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William of Orange

Type Figure Region Netherlands Time 1533–1584 Also known as William of Orange

William of Orange (1533–1584) led the Dutch independence movement as Prince of Orange, held high office at the Habsburg court in the 1550s, and later…

Timeline

  1. 1533–1559Breda · NetherlandsBorn into the Nassau family, he inherited the title Prince of Orange at age 11. Raised at the courts of Charles V and Philip II, he was appointed stadtholder (governor) of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht in 1555. In the 1550s he took part in imperial governance in Brussels and was regarded as a loyal Habsburg servant.
  2. 1559–1572Brussels · NetherlandsAfter Philip II returned to Spain in 1559, William gradually opposed religious persecution and centralization. The 1566 petition movement of the Dutch nobility failed; in 1568 he went into exile in Germany, raised an army to invade the Netherlands, launched the Eighty Years' War, and became the symbolic leader of the independence movement.
  3. 1572–1584Delft · HollandAfter uprisings in Leiden and elsewhere in 1572, he regained the northern stadtholderate. In 1579 he brokered the Union of Utrecht, uniting seven provinces against Spain. In 1581 he supported the deposition of Philip II, advancing Dutch independence. On July 10, 1584, he was assassinated in Delft by Balthasar Gérard.

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