WILLIAM I, prince of Orange, count of Nassau, surnamed the Su-ENT: b. Castle of Dillenburg, Nassau, 16 April 1533; d. Delft, Holland, 10 July 1584. He was the eldest son of William, count of Nassau, and Juliana, countess of Stolberg, and was educated in the Roman Catholic faith by Maria, queen of Hun gary, sister of Charles V. He spent nine years In attendance on the person of the emperor, who had so high an esteem for his spirit, prudence and intelligence that he asked his opinion respecting the most important matters, and when he was but 22 entrusted him with the chief command of the army in the Netherlands, in the absence of Philibert, duke of Savoy. He also recommended him to his successor, Philip 11, who regarded him with distrust. As Cardi nal Granvella had now the entire confidence of Philip, and Margaret of Parma, who was charged with the government of the Nether lands, was obliged to do whatever Granvella suggested, especially with respect to the intro duction of the Spanish inquisition, and the erection of new bishoprics, the Count of Eg mont, the Prince of Orange and the Count of Horn represented to the king in writing, that unless the cardinal were speedily recalled his violence would drive the country to rebellion. Though Philip looked on this step as treason, he concealed his anger, and recalled the cardi nal (1564). After the remonstrance offered in 1566 by 300 noblemen (the Gueux), with Count Louis of Nassau, the brother of William, at their head, against the introduction of the In quisition and the establishment of new bishop rics, had been rejected and the Duke of Alva had been appointed governor of the Nether lands, William had a meeting with Egmont, Horn, his brother Louis and others at Dender mond, to deliberate on the means of aserting the threatening danger. The majority advised an armed resistance, but this proposal came to nothing on account of the opposition of the Count of Egmont. The prince with his "family now went to his castle at Dillenburg. Alva arriNed in the Netherlands in 1567 and many men of consequence, including Egmont and Horn, were immediately arrested. In the be ginning of 1568 he caused the prince and others, who had retired fmm the country, to be summoned before the Council of Twelve. The prince did not appear, in consequence of which Alva declared him an outlaw, confis cated his property and remosed his son Philip William, from the University of Louvain, and sent him as a hostage to Spain. The Prince of Oranoe now determined on waging war against Al% a In a document issued in the slimmer of and called his *justification,• he gave the reasons for his conduct and pub licly professed the Protestant religion. In con sequence of this he received aid in money and troops from several Protestant princes. Wil liam now raised an army of 24,000 Germans, who were joined by 4,000 French soldiers. conducted his forces with great skill across the Rhine and Meuse, entered Brabant and defeated a division of the hostile army but was unable to bring the Duke of Alva, who threw himself into the fortresses, to an engagement, or to excite the people, who feared the Span iards, to a general insurrection. His army now dispersed. He then took part in an ex pedition to France against the Catholic party of the Guises (1569). In France Admiral Coligny had advised him to fit out privateers against the Spanish, and establish himself par ticularly in Zealand and Holland, from which the Spaniards would hardly be able to drive him. The prince followed this advice, and the privateers made themselves masters, in 1572, of the town and harbor of Briel, on the island of Voorn and also took Flushing.- As Alva's tyranny became more intolerable and the people were exasperated by new exactions, several cities of Holland, Zealand, Overijssel and Gel derland publicly declared for the Prince of Orange. Relying on the assistance of France,
which Admiral Coligny had promised to ob tain for him, William crossed the Rhine, but the news of the massacre of Saint Bartholo mew deprived him for the time of all hope of French aid. He then retired into the prov ince of Holland, which steadfastly supported him. He now resumed negotiations with France and obtained a treaty in which France promised to support hint, provided that it should receive the protectorate over all the provinces of the Netherlands. which be suc ceeded in wresting from the Spaniards, At the end of 1573 Alva was recalled and re placed by Requesens. In 1574 Louis and Henry of Nassau, William's brothers, made an effort to join him, hut were totally defeated by Requesens at Mookerheide, near Nijmegen Both of William's brothers fell on the field of battle. This blow was compensated by the relief of Leyden, at that time hard pressed by the enemy. The raising of the siege of Leyden saved the province of Holland for the time, but the Spanish were still formidable. and Hol land might have been completely crushed had it not been for the death of Requesens, which took place in March 1576. After this esent William succeeded in bringing about the so called pacification of Ghent (8 Nov. 1576). in which nearly all the provinces of the Low Countries united to expel the foreign troops, and promised mutual toleration in matters of religion. The new stadtholder, John of Aus tria, sought to break the force of the union by granting, in the perpetual edict, almost all the demands of the people (1577), but his con duct soon manifested his insincerity and the states of Antwerp then called the Prince of Orange to their aid. The people received him with acclamations in Brussels. and he pointed to the rank of lieutenant-general. war was now renewed and by the victor) at Gemblours in the end of January 1578, the Spaniards recovered their superiority in the alloon pros inces, which were In 1579 Don John of Austria died, and the king appointed Alexander Earnest of Parma as his successor. The policy of Faroese succeeded in gaining over to the king the ern provinces and the prince, therefore, brought the fist northern provinces, Holland. 'Zealand Utrecht, Gelderland and Friesland, into closer connection by the union of Utrecht, 23 Jan. 1379 and thus laid the foundation of the re public of the United Netherlands. In 1580 the king, finding it impossible to triumph over illiam by fair means, put a price upon his head. This step induced the united provinces to renounce their allegiance to Philip, and Wil liam was offered the dignity of sovereign count of Holland and Zealand, which he accepted. But the edict of Philip proclaiming a reward for his life was not without effect. In 1582 an attempt was made by a Spaniard named Jaure guy to assassinate him at Antwerp, and a sec ond attempt made at IkIft on 10 July 1584. 1,) a Burgundian fanatic, Balthasar Gerard, succeeded. William of Nassau was four times married. Maurice of Nassau, who distin guished himself as a general in the Thirty Years' %Var, was one of his sons and William Ill of England, a grandson. Consult Gachard, 'Correspundance de Guillaume lc Taciturn' (1847-66); Motley, 'The Rise of the Dutch Republic' (1850); Klose, 'William 1 von Oranien' (1864); Juste, 'Guillaume le Tad turne d'apres sa Correspoudance et ses Papiers d'Etat' (1873); Putnam, 'William the Silent. Founder of the Dutch Republic' (1895); Fred eric Harrison 'William the Silent' (1897)1 and 'Cambridge Modern History' (Vol. 111).