As he founded many trade institutions, his second nickname was the King-Merchant . In 1822, he founded the Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt , which would become one of the most important institutions of Belgium after its independence. Industry flourished, especially in the South. In 1817, he also founded three universities in the southern provinces, such as

5175-431: Was eventually used by the British in Ireland. When peace was concluded between Great Britain and the French Republic under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte the Orange exiles were at their nadir. The Dutch Brigade was dissolved on 12 July 1802. Many members of the brigade went home to the Batavian Republic, thanks to an amnesty. The surrendered ships of the Batavian Navy were not returned, due to an agreement between

5250-450: Was finally defeated at the Battle of Fleurus . The French first entered Dutch Brabant which they dominated after the Battle of Boxtel . When in the winter of 1794–95 the rivers in the Rhine delta froze over, the French breached the southern Hollandic Water Line and the situation became militarily untenable. In many places Dutch revolutionaries took over the local government. After the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam on 18 January 1795

5325-468: Was inaugurated as sovereign prince in the New Church in Amsterdam on 30 March 1814. In August 1814, he was appointed Governor-General of the former Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (more or less modern-day Belgium) by the Allied Powers who occupied that country, ruling them on behalf of Prussia. He was also made Grand Duke of Luxembourg , having received that territory in return for trading his hereditary German lands to Prussia and

5400-560: Was known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the Congress of Vienna. The States General was divided into two chambers. The Eerste Kamer (First Chamber or Senate or House of Lords) was appointed by the king. The Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber or House of Representatives or House of Commons) was elected by the Provincial States, which were in turn chosen by census suffrage . The 110 seats were divided equally between

5475-624: 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

5550-553: Was retrospectively added by historians for descriptive purposes. Constitutional changes were initiated in 1840 because the terms which involved the United Kingdom of the Netherlands had to be removed. These constitutional changes also included the introduction of judicial ministerial responsibility . Although the policies remained uncontrolled by parliament, the prerogative was controllable now. The very conservative William could not live with these constitutional changes. This,

5625-595: 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

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