(Redirected from House of Orange)
The 'House of Orange-Nassau' (in
Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau''), a branch of the German
House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the
Netherlands — and at times in
Europe — since
William I of Orange (also known as "William the Silent" and "Father of the Fatherland") organized the Dutch revolt against
Spanish rule, which after the
Eighty Years' War led to an independent Dutch state.
Several members of the house served during this war and after as
governor or
stadtholder (Dutch ''stadhouder''). 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 between
Hendrik III of Nassau-Breda from
Germany and
Claudia of Châlon-Orange from French
Burgundy.
Their son
René of Châlon first adopted the new family name "Orange-Nassau".
William I was his nephew and successor.
In the late
17th century, the family also supplied a
British monarch, King
William III who is credited with causing the
Glorious Revolution. People around the world still celebrate his battlefield endeavors and the progress in constitutional democracy brought about through his reign, namely in the
Bill of Rights 1689, every year in a supposedly controversial, allegedly
sectarian festival commonly called "
The Twelfth".
The House of Nassau
The first person to be called
count of
Nassau was Henry I, who lived in the first half of the
13th century. His sons Walram and Otto split the Nassau possessions. The descendants of Walram became known as the Walram Line, which became
Dukes of Nassau and in
1890 Grand Dukes of Luxembourg. The descendants of Otto became known as the Otton Line, which inherited parts of the Nassau county, properties in
France and the
Netherlands.
The House of Orange-Nassau stem from the Otton Line. The second person was Engelbert I, who offered his services to the
Duke of Burgundy, married a Dutch noblewoman and inherited lands in the Netherlands, with the
barony of
Breda as the core of the Dutch possessions.
The importance of the Nassaus grew throughout the
15th and
16th century.
Hendrik III of Nassau-Breda was appointed
stadtholder of
Holland and
Zeeland by
Charles of Ghent in the beginning of the 16th century. Hendrik was succeeded by René of Châlon-Orange in
1538, who was, as his full name stated,
Prince of Orange. When René died prematurely on the battlefield in
1544 his possessions passed to his nephew,
William I of Orange. From then on the family members called themselves "Orange-Nassau."
William of Orange was befriended by
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and his son
Philip.
The Dutch rebellion
Although Charles V resisted the
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 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 in 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 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 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.
Maurits was created
stadtholder (military commander) of the
Dutch Republic in
1585. 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.
Expansion of dynastic power
Maurits died unmarried in
1625 and left no legitimate children. He 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 had a son and several daughters. These daughters were married to important houses such as the house of
Hohenzollern, but also to the Frisian Nassaus, who were stadtholders in
Friesland. His only son
William wedded
Mary, the eldest daughter of
Charles I of England. These dynastic moves were the work of Amalia.
Exile and resurgence
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 extend his powers beyond the military to make his function valuable at peace, at the great distress of the regents. When the regents of the city of
Amsterdam refused some mayors he appointed, he besieged Amsterdam. The siege provoked the wrath of the regents and, unfortunately, William died of smallpox on
November 6,
1650, leaving only a posthumous son,
William (
★
November 14,
1650). As there was no Prince of Orange at the death of William II, the regents used the opportunity to let the stadtholdership vacant. The newborn prince was exiled to a disgraceful life. A quarrel about the education of the young prince arose between his mother and his grandmother Amalia (who outlived her husband for 28 years). Amalia wanted an education which was pointed at the resurgence of the House of Orange to power, but Mary wanted a pure English education. The Estates of Holland meddled in the education and made William a "child of state" educated by the state. The doctrine used in this education was keeping William from rule. William became indeed very docile to the regents and the Estates.
The Dutch Republic was attacked by France and
England in
1672. The military function of stadtholder was no longer superfluous and William was restored, and became stadtholder as William III. William successfully repelled the invasion and seized power. He became more powerful than his predecessors during the Eighty Years War. In
1677 William married
Mary Stuart, daughter to future king
James II. In
1688 William embarked on a mission to depose his Catholic father-in-law from the English throne. He and his wife were crowned King and Queen of England on
April 11,
1689. With the accession to the English throne he became one of the most powerful sovereigns in Europe, the only one to defeat the
Sun King. Many members of the House of Orange were devoted admirers of the King-Stadtholder afterwards. He died childless after a riding accident on
March 8,
1702, leaving the House of Orange extinct and England to
Anne.
The second stadtholderless era
The regents found that they had suffered under the powerful leadership of William III and declared the stadtholdership vacant for the second time.
The main reason was a quarrel about the title Prince of Orange between
John William Friso of the Frisian Nassaus and the King of Prussia. Booth descended from Frederick Henry. The King of Prussia,
Friedrich I was his grandson through his mother, Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau. Frederick Henry in his will had appointed this line as successor in the case the House would die out.
John William Friso was a great-grandson of Frederick Henry and was appointed heir in William III's will.
The solution was that both claimants were allowed to bear the title. The problem of the lands solved itself as the principality of
Orange was conquered by Louis XIV in
1713. John William Friso drowned in
1711 in the Hollands Diep near
Moerdijk and left a posthumous son
William IV. He was proclaimed stadtholder of
Guelders,
Overijssel,
Drenthe and Utrecht in
1722. When the French invaded in
1747 William was restored as stadtholder of the whole Dutch Republic, hereditary in both male and female line.
The end of the republic
William died in
1751, leaving his three-year-old son
Willem V as stadtholder. As Willem V was still a minor, the regents ruled for him.
Unfortunately, the regents once again deliberately weakened the character of the future ruler, educating him to be indecisive. It would pursue Willem during his whole life.
His marriage to Wilhelmina of Prussia relieved this flaw to some degree. Willem's inability to rule properly was a small factor in the collapse of the Dutch Republic, the larger issue being the corrupt regents. In
1787 he survived a coup from ''Patriots'' (democratic revolutionaries) after
Prussia intervened.
When the French invaded in
1795 he had to flee, and was never to return.
After 1795 the House of Orange-Nassau faced a difficult period, surviving in exile at other European courts, especially those of Prussia and England. Willem V died in
1806.
The monarchy (since 1815)
A new spirit: the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Dutch rebels drove out the French in
1813. It was virtually taken for granted that any new government would have to be headed by William VI, prince of Orange (known in Dutch as ''Willem Frederik''), son of
William V. They also figured it would be better in the long term if they restored him themselves.
At the invitation of the provisional government, the prince 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. On
December 6, William proclaimed his reign as hereditary sovereign prince (having previously declined the offer of kingship). In
1814 the former Austrian Netherlands (now
Belgium) was added to his realm. On
March 15,
1815; with the support of the powers gathered at the
Congress of Vienna, William proclaimed himself
King William I of the Netherlands. He was also made grand duke of
Luxembourg. The two countries remained separate despite sharing a common monarch.
As king of the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands, William tried to establish one common culture, provoking 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 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 was geographically nearer to their center of power.
In
1830 Belgium declared its independence and 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. Royal power was curbed during the reign of his son
William II in a constitution ordered by the King to prevent the
Revolution of 1848 from spreading to his country.
William III and the threat of extinction
William II died in
1849. He was succeeded by his son, King
William III, a rather
conservative, even reactionary man. William III was sharply opposed to the
1848 constitution and constantly tried to form his own royal governments. In
1868, he tried to sell
Luxembourg to
France, causing a quarrel between
Prussia and
France.
William III had an unhappy marriage with
Sophie of Württemberg and his heirs died young, which began to raise the possibility of the extinction of the House of Orange-Nassau. After the death of Sophie in
1877, William married
Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont in
1879. A year later, Queen Emma gave birth to a daughter and heiress,
Wilhelmina. Upon William's death in
1890, the House of Orange became extinct in the male line.
As females weren't allowed to hold power in Luxembourg due to the
Salic law, it passed to the House of
Nassau-Weilburg, a collateral line. The House of Orange-Nassau faced the threat of total extinction until
1909, when
Juliana was born. The royal house remained small until the end of the
1930s and the early
1940s, when Juliana's four children were born.
A modern monarchy
Wilhelmina ruled the Netherlands for 58 years, from 1890 to
1948. She was a symbol of the Dutch resistance during the
Second World War. The moral authority of the monarchy was restored because of her rule. After fifty years, she decided to abdicate in favour of Juliana. Juliana made the monarchy less aloof and under her rule the monarchy became known as the "cycling monarchy" as the members of the royal family
cycled often through the countryside. A marital policy quarrel occurred in
1966 when future queen
Beatrix wanted to marry
Claus von Amsberg, a German diplomat. A marriage of a royal with a German was
controversial that may have been exacerbated by von Amsberg's former membership in the
Hitler Youth and later service in the
Wehrmacht. Permission from the government was granted and Beatrix married him. Claus became the most popular member of the royal family; he died in
2002.
On April 30th 1980 Juliana abdicated in favor of her daughter Beatrix. Beatrix has been somewhat more professional than her mother. At present, the monarchy is popular with a large part of the population.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander was born on 27 April 1967--the first male heir to the throne in almost 100 years. He married
Máxima Zorreguieta in
2002; they have three young daughters: Catharina-Amalia, Alexia and Ariane. When Beatrix abdicates or dies, the Crown Prince will ascend the throne as 'William IV.'
Juliana died on the
20 March 2004 and
Prince Bernhard, her husband and father of her children died on the
1 December 2004.
See also
★
Dutch monarchy
★
William III of England
★
Orange Institution
★
Order of Orange-Nassau
External links
★
Official House of Orange-Nassau Website
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