William

WILLIAM, Prince of ORANGE, and Count of NASSAU, the founder of the independ ence of the Netherlands, was born at Dillenburg, April 16, 1533. His father, William, was the second son of count John of Nassau-Dillenburg, and succeeded to the German possessions of the family; while his elder brother, Henry, obtained the extensive estates iu Luxemburg. Brabant, Flanders, and Holland. The latter also, by his marriage with Claudio of Chalons, added the charming and valuable little principality of Orange to his already exteusive domains; but his son Rene, dying without issue, left Orange along with the LOW Countries' estates to William, in 1544. William had hitherto lived at Dilleuburg under the care of his father, who was a zealous Lutheran; but on his becoming the most powerful lord of the Low Countries, he was sent to the queen regent's court at Brussels, and brought up in the Catholic faith. At the age of 15 he became page to the emperor Charles V., who took an almost paternal care of him, attentively watched the develop ment of his character, and, satisfied with the result, took him into his inmost confidence, snaking him the safe repository of the most important secrets, employed him in various diplomatic offices, and, in 1555, promoted him, over the heads of all his veteran officers, to the command of the imperial army on the French frontier. In all these various situ ations, William acquitted himself completely to his patron's satisfaction ; displaying acute intelligence, sound judgment, and a precocious knowledge of men, while hearing him self with a grace and dignity of manner that gained universal esteem. Charles, on his abdication, strongly recommended William to his son Philip as a confidential adviser; and accordingly, we find him employed to draw up the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, and selected as one of the four hostages to be given to France for its fulfillment. During 'William's residence in France, he was confidentially informed by Henry II. of a secret arrangement which was being formed between France and Spain for the complete exter mination of heretics in both countries; and with admirable nerve, dissembling his horror of the project, he resolved in his own mind to oppose the execution of the scheme in the Netherlands to the uttermost of his power. On returning to the Low Countries, he became the leader of the party which devoted itself to the maintenance of the char tered liberties of the country, agitated for the recall of the Spanish troops, opposed the augmentation of the number of bishoprics (a pet scheme of Philip's, for his oppo sition to which he first incurred the bitter dislike of his sovereign), and finally broke entirely with cardinal Granvelle, the president of the council, and the willing agent of Philip's tyranny. Expostulations to the regent Margaret of Parma, and directly to Philip himself, far from producing any good result, seemed only to hurry the bigoted .monarch to more extreme measures; the cruel edicts against heretics were made still more stringent, and at the 1564 the inquisition was established. William, how ever, steadily refused to allow these oppressive enactments to take effect in his hereditary governments of Holland and Zealand; and though he did not join in the famous protest known as the "compromise" which was presented to the regent by the " beggars," he supported their proposals at court, seeing that, though maintained with somewhat too much violence, their aims were the same as his own. For the next few years he was unremitting in his exertions to impress both the rulers and the people with the desirable ness of moderation, and on several occasions succeeded by his personal influence in repressing religious dissension. hitherto be had labored conjointly with counts Hoorn and Egmont, but failing to convince his two associates of the rank duplicity of the king, of which he himself was assured by means of the spies in his pay at the fipanish court, and of his perfidious designs against them, he was compelled to leave them to their fate, and retired to his German estates. Hoom and Egnuffit were seized and exe cuted; William, cited as a rebel (Jan., 1568), and, on the ground of being a knight of the golden fleece and a sovereign prince, refusing to appear, had his estates confiscated, and the duke of Alva arrived at Brussels, to reduce the provinces to submission. William had hitherto lived in a most luxurious and extravagant manner, the splendor of his household far exceeding that of his royal master; hut now he effected a thorough retrenchment, and disposed of his valuables, to equip four armies for the invasion of the Low Countries. Two of the .armies failed completely; the third,' under his chivalrous

brother Louis, was destroyed at Jemmingen by Alva; and the fourth, 30,000 strong, under his own immediate command, lay in Brabant, unable to force Alva's army to a conflict, till want of the means of paying his soldiers forced him to retreat. His next attempt was made in 1572, and though as unsuccessful on land as before, he succeeded in exciting Holland, Zealand, Gelders, Overyssel, and the bishopric of Utrecht to rise for their liberties; and was proclaimed by these provinces as their stadtholder for the king, whose authority he and they still acknowledged. Meantime, his coadjutors, the " beggars of the sea," had taken Brill and Flushing, and had committed heavy depreda- , tions on Spanish commerce. But ere long the fortune of the Spaniards on land was again in the ascendant; fortress after fortress fell into their hands, despite William's utmost efforts to relieve them; and though Holland and Zealand still rem:lined faithful to the cause of liberty, he found it impossible to raise au army which could fairly cope with the enemy. lie succeeded, however, by breaking the dykes, in saving Leyden, though Ant werp and Haarlem experienced all the horrors of a siege and capture. It was at this period that William openly professed himself a Calvinist, though, with his usual mod eration. he utterly disclaimed the bigoted fanaticism which characterized his co-relig-, ionists, and in which they went near 'to equal their adversaries the Catholics. Success still attended the patriot fleet, and though the gallant Louis, with his brother Henry, was defeated and slain at Mooker-Heide (April 14, 1574), the ruinous condition of the Spanish timinees, and the general detestation in which the soldiers of Philip were justly held, helped William to hold his ground. In March, 1575, conferences were opened at Breda between the belligerents, but Philip obstinately refusing to yield an iota, they were bro ken off; mid in October of that year the provinces of Holland and Zealand pronounced Philip's deposition, and gave power to William to choose the country under whose pro tectorate they were to he placed. Meantime, the rapacity of the Spanish soldiery had roused the fifteen provinces which still remained loyal to Philip, and the league, known as the Pacification of Ghent (Oct., 1576), the object of which was to drive out the foreign troops, and establish, at least for a time, toleration iu religion, was the consequence. This was a brilliant success for William; and though Don John of Austria, the new governor, tried to dissolve it by the " perpetual edict" (Feb. 12, 1577), in which he granted nearly all deminds, William succeeded, by skillful policy, in foiling the attempt. War was accordingly restuned, and the patriots were defeated at Gembloux (Jan. 31, 1578), though their spirits were from time to time buoyed up by an occa sional success. The next governor, Alexander Farnese, succeeded, however, in detach ing the Walloon provinces from the league, though, to compensate for this, William obtained the signature of the Union of Utrecht (Jan. 23, 1579), tile first foundation of the Dutch republic. In the following year his two faithful provinces, Holland and Zealand, after having been nominally under the sway of the archduke Matthias of Austria, and of the duke of Anjou, proclaimed William their sole ruler, the duke of Anjou being still acknowledged as sovereign of the others. William, however, after his long and desperate for his country's freedom, was not destined long to enjoy the honors of sovereignty, for, ou March 15, 1580, Philip had, by Granvelle's advice, put a price of 25.000 gold crownson hii head, and the incitement of this magnificent bribe produced various attempts to assassinate him, the last of which, by Balthasar Gerard, was successful, at Delft, July 10, 1534. William was four times married, and left by his first wife, Anne of Egmont, Philip-William, prince of Orange; by his second, Anne of Saxony,the famous Maurice (q.v.); and by his fourth, Louise de Coligny, Frederick Henry, who succeeded Maurice as stadtholder of Holland.