William the Silent, Prince of Orange

William the Silent is a key figure in European history. In a time of Divine Right, William organized and lead a rebellion against the most powerful person of the age, Philip II of Spain.

Philip II ruled over one of the biggest empires in history. His domain incorporated much of Italy, South and North America, the Seventeen Provinces and with many ports and islands in Africa and Asia.


How William became leader of the Dutch Revolt is an interesting story. William was born in the castle of Dillenburg in Nassau.


Very thing changed for William when a man died in the siege of St. Dizier in northern France. René of Châlon Prince of Orange died with no children and so his cousin William was given the Principality of Orange and vast lands in Low Countries. However he would not get this unless he got a Catholic education.


So, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had to rule his lands because of his young age. He was sent to Brussels to study under Charles' sister.
At 22, William was appointed to Council of State, political advisory council in the Netherlands. By 1559 William had become the most powerful man in the Netherlands after the governor-general thanks to his appointment to the Council of State, his tile of Prince and his stadtholdership of provinces Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Burgundy.

William never real wanted to become a leader of a revolt against the Spainsh king. He was seeking more power for the local nobles and to loosen the grip that the Spaniards had on the administration of the Netherlands and for religious freedom. Do to his up bringing as Lutheran and Catholic made him very religious but open to different forms of worship.
The Netherlands was full of religious tension. So Confederacy of Noblemen petitioned Margret of Parma, half-sister to stop the persecution of Protestants. Margret agree as long as they would help restore order at the Beeldenstorm. However, Margret could not fulfill her promise to them and stepped down. Philip replaced his sister with the Duke of Alba, who after taking control formed the Council of Blood.

He formed the Council in order to judge those involved with the rebellion and the iconoclasm. William was one of the many that was called upon by the Council. William did not appear, because we had moved to his Nassau lands in Germany. The Duke had his land confiscated and he was named an outlaw. Because of his political position and his money he became a leader of an armed resistance to Alba. He financed the Watergeuzen and raised an army of German mercenaries. William allied with French Huguenots and his brother Louis lead and invaded the northern Netherlands in 1568. The operation failed because of the Huguenots being attacked and kill by French Royal troops and a small part of Louis army was captured. However, Louis did capture Groningen but was forced back and the army destroyed but Louis made it out of the battle.


After the failing to keep an army together as William tried to invade again, but he maintained this populating thought Propaganda and the claim that he was not fighting against the Spanish king but the inadequate rule of the foreign governors in the Netherlands. Watergeuzen captured the city of Brielle and claimed it for him. This was followed by many cities in Holland and Zeeland opening there gates to the Watergeuzen and reinstated William as the stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland. After that the rebels and William's army captured more city long the country but the Spanish pushed William back to Holland. The Spanish soon captured Orangist cities but did not have much success in Holland. Around this time in 1573, William went over to the Calvinist Church.

After several back and forth Don Requesens, the replacement for Alba, died and several Spanish troops mutinied and sacked Antwerp. William seized on this and got several provinces and cities sign the Pacification of Ghent, but it did gain unity in matters of religion. Don John, the new governor-general, said that he would agree to the Pacification of Ghent but when back on it and attacked Namur and kill all most all the people that lived there and the revolt spread everywhere in the Netherlands. Union of Utrecht was signed after the attack and they declared independence. However, this triumph was cut short when the Catholic Frenchman Balthasar Gérard shot William with a wheel-locked pistol, after William had finish his dinner at his home in Delft. Althought he did not see the end of the war he started a chain of events that lead to the creation to the first Republic since the Romans. His actions foreshadow the revolutionary movement in France and America and he challenged the thought that kings had a divine right to rule and that there people had to follow what they say no matter what.





If you want more information on William and his death read The Awful End of Prince William Silent.