Guillaume Ier of Orange-Nassau

See also: Guillaume Ier

The prince Guillaume Ier of Orange-Nassau (in Dutch: Willem van Oranje ), Prince d' Orange, count of Nassau, also called William of Orange or Guillaume Silent the was born the April 24th 1533 with Dillenburg and died the July 10th 1584, assassinated by Balthazar Gerard in the Prinsenhof of Delft. It was buried with the Nieuwe Kerk of this city. He is the son of Guillaume de Nassau-Dillenbourg.

He was prince d' Orange, count de Nassau of 1544 with 1584, Stathouder of Holland, stathouder of Zealand, stathouder of Utrecht of 1559 with 1584, count de Katzenelbogen, count of Vianden, Burgrave of Antwerp.

The opinions on the prince are divided, but the historian Jan Romein regards it as the founder of civilization Dutchwoman. He in any case played an important role in the creation of the nation Dutchwoman: in the Netherlands, one honors it with the title of Père of the Fatherland .

Guillaume Ier is reproduced on the Canon history of the Netherlands, official list of 50 topics, initiative of the government Dutch, whose first version goes back to 2006 and whose second version officially is accepted on July 3rd 2007.

Biography

William of Orange is especially known to have been the initiator and the chief of the revolt of the Spanish Netherlands against the king of Spain Philippe II. This revolt is often called Guerre Eighty Year old and led to the independence of the United Provinces.

Chronology

August 1st

Family

William of Orange belonged to the second branch, itself resulting from the first branch of the Maison of Nassau. The line Orange-Nassau is resulting from the line of Nassau-Dillenbourg. Like the latter, it belongs to the stem ottonienne which gave stathouders to the Holland, with the United Provinces, with the Flanders, but also a king of England and Scotland in the person of Guillaume III of Orange-Nassau.

Marriages and children

The July 8th 1551, Guillaume marries the countess Anne d' Egmond de Buren (1533 - 1555), (girl of the count Maximilien d' Egmond de Buren).

Three children were born from this union:

Widower, Guillaume married the August 25th 1561 Anne of Saxony (1544 - 1577), girl of the voter Maurice of Saxony. They divorce in 1574.

Five children were born from this union:

The April 24th or July 12th 1575, Guillaume marries Charlotte of Bourbon-Vendôme (1547 - 1582), girl of the duke Louis III of Montpensier.

Six children were born from this union:

  • Louise-Juliana of Orange-Nassau (1576 - 1644) which marries in 1593 Frederic IV of Palatinat (1574 - 1610).

  • Elisabeth de Nassau (1577 - 1642) which marries in 1595 Henri of the Tower of Auvergne, duke of Bubble, (1555 - 1623). Their son will be Large the Turenne.
  • Katharina Belgica (1578 - 1648) which marries in 1596 Philippe Louis de Hanau (1576 - 1612).
  • Charlotte Flandrina (1579 - 1640), abbess of Poitiers.
  • Emilie Antwerpiana (1581 - 1657) which marries in 1616 Frederic Casimir de Zweibrücken (1585 - 1645).
  • Charlotte-Brabantine of Orange-Nassau (1580 - 1631) which marries in 1598 Claude of Trémoïlle.

In 1583, Guillaume marries Louise de Châtillon-Coligny (1555 - 1620), girl of the admiral de Coligny, of which it has a son: Frederic-Henri (1584 - 1647).

Quotations

One of the most famous sentences of William of Orange is:

I cannot admit that the sovereigns want to reign on the conscience of their subjects and that they remove to them the freedom of belief and religion.

These words were marked the December 31st 1564 with the Council of State and expressed the gasoline of the conflict with Philippe II.

The currency of the prince was: I will maintain . At the end of its life, it supplemented it as follows: I will maintain the honor, the foy, the law of God, Roy, my friends and moy .

One lends also the resumption to him of the aphorism of Charles Bold the: Point is not need to hope in order to undertake, nor to succeed in order to persevere .

Dutch flag

It is in William of Orange that one owes the precursor of the Tricolor of the Netherlands: the “flag of the Prince” had the orange, white, blue colors. The orange band was replaced by a red band during the French occupation with the turning of 1800. According to another tradition, the orange fur replaced by the red, more visible at sea. The flag of the Prince is of 1630 to 1800 the approximately national symbol and then the red, white, blue flag; this last is sometimes accompanied by an orange streamer in honor of the royal Orange house.

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