LOUIS OF NASSAU son of William, count of Nassau, and Juliana von Stolberg, and younger brother of William the Silent, was one of the leaders of the league of nobles who signed the document known as "the Compromise" in 1566, and was a member of the deputation who presented the petition of grievances called "the Request" to the regent, Margaret of Parma. On the arrival of Alva at Brussels, Count Louis, with his brother William, withdrew from the Netherlands and raised a body of troops in defence of the patriot cause. In the spring of 1568 Louis invaded Friesland, and at Heiligerlee, on May 23, com pletely defeated a Spanish force under Count Aremberg, who was killed. Alva annihilated the levies of Louis at Jemmnigen (July 21), Louis himself escaping by swimming across an arm of the Ems. He now joined William, who had in October to beat a hasty retreat before Alva's superior skill. The brothers then made their way to the camp of Admiral Coligny.
Louis took an active part in the Huguenot campaign, and fought heroically at Jarnac and Moncontour. In 1572 Louis raised a small force in France, and, suddenly entering Hainaut, captured Mons (May 23). Here he was besieged by Don Frederick of
Toledo, Alva's natural son, who blockaded all approach to the town. William made an attempt to relieve his brother, but failed, and Mons surrendered (September 17). Louis withdrew to his home, Dillenburg, to raise money and troops for another inva sion of the Netherlands. In the hope of diverting the Spaniards from the siege of Leiden, Louis with his brothers John and Henry, at the head of a mixed force, crossed the frontier near Maastricht, and advanced to the Mookerheide near Nijmwegen. Here he was attacked by Sncho d'Avila, and routed. Both Louis and his younger brother Henry were killed.
See P. J. Blok, Lodewijk von Nassau, (The Hague, 1689), and the Cambridge Modern History, vol. iii. chs. vi. and vii., and bibliography (1904) ; also A J. Van der Aa, Biographisch woorden boek der Nederlanden (22 vols., Haarlem, 1852-78) ; and Ledderhose, Graf Ludwig von Nassau (1877).