1.
Joseph Paelinck
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Joseph Paelinck, was a painter from the Southern Netherlands. Paelinck attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and then with Jacques-Louis David in Paris, where he painted in 1804 A Judgment of Paris, after he had worked there a short time as a teacher, he went to Rome and stayed there for five years. He painted, among other things, Rome under Augustus for the Quirinal Palace and he was later a professor at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Brussels. This article is based on a public domain text from Meyers encyclopedia,1 Painting by or after Joseph Paelinck at the Art UK site Media related to Joseph Paelinck at Wikimedia Commons
2.
King of the Netherlands
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The monarchy of the Netherlands is constitutional and as such, the role and position of the monarch are defined and limited by the constitution of the Netherlands. William became the leader of the Dutch Revolt and the independent Dutch Republic, as stadtholder, he was followed by several of his descendants. In 1747, the function of stadtholder became a position in all Provinces of the thus crowned Dutch Republic. The last stadtholder was William V and his son William I, became the first king. The cycle of monarchs is described in the first section of Chapter 2 of the constitution, the monarchy of the Netherlands passes by right of succession to the heirs of William I. The heir is determined through two mechanisms, absolute cognatic primogeniture and proximity of blood, the Netherlands established absolute cognatic primogeniture instead of male preference primogeniture by law in 1983. Proximity of blood limits accession to the throne to a person who is related to the current monarch within three degrees of kinship. For example, the grandchildren of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, have no succession rights because their kinship with Beatrix when she was queen was of the fourth degree. Also, succession is limited to heirs, precluding a claim to the throne by children born out of wedlock. A special case arises if the king dies while his wife is pregnant, so, if the old king dies while his wife is pregnant with their first child, the unborn child is immediately considered born and immediately becomes the new king. If the pregnancy ends in stillbirth, his or her reign is expunged, If the monarch is a minor, a regent is appointed and serves until the monarch comes of age. There are also a number of cases within the constitution. First, if there is no heir when the monarch dies the States-General may appoint a successor upon the suggestion of the government and this suggestion may be made before the death of the reigning monarch, even by the monarch himself. Second, some people are excluded from the line of succession and they are, Any heir who marries without the permission of the States-General loses the right of succession. A person who is or has become truly undesirable or unfit as monarch can be removed from the line of succession by an act of the States-General and this clause has never been executed and is considered an emergency exit. An example would be an heir apparent who commits treason or suffers a serious accident, as with most monarchies, the Netherlands cannot be without a monarch — the constitution of the Netherlands does not recognize a situation in which there is no monarch. This is because there must be a head of state in order for the government to function, for this reason the new monarch assumes his role the moment the previous monarch ceases to hold the throne. The only exception is if there is no heir at all, the monarch is expected to execute his duties and responsibilities for the good of the nation
3.
Grand Duke of Luxembourg
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The Grand Duke of Luxembourg is the monarchical head of state of Luxembourg. Since 1815, there have been nine monarchs of Luxembourg, including the incumbent, the constitution of Luxembourg defines the grand dukes position, The Grand Duke is the head of state, symbol of its unity, and guarantor of national independence. He exercises executive power in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country, after a constitutional change in December 2008 resulting from Henris refusal to sign a law legalizing euthanasia, laws now take effect without the grand dukes assent. As a result, the grand duke no longer has any role in the legislative process. Succession to the throne was governed by Salic law, as dictated by the Nassau Family Pact, an heir apparent may be granted the style Hereditary Grand Duke. The current heir apparent is Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, in June 2011, agnatic primogeniture was dropped in favour of absolute primogeniture, allowing any legitimate female descendants within the House of Nassau to be included in the line of succession. It should, however, be noted that many of the titles are held without regard to the rules of Salic inheritance. When William III died leaving only his daughter Wilhelmina as an heir, however, the crown of Luxembourg passed to a male of another branch of the House of Nassau, Adolphe, the dispossessed Duke of Nassau and head of the branch of Nassau-Weilburg. Charlottes descendants have reigned as the continued dynasty of Nassau
4.
Inauguration of the Dutch monarch
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The King is required to swear allegiance to the Constitution to faithfully discharge his duties. In contrast with many other European monarchic customs, in the Netherlands new monarchs are not crowned, the Dutch crown and other regalia have never been physically bestowed. The Netherlands historically and traditionally consists of mainly Catholics in the south and this is opposite of, for example, British customs, in which the monarch is crowned by the senior bishop of the Church of England. As the Dutch king is a King of the Netherlands rather than a King of the Dutch, Inauguration is strictly ceremonial as the successor to the throne instantly becomes the new monarch at the moment the former monarch dies or abdicates. The last Dutch monarch to rule until his death was William III in 1890 and his successor was his daughter, Wilhelmina, however, she was not inaugurated until her coming of age in 1898. Her mother Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont was regent from 1890 to 1898, Wilhelmina passed the throne to her daughter Juliana in 1948. Previous monarchs have so far abdicated their thrones, the monarch, the heir to the throne, the royal family and the cabinet led by the prime minister meet in the Royal Palace of Amsterdam in the State Hall. The monarch signs the instrument of abdication, which is signed by the heir, members of the royal family. As soon as the instrument is signed, the new inauguration is complete, the previous monarch then steps on the balcony of the palace, where the new monarch is introduced to the waiting public outside. After the signature, the new monarch proceeds from the palace to the Nieuwe Kerk, where the States General of the Netherlands and the cabinet along with guests of honour have assembled. Inside the church, symbols of the dignity and authority of the monarch, the crown symbolises sovereignty and dignity, the sceptre authority and the orb the territory of the Kingdom. The other two regalia – the sword of state and the standard of the bearing the coat of arms of the Netherlands – are carried by two senior military officers. Surrounding the royal regalia is a copy of the Dutch Constitution, the chamberlain announces the arrival of the new monarch, who takes the seat on the throne opposite the regalia. The monarch reads a speech from the throne and solemnly swears to uphold the constitution and this is followed by the exclamation of three huzzahs from the public led by the King of Arms. The head of the calls out each member of the States General. They either swear with the hand raised and state, Zo waarlijk helpe mij God Almachtig. After the homage ceremony, the monarch then exits the church, the ceremony is then followed by an official reception at the palace. Since the inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina in 1898, the Dutch government issues for each inauguration a limited number of commemoration medals
5.
William II of the Netherlands
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William II was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg. William II was the son of William I and Wilhelmine of Prussia, when his father, who up to that time ruled as sovereign prince, proclaimed himself king in 1815, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With the abdication of his father on 7 October 1840, William II became king, during his reign, the Netherlands became a parliamentary democracy with the new constitution of 1848. William II was married to Anna Pavlovna of Russia and they had four sons and one daughter. William II died on 17 March 1849 and was succeeded by his son William III, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk was born on 6 December 1792 in The Hague. He was the eldest son of King William I of the Netherlands and his maternal grandparents were King Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court, where he followed a military education, after this, he studied at the University of Oxford and had a splendid military career close to Wellington. William II had a string of relationships with men and women. The homosexual relationships that William II had as crown prince and as king were reported by journalist Eillert Meeter, the king surrounded himself with male servants whom he could not dismiss because of his abominable motive for hiring them in the first place. Though not yet 20, the prince, according to the customs of the time, was made lieutenant colonel on 11 June 1811. On 8 September 1812 he was made an aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent and his courage and good nature made him very popular with the British, who nicknamed him Slender Billy. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince, on 8 July 1814, he was promoted to lieutenant-general in the British Army, and on 25 July to general. As such, he was officer of the Allied army in the Low Countries when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba in 1815. As a sign of gratitude for what the Dutch throne styled his victory at Waterloo, in response, Siborne was accused by Lieutenant-General Willem Jan Knoop of many inaccuracies and contradictions. An inspection of the archives of Siborne by General Francois de Bas in 1897 confirmed the use of sources and numerous miscounts. In 1814, William became briefly engaged with Princess Charlotte of Wales, only daughter of the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom and his estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick. The engagement was arranged by the Prince Regent, but it was broken because Charlottes mother was against the marriage, on 21 February 1816 at the Chapel of the Winter Palace in St. On 17 February 1817 in Brussels, his first son Willem Alexander was born, already in 1819, he was blackmailed over what Minister of Justice Van Maanen termed in a letter his shameful and unnatural lusts, presumably bisexuality
6.
Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda
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In 1795 the William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau, lost all his possessions in the Low Countries because of the rise of the Batavian Republic, a client state of the French Republic. On May 23,1802, France and Prussia concluded a treaty in which Fulda, Willem V refused at first, but later accepted the offer in favour for his son Prince Willem Frederik to become the ruler of the new formed principality. On October 22, Prussian troops occupied the Diocese of Fulda to secure the interests of the prince, the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss resolution on 25 February 1803, legalized the redistribution of the territories. Gerold Deanery of Bandern Dietkirchen Abbey The areas were reorganised into the four divisions Principality of Fulda, Principality of Corvey, County of Dortmund, the arms of the principality included the coat of arms of these areas. With the death of his father William V on 9 April 1806, however, on 12 July 1806 he lost the Lordship of Weingarten and the Nassau territories because of the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine. By the German Mediatisation, the Lordship of Weingarten was incorporated into the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Nassau core territories into the Grand Duchy of Berg, after the military defeat of Prussia by France, the Prince of Orange subsequently lost his remaining possessions. Fulda was occupied by the French troops on 27 October 1806 and it remained under French rule until 19 May 1810, when it was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. Subsequently, Corvey was incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia on 7 December 1807, with the defeat of the French in 1813, the Prince of Orange regained his possessions in the Low Countries but lost his claims to the principality Nassau-Orange-Fulda. Principality of Orange Principality of Orange-Nassau House of Orange-Nassau
7.
Principality of Orange-Nassau
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Orange-Nassau was a principality which was part of the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle within the Holy Roman Empire. It existed under this name between 1702 and 1815, the territory of the former state of Orange-Nassau is now part of Germany. It was ruled by the House of Orange-Nassau, in 1702 the first House of Orange-Nassau became extinct with the death of William III, Prince of Orange, the Stadtholder in the Netherlands and King of England, Scotland and Ireland. John William Friso, Prince of Nassau-Dietz inherited the title Prince of Orange from his cousin William III, from then on the rulers conducted the title Fürst van Nassau-Oranien in Germany and in the Netherlands the title Prins van Oranje-Nassau. The principality soon became larger with the incorporation of other Nassau territories, in 1711 the branch Nassau-Hadamar died out. When subsequently in 1739 and in 1743 the branches Nassau-Dillenburg and Nassau-Siegen died out, the Prince of Orange-Nassau from then on had two seats in the Council of Princes of the Reichstag, Hadamar-Nassau and Nassau-Dillenburg. By article 24 of the Treaty of the Confederation on 12 July 1806 William VI, the counties Siegen, Dillenburg and Hadamar, and the Herrlichkeit Beilstein were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Berg. By German Mediatisation, the county Dietz and its dependencies, and the Lordships Wehrheim and Burbach, all came under the sovereignty of the Duke of Nassau-Usingen, in 1808 the Prince of Orange also lost his rights as mediatized prince and all his property were confiscated. After the French troops were expelled from Germany in 1813, the Prince of Orange could retake the territories that were lost to the Grand Duchy of Berg in 1806. On 26 November 1813, the Prince of Orange concluded a treaty with the Duchy of Nassau, the Amt Wehrheim, however, remained to the Duchy of Nassau. On the same day the Prussians gave most of the principality to the Duchy of Nassau, in 1815 the prince became the new King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg with the name William I of the Netherlands. To this day the Netherlands is ruled by the members of the House of Orange-Nassau
8.
William V, Prince of Orange
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William V, Prince of Orange was the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795 and he was the reigning Prince of Nassau-Orange until his death in 1806. In that capacity he was succeeded by his son William, William Batavus was born in The Hague on 8 March 1748, the only son of William IV, who had the year before been restored as stadtholder of the United Provinces. He was only three years old when his father died in 1751, and a long regency began, William was made the 568th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1752. William V assumed the position of stadtholder and Captain-General of the Dutch States Army in 1766, on 4 October 1767 in Berlin, Prince William married Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, the daughter of Augustus William of Prussia, niece of Frederick the Great and a cousin of George III. He became an art collector and in 1774 his Galerij Prins Willem V was opened to the public, the position of the Dutch during the American War of Independence was one of neutrality. However, things came to a head with the Dutch attempt to join the Russian-led League of Armed Neutrality, after much political debate and pressure from American and French diplomats such as John Adams, Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol and Court Lambertus van Beyma took the initiative. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris, there was growing restlessness in the United Provinces with Williams rule, in the meantime, a band of young revolutionaries, called Patriots, was challenging his authority more and more. In 1785 William left the Hague and removed his court to Guelders, in September 1786 he had to send an army to stop Herman Willem Daendels, organizing an overthrow at the cities vroedschap. In June 1787 his energetic wife Wilhelmina tried to travel to the Hague, outside Schoonhoven, she was stopped by militia, taken to a farm near Goejanverwellesluis and within two days made to return to Nijmegen. To Wilhelmina and her brother, Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick sent in an army to attack the dissidents. Many Patriots fled to the North of France, around Saint-Omer, until his overthrow they were supported by King Louis XVI of France. With the coming of the French Revolution William V joined the First Coalition against Republican France in 1793 and his troops fought bravely in the Flanders Campaign, but in 1794 the military situation deteriorated and the Dutch Republic was threatened by invading armies. The year 1795 was a one for the ancien régime of the Netherlands. Supported by the French Army, the revolutionaries returned from Paris to fight in the Netherlands, a few days later the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam occurred, and the Dutch Republic was replaced with the Batavian Republic. Though only a number complied this contributed to their confusion and demoralisation. Almost all Dutch colonies were in the course of time occupied by the British, who in the end returned most, in 1799 the Hereditary Prince took an active part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, engineering the capture of a Batavian naval squadron in the Vlieter Incident. The surrender of the ships was formally accepted in the name of William V as stadtholder, but that was his only success, as the troops suffered from choleric diseases, and civilians at that time were unwilling to re-instate the old regime
9.
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
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Amalie Theresa was born on 6 April 1807 at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Hofburg, Vienna and died the next day. Her mother fell ill after giving birth to her and died less than a week afterwards, as a daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, she was born with the title Archduchess of Austria and the style Imperial and Royal Highness
10.
Huis ten Bosch palace
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Huis ten Bosch is a royal palace in The Hague in the Netherlands. It is one of three residences of the Dutch Royal Family, the other two being Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. A replica of the palace was built in Sasebo, Japan, construction of Huis ten Bosch began on 2 September 1645, under the direction of Bartholomeus Drijffhout, and to a design by Pieter Post and Jacob van Campen. It was commissioned by Amalia von Solms, the wife of stadtholder Frederick Henry, the first stone was laid by Elizabeth of Bohemia. After her husbands death in 1647, Amalia dedicated the palace to him, the dining room was designed by Daniel Marot. Over the next century and a half, the palace would change possession from the Nassau family, the king of Prussia and they gave the palace to the Batavian people who still own it to this day. The National Art Gallery, predecessor of the Rijksmuseum, was housed in the building from 1800 to 1805, napoleon Bonapartes brother, Louis, king of Holland, briefly lived in the palace between 1805 and 1807. When William I was proclaimed King of the Netherlands, he made Huis ten Bosch one of his official residences and it became a favourite location for many members of the Royal Family, and during World War I it became the primary residence of Queen Wilhelmina. The Queen and her family were forced to evacuate the palace for Britain when the German army invaded the Netherlands during World War II, the Nazi administration planned to demolish the palace, but the controller convinced them otherwise. However, the palace was damaged beyond habitation, between 1950 and 1956, the palace was restored and once again became a Royal residence. It became the prime residence once more in 1981, the palace has undergone major reconstructions since it was built. Currently, it consists of a part with two long wings, spanning approximately 110 m from end to end. Media related to Huis ten Bosch at Wikimedia Commons Huis ten Bosch at the website of the Dutch Royal Family
11.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
12.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
13.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
14.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
15.
Nieuwe Kerk (Delft)
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The Nieuwe Kerk is a Protestant church in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. The building is located on Delft Market Square, opposite to the City Hall, in 1584, William the Silent was entombed here in a mausoleum designed by Hendrick and Pieter de Keyser. Since then members of the House of Orange-Nassau have been entombed in the royal crypt, the latest are Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard in 2004. The private royal family crypt is not open to the public, the church tower is the second highest in the Netherlands, after the Domtoren in Utrecht. The New Church, formerly the church of St. Ursula, is the place of the princes of Orange. The tower was built 1396-1496 by Jacob van der Borch, who built the Dom in Utrecht during the years 1444-1475. The monument for Hugo de Groot was made in 1781, the mechanical clock has 18 bells by Francois Hemony from 1659 and 30 modern bells. In the church there is a bell from 1662 by Francois Hemony with a diameter of 104 centimeters. In the tower there are also no longer in use, including 13 from 1659 by Francois Hemony,3 from 1678 by Pieter Hemony,3 from 1750 from Joris de Mery. The Kirk appears in the golden Age painting by Carel Fabritius, A View of Delft
16.
Delft
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Delft is a city and a municipality in the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, to the north of Rotterdam, the city of Delft came into being aside a canal, the Delf, which comes from the word delven, meaning delving or digging, and led to the name Delft. It presumably started around the 11th century as a landlord court, from a rural village in the early Middle Ages, Delft developed to a city, that in the 13th century received its charter. The towns association with the House of Orange started when William of Orange, nicknamed William the Silent, at the time he was the leader of growing national Dutch resistance against Spanish occupation, known as the Eighty Years War. By then Delft was one of the cities of Holland. An attack by Spanish forces in October of that year was repelled, after the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581, Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange. When William was shot dead in 1584, by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, therefore, he was buried in the Delft Nieuwe Kerk, starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day. The Delft Explosion, also known in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on 12 October 1654 when a gunpowder store exploded, over a hundred people were killed and thousands were wounded. About 30 tonnes of gunpowder were stored in barrels in a magazine in a former Clarissen convent in the Doelenkwartier district, cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the magazine, opened the store to check a sample of the powder and a huge explosion followed. Luckily, many citizens were away, visiting a market in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague, Delft artist Egbert van der Poel painted several pictures of Delft showing the devastation. Historical buildings and other sights of interest include, Oude Kerk, buried here, Piet Hein, Johannes Vermeer, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. Nieuwe Kerk, constructed between 1381 and 1496 and it contains the Dutch royal familys burial vault, which between funerals is sealed with a 5,000 kg cover stone. A statue of Hugo Grotius made by Franciscus Leonardus Stracké in 1886 and this is the only remaining gate of the old city walls. The Gemeenlandshuis Delfland, or Huyterhuis, built in 1505, which has housed the Delfland regional water authority since 1645, the Vermeer Centre in the rebuilt Guild house of St. Luke. Windmill De Roos, a mill built c.1760. Restored to working order in 2013, another windmill that formerly stood in Delft, Het Fortuyn, was dismantled in 1917 and re-erected at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Arnhem, Gelderland in 1920. Delft is well known for the Delft pottery ceramic products which were styled on the imported Chinese porcelain of the 17th century, the city had an early start in this area since it was a home port of the Dutch East India Company. It can still be seen at the pottery factories De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, the painter Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft
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Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands
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Friederike Luise Wilhelmine of Prussia was the first wife of King William I of the Netherlands and so the first Queen of the Netherlands. Princess Wilhelmine was born in Potsdam and she was the fourth child of eight born to King Frederick William II of Prussia and Queen Frederica Louisa. Her upbringing was dominated by the regime of her great-uncle, Frederick the Great. On 1 October 1791, she married her cousin William of the Netherlands, son of Stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange, in Berlin. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between the House of Orange and Prussia, but it was also, in fact, a love match, the young couple went to live at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. In 1795, the French invaded the Dutch Republic, and the family went into exile. They first stayed in England, and from 1796 in Berlin, in 1806, Wilhelmine was again forced to flee from the French army, and settled under difficult economic circumstances in Poland. The princess returned to The Hague in the beginning of 1814, princess Wilhelmine became Queen of the Netherlands in 1815. At the time, the Netherlands included the country of Belgium. Queen Wilhelmine was modest and stayed in the background, and she did not play any dominant role as queen. She was not a queen, and was criticised for isolating the royal family, in the area of modern Belgium. She was interested in painting, attended exhibitions, and helped to protect museums and she was herself a student of art and regarded as a talented dilettante, ultimately being inducted as an honorary member to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Beginning in 1820, her health worsened, and after 1829 and she died at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague in 1837, aged 62, and is entombed in the New Church in Delft. Wilhelmina van Pruisen Royal House of Prussia at the Wayback Machine Royal House of the Netherlands and Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg
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Henrietta d'Oultremont
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Countess Henriëtte Adriana Maria Ludovica Flora dOultremont de Wégimont was the second, morganatic, wife of the first Dutch king, William I. Henriëtte dOultremont was one of five children of Count Ferdinand L. F. M, dOultremont de Wégimont of the House of Oultremont in Liège and his wife Johanna Susanna Hartsinck, daughter of Admiral Andries Hartsinck. She was related to Charles John dOultremont, around 1840, King William found himself in discord with much of the Dutch population due to his refusal to implement demanded reforms. The resistance was so great—Henriëtte was Catholic and a native of Belgium, after abdication, he styled himself King William Frederick, Count of Nassau. He married Henriëtte on 17 February 1841, he was 71 years old at the time, she was 47, and she had received the Dutch title, Countess of Nassau on 7 February 1841, by which she was known during the couples subsequent retirement in Berlin. William I died two years later, in 1843, because of her devoted care for her elderly husband, the Dutch royal family awarded her an allowance and a castle near Aachen, where she died in 1864. In the Netherlands, she was nicknamed Jetje Dondermond
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Morganatic marriage
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Now rare, it is also known as a left-handed marriage because in the wedding ceremony the groom held his brides hand with his left hand instead of his right. Generally, this is a marriage between a man of birth and a woman of lesser status. Usually, neither the bride nor any children of the marriage have a claim on the succession rights, titles, precedence. The children are considered legitimate for all purposes and the prohibition against bigamy applies. In some countries, a woman could marry a man of lower rank morganatically. e, the Latin term, applied to a Germanic custom, was adopted from a Germanic term, *morgangeba. Morgen is the German word for morning, while the Latin word is matutinus, the bride received property from the bridegrooms clan. It was intended to ensure her livelihood in widowhood, and it was to be separate as the wifes discrete possession. e. King Erik XIV of Sweden married the servant Karin Månsdotter morganatically in 1567, and later secondly, ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria and Henriette Mendel. She was created Baroness von Wallersee, and their daughter, Marie Louise, victor Emmanuel II of Italy in 1869 married morganatically his principal mistress Rosa Teresa Vercellana Guerrieri. Popularly known in Piedmontese as Bela Rosin, she was born a commoner, late in his life, the widowed ex-king Fernando II of Portugal married the opera singer Elise Hensler, who was created Countess von Edla. Royal women who married morganatically, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma contracted a second marriage with a mediatized count after the death of her first husband. Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, regent of Spain after her husbands death while their daughter and she married one of her guards in a secret marriage. Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the widow of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, in 1917, Emperor Charles I of Austria, conferred upon Lónyay a non-dynastic title of prince. Succession to the Danish throne followed the specifications of the Lex Regia until the Danish Act of Succession was passed in 1953, prominent morganatic marriages include the 1615 marriage of King Christian IV of Denmark to noblewoman Kirsten Munk. Kirsten was titled Countess of Schleswig-Holstein and bore the King 12 children, King Frederick VII married the ballerina Louise Rasmussen, who was raised to the rank of Countess Danner in 1850. There were no children of this marriage, when Christian IX of Denmarks brother, Prince Julius of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg married Elisabeth von Ziegesar in 1883, the king granted her the title Countess af Røst. They were granted the prefix of Prince and their descendants bear the title Count af Rosenborg in the Danish nobility. Neither of the children of Queen Margrethe II has married a person of royal birth or of the titled aristocracy
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Prince Frederick of the Netherlands
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Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, was the second son of William I of the Netherlands and his wife, Wilhelmine of Prussia. The prince grew up at the court of his grandfather Frederick William II of Prussia, one of his tutors was Carl von Clausewitz. Aged 16, the fought in the Battle of Leipzig. The prince first entered the Netherlands in December 1813, as he spoke no Dutch, the prince was sent to Leiden University to get a further education. He was also educated by Karl Ludwig von Phull in The Hague, based on a house treaty, Frederick was to inherit the familys German possessions upon his fathers death. After the treaty of Vienna these were no longer in the possession of the family and he instead was made heir to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. In 1816, Frederick relinquished this claim in exchange for land in the Netherlands, as a further compensation he received a yearly amount of 190,000 Dutch guilder. This made him the wealthiest member of the House of Orange-Nassau, with the money he bought a large estate in Germany, which made him the largest land owner from the Netherlands. In 1826 Frederick was appointed Commissary-general of the Department of War, in this office, Frederick reorganized the army on a Prussian model. Frederick founded the academy in Breda and reequipped the army with modern weapons. In 1829 Frederick was a candidate for the Greek throne, but he declined because he did not want to be king of a country whose language, when the Belgian Revolution broke out in 1830, Frederick commanded the troops sent to Brussels to suppress the rebellion there. Frederick led these troops in several days of fighting in Brussels, Frederick also took part in his brothers 1831 Ten Days Campaign in Belgium. When his father abdicated in 1840, Frederick withdrew from life to his estates at Wassenaar. The park had been out from 1815 onwards at the behest of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. In July 2004, Muskau Park was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, upon the death of his elder brother in 1849, the country was left with a large debt. Frederick managed to pay off a million guilder to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, the new King William III of the Netherlands did not want to inherent the kingship from his father, but Frederick managed to convince him to take up the position, offering to assist him. William III recalled Frederick and made him Inspector-General of the army, Frederick held that office until 1868, when he resigned because of the lack of support for his plans to modernize the army. Frederick managed to prevent a divorce between King William III and Queen Sophie of Württemberg by establishing a legal separation and he retired to Muskau Castle which was remodeled in Renaissance revival style between 1863 and 1866
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Princess Pauline of Orange-Nassau
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Princess Pauline of Orange-Nassau was a Princess of the House of Orange-Nassau. Pauline was born in Berlin while her parents were living in exile during the time the Low Countries were occupied by France and she was the third child and first-born daughter of the later King William I of the Netherlands and his wife, Wilhelmine of Prussia. Her two older brothers were the future King William II and Prince Frederick of the Netherlands and her parents had another, stillborn, child in 1795. Her younger sister, Marianne, was four years after her death. In 1803 Pauline and her family moved to the Nassau family estates in Germany, here she met her paternal grandparents for the first time. They quickly became fond of her, and Paulines grandfather William V nicknamed her Polly, particularly her grandfather was very happy to see her, because none of the recent Nassau-Orange rulers had seen a granddaughter in their lifetime. During a ball in celebration of the birthday of Princess Paulines father, from 1804 the family lived with William V in Berlin, where he had bought a palace on the Unter den Linden. The palace is known as the Niederländische Palais, at the age of five, she and her older brothers began to spend more time with their grandparents in Oranienstein. In August 1806, her parents had another stillborn son, Berlin was occupied by the French on 27 October 1806 and Küstrin on 1 November. The Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher finally capitulated on 7 November and her father, who had become a prisoner of war after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October, was released on this occasion. In October 1806, Pauline with her mother and brothers left Berlin for Königsberg to escape the French troops, from birth, she had poor health, probably due to the difficult circumstances during her mothers pregnancy. According to doctors, she suffered some kind of nervous fever. Due to bad weather while fleeing Berlin, Paulines health quickly declined, on 15 December 1806 her condition became alarming, she died a week later, on 22 December. Her mother could hardly be separated from her deathbed and there were fears for her sanity and this estate had been recently occupied by Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, her maternal grandmother. Pauline was definitely buried on the Freienwalde estate, a monument by sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow was put in place only in 1813. The neglected grave was rediscovered by the new owner of Freienwalde and he discovered a weathered gravestone on the estate, inscribed with Paulines name. The news was reported to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Without much pomp Paulines remains were brought to the Netherlands by the Dutch ambassador in Berlin, Baron Gevers, during this trip, the bronze casket was placed with the luggage
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Princess Marianne of the Netherlands
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Born in Berlin, she was the youngest child and second daughter of King William I of the Netherlands by his wife Wilhelmine of Prussia. Her elder sister, Pauline, had died in 1806, long before her birth and her two older brothers were the future King William II and Prince Frederik of the Netherlands. In The Hague on 14 September 1830, Marianne married her first cousin Prince Albert, the union produced five children, Charlotte, married on 18 May 1850 with the later Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. He was either stillborn or lived only a few hours, Albert, married Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. Alexandrine, married on 9 December 1865 to Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1845 she left her unfaithful husband and began to live with her lover and former coachman Johannes van Rossum. On 28 March 1849, Marianne and Albert of Prussia were formally divorced, seven months later in Cefalù, Sicily, she gave birth to her only child with van Rossum, a son, called Johannes Willem van Reinhartshausen. After this, the courts of The Hague and Berlin broke all contact with her, Marianne, Johannes and their son spent the following years in Italy and from 1853 at Weißwasser Castle near Jauernig. In 1855 Marianne bought Schloss Reinhartshausen in Erbach, Rheingau, an unusually progressive woman and cultural visionary, she made the Schloss Reinhartshausen a cultural center of the Rhine. Marianne reconstructed part of the Schloss as a museum to house her collection of 600 paintings, the museum is known today as the Festsäle. The Schloss was always vibrant with many guests and Marianne encouraged young artists providing them accommodation, of her treasures,180 paintings,110 drawings including watercolors and gouaches, as well as various sculptures can be found there today. On Christmas Day of 1861, her son Johannes Wilhelm died of pneumonia in Reinhartshausen at age twelve, to honor him, Marianne donated 60.000 Gulden to the Erbacher locals for a piece of land on which a church was to be constructed. The church was completed and Johannes buried under its altar, the church, named after Johannes, is today’s Protestant church in Erbach. Twelve years later, on 10 May 1873, Johannes van Rossum, Mariannes partner for almost thirty years and he was buried next to his son. Marianne survived him by ten years and died in the Schloss Reinhartshausen in Erbach twenty days after her seventy-third birthday and she was buried near Johannes van Rossum and their son. Her eldest son, Prince Albert of Prussia, inherited her estate, in 1940, her grandson, Prince Frederick Heinrich of Prussia -Alberts son- owned the property. Today the Schloss Reinhartshausen is a 5-stars hotel
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Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
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House of Orange-Nassau
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Several members of the house served during this war and after as governor or stadtholder during the Dutch Republic. However, in 1815, after a period as a republic. The dynasty was established as a result of the marriage of Henry III of Nassau-Breda from Germany and their son René inherited in 1530 the independent and sovereign Principality of Orange from his mothers brother, Philibert of Châlon. As the first Nassau to be the Prince of Orange, René could have used Orange-Nassau as his new family name, however, his uncle, in his will, had stipulated that René should continue the use of the name Châlon-Orange. History knows him therefore as René of Châlon, after the death of René in 1544 his cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg inherited all his lands. This William I of Orange, in English better known as William the Silent, the Castle of Nassau was founded around 1100 by Count Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg, the founder of the House of Nassau. In 1120, Dudo-Henrys sons and successors, Counts Robert I and Arnold I of Laurenburg and they renovated and extended the castle complex in 1124. The first man to be called the count of Nassau was Robert I of Nassau, the Nassau family married into the family of the neighboring Counts of Arnstein. His sons Walram and Otto split the Nassau possessions, the descendants of Walram became known as the Walram Line, which became Dukes of Nassau, and in 1890, the Grand Dukes of Luxembourg. This line also included Adolph of Nassau, who was elected King of the Romans in 1292, the descendants of Otto became known as the Ottonian Line, which inherited parts of Nassau County, and properties in France and the Netherlands. The House of Orange-Nassau stems from the younger Ottonian Line, the first of this line to establish himself in the Netherlands was John I, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, who married Margareta of the Marck. The real founder of the Nassau fortunes in the Netherlands was Johns son and he became counsellor to the Burgundian Dukes of Brabant, first to Anton of Burgundy, and later to his son Jan IV of Brabant. He also would later serve Philip the Good, in 1403 he married the Dutch noblewoman Johanna van Polanen, and so inherited lands in the Netherlands, with the Barony of Breda as the core of the Dutch possessions and the family fortune. A nobles power was based on his ownership of vast tracts of land. It also helped that much of the lands that the House of Orange and Nassau controlled sat under one of the commercial and mercantile centers of the world (see below under Lands and Titles. The importance of the Nassaus grew throughout the 15th and 16th centuries as they became councilors, generals, Engelbert II of Nassau served Charles the Bold and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, who had married Charless daughter Mary of Burgundy. In 1496 he was appointed stadtholder of Flanders and by 1498 he had been named President of the Grand Conseil, in 1501, Maximilian named him Lieutenant-General of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands. From that point forward, Engelbert was the representative of the Habsburg Empire to the region
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Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange
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Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia was the consort of William V of Orange and the de facto leader of the dynastic party and counter-revolution in the Netherlands. She was the daughter of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Wilhelmina was the longest serving Princess consort of Orange. Wilhelmina was brought up by her grandmother, on 4 October 1767 in Berlin, she was married to William V of Orange, the last Dutch Stadtholder. As a person, she was proud and politically ambitious, as a Princess consort, she dominated her spouse and exerted both overt and covert influence on the politics of state. She was deeply involved in the political conflict in the Netherlands from 1781 onwards -- not only a supporter and partner. She was recognized openly as the leader of the dynastic Stadtholder party. She was in correspondence with foreign powers and used foreign supporters to influence Dutch internal policy. In 1785, her spouse was forced to leave Den Haag, Wilhelmina persuaded William not to give in, and subsequently went to Friesland -- officially to visit a jubilee, but in reality she aimed to gain support in the ongoing political conflict. In 1786, the family moved from the capital at the Hague to Nijmegen, both Wilhelmina and her brother, King Frederick William II of Prussia perceived the occurrences as an insult. After having returned to Nijmegen, Wilhelmina asked her brother for a military intervention, Frederick, despite having been in power for only for a year, attacked the Dutch Republic on 13 September 1787. Many rebels had to flee to France, and William was restored to power, with the support of foreign troops, Wilhelmina returned to The Hague and was celebrated by her followers as the true ruler of the Netherlands. However, the Dutch patriots returned in 1795 with support from the French, during their exile, the couple lived in Kew until 1802, and subsequently went to Germany, where they lived in Nassau and Braunschweig. Thereafter, Wilhelmina and her daughter – both having been widowed in 1806 – lived together at places in the Confederation of the Rhine. Wilhelmina and her returned to the Netherlands in 1814. She received Tsar Alexander I of Russia in Haarlem in 1815, an unnamed son William I, King of the Netherlands Willem Georg Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau, unmarried and without issue
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Dutch Reformed Church
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The Dutch Reformed Church was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation until 1930. It was the foremost Protestant denomination, and—since 1892—one of the two major Reformed denominations along with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and it spread to the United States, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and various other world regions through the Dutch colonization. The allegiance to the Dutch Reformed Church was a common feature among Dutch immigrant communities around the world and it developed during the Protestant Reformation, being shaped theologically by John Calvin, but also other major Reformed theologians. At the time of the merger, the Church had 2 million members organised in 1,350 congregations, a minority of members of the Church chose not to participate in the merger and instead formed the Restored Reformed Church. The Reformation was a time of violence and persecution by the established Catholic Church and governments. The first Synod of 23 Dutch Reformed leaders was held in October 1571 in the German city of Emden, the Synod of Emden is generally considered to be the founding of the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest of the Reformed churches in the Netherlands. The Synod both affirmed the actions of the earlier Synod of Wesel, as well as established presbyterian church government for the Dutch Reformed Church, the first Synod to be located in the Dutch Republic was held in Dordrecht in 1578. This synodical meeting is not to be confused with the better known Second Synod of Dort of 1618, large groups of Marranos settled in Emden and converted to Christianity. Mostly all Marranos, many Jewish groups converted to Christianity around 1649 to the Nederduitsche, Niederdeutsche church later on Dutch Reformed Church, in the latter meeting, the Church fathers expelled Arminians and added the Canons of Dort to the Confessions. The Canons of Dort, together with the previously adopted Belgic Confession, most conflicts and splits in the Church arose because of disagreement over the substance and interpretation of these doctrinal documents. The government of the Dutch Republic, which had instigated the Arminians expulsion, no Synod was held in the Netherlands until after the end of the Republic in 1795. Before the demise of the Dutch Republic in 1795, the Dutch Reformed Church enjoyed the status of public or privileged church, though it was never formally adopted as the state religion, the law demanded that every public official should be a communicant member. Consequently, the Church had close relations with the Dutch government, a privilege of members of the Dutch Reformed Church was that they could have their businesses open on Sundays, otherwise considered a religious day and not one for business. The 17th and early 18th centuries were the age of the Dutch Nadere Reformatie, led primarily by Gisbertus Voetius and Wilhelmus à Brakel, in the 19th century, theological liberalism led to splits in the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1834, the minister Hendrik de Cock of the town of Ulrum was told by leaders that he could not preach against certain colleagues. He and his congregation seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church, in time, the Afscheiding led to the departure of 120 congregations from the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1886, another separation, the Doleantie, occurred, led by Dutch Reformed businessman, theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper. The Dutch Reformed Church remained the largest church body in the Netherlands until the middle of the 20th century, the rapid secularisation of the Netherlands in the 1960s dramatically reduced participation in the mainstream Protestant church
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Prince of Orange
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Prince of Orange is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. Under the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, Frederick William I of Prussia ceded the Principality of Orange to King Louis XIV of France, the title is traditionally borne by the heir apparent of the Dutch monarch. The title descends via absolute primogeniture since 1983, meaning that its holder can be either Prince or Princess of Orange, the Dutch royal dynasty, the House of Orange-Nassau, is not the only family to claim the title. Rival claims to the title have been made by German emperors and kings of the House of Hohenzollern, the current users of the title are Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange suo jure, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, and Guy, Marquis de Mailly-Nesle. The Principality originated as the County of Orange, a fief in the Holy Roman Empire and his Occitan name is Guilhem, however, as a Frankish lord, he probably knew himself by the old Germanic version of Wilhelm. William also ruled as count of Toulouse, duke of Aquitaine, the chanson appears to incorporate material relating to William of Gellones battle at the Orbieu or Orbiel river near Carcassonne in 793 as well as to his seizure of the town of Orange. As the Empires boundaries retreated from those of the principality, the prince acceded to the rights that the Emperor formerly exercised. Orange ceased to exist as a realm, de facto. Although no longer descended from Louis-Charles, a branch of the Mailly family still claim the title today, in 1714 Louis XIV bestowed the usufruct of the principality on his kinsman, Louis Armand of Bourbon, Prince de Conti. After his death in 1727 the principality was deemed merged in the Crown by 1731, in this way, the territory of the principality lost its feudal and secular privileges and became a part of France. The Treaty of Utrecht allowed the King of Prussia to erect part of the duchy of Gelderland into a new Principality of Orange, the kings of Prussia and the German emperors styled themselves Princes of Orange till 1918. Several of his descendants became stadtholders and they claim the principality of Orange on the basis of agnatic inheritance, similar to that of William the Silent, who had inherited Orange from his cousin René of Châlon. They did however have a claim, albeit distant, to the principality itself due to John William Frisos descent from Louise de Coligny, who was a descendant of the original Princes of Orange. They could also claim descent from the del Balzo, an Italian branch of the des Baux family, via the marriage of Princess Anne to William IV, Prince of Orange. Anne was the eldest daughter of George II of Great Britain, Elizabeth Woodwilles grandmother was Margherita del Balzo, another descendant of Tiburge dOrange. They also claimed on the basis of the testament of Philip William, Maurice, finally, they claimed on the basis that Orange was an independent state whose sovereign had the right to assign his succession according to his will. France never recognized any of this, nor allowed the Orange-Nassaus or the Hohenzollerns to obtain anything of the principality itself, the Oranje-Nassaus nevertheless assumed the title and also erected several of their lordships into a new principality of Orange. They maintain the tradition of William the Silent and the house of Orange-Nassau, only the direct line of descent to Raimond V is shown here
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Prince Frederick of Orange-Nassau
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Frederick, Prince of Orange-Nassau was the youngest son of William V, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, sister of King Frederick William II. Commonly called Fritz inside the family, he chose a career with the Holy Roman Empire, he died of a fever while serving in Padua. Prince Frederick, or Fritz, as members of his family called him, was born in The Hague during the Dutch Republic period. Frederick was related to the British royal family through both his father, who was the grandson of George II of Great Britain, and through his mother, who was the grandniece of George II. Even as a boy, he was bright and showed much promise in the military field, General Prince Frederick Stamford, mathematician Leonhard Euler. In 1793, he was called to war when the Republic had to be defended against the French and he was an inspiring leader and was usually in the forefront. Prince Frederick took upon himself the defense of the part of Brabant. Later, he served under his brother at Veurne and Menin. While fighting in the battle at Flemish Wervik, on 12/13 September 1793, Frederick suffered an injury when he was shot in the shoulder. In 1794, he was appointed general of the cavalry, in 1795 the prince wanted to withdraw troops from Friesland, where they were fighting the French and Dutch patriots, his father did not give permission. In January 1795, the Batavian Republic, where the stadtholder, thus, William V took his entire family and fled to Great Britain, where George III, Williams first cousin, was king. On July 22,1795, Prince Frederik and his aide-de-camp, Perponcher, went to Osnabrück and he gathered Dutch officers and troops for a raid in the Batavian Republic. Back in England, Frederick fell in love with Princess Mary, the daughter of King George III. George, however not opposing the marriage, felt that the marriages of his three daughters, Charlotte, Augusta Sophia, and Elizabeth, had to be tended to first. Eventually, after Fredericks death, Mary married her first cousin, Prince Frederick went via England to Vienna, where he was given, in May 1796, the rank of Major General. He commanded a brigade in the corps of Von Wartensleben, in the army of Archduke Charles, later, commanded by Kray, he defended southern Germany and Nassau. Prince Frederick participated in battles in Germany and played a role in the conquest of Kehl in January 1797. As Archduke Charles was growing more and more pleased with Frederick, there he became the commander of four German battalions
29.
Stadtholder
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In the Low Countries, stadtholder, literally steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. For the last half century of its existence, it became a hereditary role. His son, Prince William V, was the last stadtholder of the republic, whose own son, King William I, became the first king of the Netherlands. The Dutch Monarchy is thus descended from the first stadtholder of the young Republic, William of Orange, the title stadtholder is roughly comparable to Englands historic title Lord Lieutenant. Its component parts literally translate as place holder, or as a cognate, stead holder. Note, however, that is not the word for the rank of lieutenant. Stadtholders in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence, if a lord had several dominions, some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder, to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a governor, who had limited authority. The local rulers of the independent provinces of the Low Countries made extensive use of stadtholders, in the 15th century the Dukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and these Burgundian Netherlands mostly each had their own stadtholder. Only the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories remained outside his domains, stadtholders continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King Philip II, his son and successor in Spain and the Low Countries. Due to the centralist and absolutist policies of Philip, the power of the stadtholders strongly diminished. The stadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, although each province could assign its own stadtholder, most stadtholders held appointments from several provinces at the same time. As these councils themselves appointed most members of the states, the stadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy, in the army, he could appoint officers by himself, in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus limited, and by law he was a mere official. His real powers, however, were greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the permanent Eighty Years War. Maurice of Orange after 1618 ruled as a dictator. The leader of the Dutch Revolt was William the Silent, he had been appointed stadtholder in 1572 by the first province to rebel and his personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. Maurice in 1618 and William III of Orange from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power, by intimidation, the stadtholders tried to extend their right of affirmation
30.
House of Nassau
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The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate. The lords of Nassau were originally titled Count of Nassau, then elevated to the class as Princely Counts. The Duchy was annexed in 1866 after the Austrian-Prussian War as an ally of Austria by Prussia and it was subsequently incorporated into the newly created Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau. Today, the term Nassau is used in Germany as a name for a geographical, historical and cultural region, all Dutch and Luxembourgish monarchs since 1815 have been senior members of the House of Nassau. According to German tradition, the name is passed on only in the male line of succession. The House would therefore, from this German perspective, be extinct since 1985, Count Dudo-Henry of Laurenburg is considered the founder of the House of Nassau. He is first mentioned in the purported founding-charter of Maria Laach Abbey in 1093, the Castle Laurenburg, located a few kilometres upriver from Nassau on the Lahn, was the seat of his lordship. His family probably descended from the Lords of Lipporn, in 1159, Nassau Castle became the ruling seat, and the house is now named after this castle. The Counts of Laurenburg and Nassau expanded their authority under the brothers Robert I, Robert was the first person to call himself Count of Nassau, but the title was not confirmed until 1159, five years after Roberts death. Roberts son Walram I was the first person to be legally titled Count of Nassau, the chronology of the Counts of Laurenburg is not certain and the link between Robert I and Walram I is especially controversial. Also, some sources consider Gerhard, listed as co-Count of Laurenburg in 1148, to be the son of Robert Is brother, the descendants of Walram became known as the Walram Line, which became important in the County of Nassau and Luxembourg. The descendants of Otto became known as the Ottonian Line, which would inherit parts of Nassau, France, both lines were themselves often divided over the next few centuries. Count Walram II began the Countship of Nassau-Weilburg, which existed to 1816, the sovereigns of this house afterwards ruled the Duchy of Nassau until 1866 and from 1890 the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The branch of Nassau-Weilburg ultimately became rulers of Luxembourg, the Walram line received the lordship of Merenberg in 1328 and Saarbrücken in 1353. In 1890, Duke Adolf would become Grand Duke Adolphe of Luxembourg, had they not been excluded from the succession, they would have inherited the headship of the house in 1912. The princely titles continued to be used, however, evidenced by the carrying of the title Prince of Nassau-Weilburg by the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, following Frederick Augustus death, the princely title was adopted by his half brother through an unequal marriage, Karl Philip. Henry received Nassau-Siegen, John received Nassau-Dillenburg and Emicho I received Nassau-Hadamar, in 1343, Nassau-Beilstein was split off from Nassau-Dillenburg
31.
Potsdam
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Potsdam is the capital and largest city of the German federal state of Brandenburg. It directly borders the German capital Berlin and is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region and it is situated on the River Havel,24 kilometres southwest of Berlins city centre. Potsdam was a residence of the Prussian kings and the German Kaiser, around the city there are a series of interconnected lakes and cultural landmarks, in particular the parks and palaces of Sanssouci, the largest World Heritage Site in Germany. The Potsdam Conference in 1945 was held at the palace Cecilienhof, the Filmstudio Babelsberg is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. Potsdam developed into a centre of science in Germany in the 19th century, today, there are three public colleges, the University of Potsdam, and more than 30 research institutes in the city. The area was formed from a series of large moraines left after the last glacial period, today, the city is three-quarters green space, with just a quarter as urban area. There are about 20 lakes and rivers in and around Potsdam, such as the Havel, the Griebnitzsee, Templiner See, Tiefer See, Jungfernsee, Teltowkanal, Heiliger See, the highest point is the 114-metre high Kleiner Ravensberg. Potsdam is divided into seven city districts and nine new Ortsteile. The appearances of the city districts are quite different, the districts in the north and in the centre consist mainly of historical buildings, the south of the city is dominated by larger areas of newer buildings. Potsdam has an Oceanic climate, with cool, snowy winters, the average winter high temperature is 3.5 °C, with a low of −1.7 °C. Snow is common in the winter, summers are mild, with a high of 23.6 °C and a low of 12.7 °C. The name Potsdam originally seems to have been Poztupimi, a common theory is that it derives from an old West Slavonic term meaning beneath the oaks, i. e. the corrupted pod dubmi/dubimi. The area around Potsdam shows occupancy since the Bronze Age and was part of Magna Germania as described by Tacitus. After the great migrations of the Germanic peoples, Slavs moved in and it was first mentioned in a document in 993 AD as Poztupimi, when Emperor Otto III gifted the territory to the Quedlinburg Abbey, then led by his aunt Matilda. By 1317, it was mentioned as a small town and it gained its town charter in 1345. In 1573, it was still a market town of 2,000 inhabitants. Potsdam lost nearly half of its due to the Thirty Years War. After the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Potsdam became a centre of European immigration and its religious freedom attracted people from France, Russia, the Netherlands and Bohemia
32.
Frederick William II of Prussia
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Frederick William II was King of Prussia, from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and sovereign prince of the Canton of Neuchâtel, pleasure-loving and indolent, he is seen as the antithesis to his predecessor, Frederick II. Under his reign, Prussia was weakened internally and externally, and his religious policies were directed against the Enlightenment and aimed at restoring a traditional Protestantism. However, he was a patron of the arts and responsible for the construction of notable buildings. Frederick William was born in Berlin, the son of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and his mothers elder sister, Elisabeth, was the wife of Augustus Williams brother King Frederick II. Frederick William became heir-presumptive to the throne of Prussia on his fathers death in 1758, the boy was of an easy-going and pleasure-loving disposition, averse to sustained effort of any kind, and sensual by nature. His marriage with Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, daughter of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and he then married Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt on 14 July 1769 also in Charlottenburg. He also was a talented cellist, for his part, Frederick William, who had never been properly introduced to diplomacy and the business of rulership, resented his uncle for not taking him seriously. The misgivings of Frederick II appear justified in retrospect, Frederick William also terminated his predecessors state monopolies for coffee and tobacco and the sugar monopoly. However, under his reign the codification known as Allgemeines Preußisches Landrecht, initiated by Frederick II, on 26 August 1786 Wöllner was appointed privy councillor for finance, and on 2 October 1786 was ennobled. Though not in name, he in fact prime minister, in all internal affairs it was he who decided. Bischoffswerder, too, still a major, was called into the king′s counsels. From this position Wöllner pursued long lasting reforms concerning religion in the Prussian state, the king proved eager to aid Wöllners crusade. On 18 December 1788 a new law was issued, to secure the orthodoxy of all published books. This forced major Berlin journals like Christoph Friedrich Nicolais Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, moreover, people like Immanuel Kant were forbidden to speak in public on the topic of religion. Finally, in 1791, a Protestant commission was established at Berlin to watch over all ecclesiastical, although Wöllners religious edict had many critics, it was an important measure which, in fact, proved an important stabilizing factor for the Prussian state. The edict was also a step forward regarding the rights of Jews, Mennonites, and Herrnhut brethren. But far more fateful for Prussia was the attitude towards the army
33.
Maastricht
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Maastricht is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse river, at the point where the Jeker River joins it, Maastricht developed from a Roman settlement to a Medieval religious centre, a garrison town and an early industrial city. Today, Maastricht is well-regarded as an affluent cultural center, Maastricht has 1677 national heritage sites, which is the second highest number in a Dutch town, after Amsterdam. It has become known, by way of the Maastricht Treaty, as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the town is popular with tourists for shopping and recreation, and has a large growing international student population. Maastricht is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, the name Maastricht is derived from Latin Traiectum ad Mosam, meaning crossing at the Meuse, and referring to the bridge built by the Romans. The Latin name first appears in documents and it is not known whether this was Maastrichts official name during Roman times. A resident of Maastricht is referred to as Maastrichtenaar whilst in the local dialect it is either Mestreechteneer or, colloquially, there is some debate as to whether Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Some people consider Nijmegen the oldest, mainly because it was the first settlement in the Netherlands to receive Roman city rights, Maastricht never did, but it may be as old or older as a settlement. In addition, Maastricht can claim uninterrupted habitation since Roman times, a large number of archeological finds confirms this. Nijmegen has a gap in its history, there is no evidence of habitation in the early Middle Ages. Neanderthal remains have been found to the west of Maastricht, of a later date are Palaeolithic remains, between 8,000 and 25,000 years old. Celts lived here around 500 BC, at a spot where the river Meuse was shallow and it is not known when the Romans arrived in Maastricht, or whether the settlement was founded by them. The Romans built a bridge over the Meuse in the 1st century AD, the bridge was an important link in the main road between Bavay and Cologne. Roman Maastricht was probably relatively small, remains of the Roman road, the bridge, a religious shrine, a Roman bath, a granary, some houses and the 4th-century castrum walls and gates, have been excavated. Fragments of provincial Roman sculptures, as well as coins, jewelry, glass, pottery, according to legend, the Armenian-born Saint Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, died in Maastricht in 384 and was buried there along the Roman road, outside the castrum. According to Gregory of Tours it was bishop Monulph who, around 570, built the first stone church on the grave of Servatius, the city remained an early Christian diocese until it lost this position to nearby Liège in the early 8th century. In the early Middle Ages Maastricht was part of the heartland of the Carolingian Empire along with Aachen, the town was an important centre for trade and manufacturing
34.
Leonhard Euler
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He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function. He is also known for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, Euler was one of the most eminent mathematicians of the 18th century, and is held to be one of the greatest in history. He is also considered to be the most prolific mathematician of all time. His collected works fill 60 to 80 quarto volumes, more than anybody in the field and he spent most of his adult life in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in Berlin, then the capital of Prussia. A statement attributed to Pierre-Simon Laplace expresses Eulers influence on mathematics, Read Euler, read Euler, Leonhard Euler was born on 15 April 1707, in Basel, Switzerland to Paul III Euler, a pastor of the Reformed Church, and Marguerite née Brucker, a pastors daughter. He had two sisters, Anna Maria and Maria Magdalena, and a younger brother Johann Heinrich. Soon after the birth of Leonhard, the Eulers moved from Basel to the town of Riehen, Paul Euler was a friend of the Bernoulli family, Johann Bernoulli was then regarded as Europes foremost mathematician, and would eventually be the most important influence on young Leonhard. Eulers formal education started in Basel, where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother. In 1720, aged thirteen, he enrolled at the University of Basel, during that time, he was receiving Saturday afternoon lessons from Johann Bernoulli, who quickly discovered his new pupils incredible talent for mathematics. In 1726, Euler completed a dissertation on the propagation of sound with the title De Sono, at that time, he was unsuccessfully attempting to obtain a position at the University of Basel. In 1727, he first entered the Paris Academy Prize Problem competition, Pierre Bouguer, who became known as the father of naval architecture, won and Euler took second place. Euler later won this annual prize twelve times, around this time Johann Bernoullis two sons, Daniel and Nicolaus, were working at the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg. In November 1726 Euler eagerly accepted the offer, but delayed making the trip to Saint Petersburg while he applied for a physics professorship at the University of Basel. Euler arrived in Saint Petersburg on 17 May 1727 and he was promoted from his junior post in the medical department of the academy to a position in the mathematics department. He lodged with Daniel Bernoulli with whom he worked in close collaboration. Euler mastered Russian and settled life in Saint Petersburg. He also took on a job as a medic in the Russian Navy. The Academy at Saint Petersburg, established by Peter the Great, was intended to improve education in Russia, as a result, it was made especially attractive to foreign scholars like Euler
35.
Herman Tollius
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Herman Tollius was a Dutch philologist and historian. He studied jurisprudence in Leiden, earning his doctorate of law in 1763, from 1767 he served as a professor of rhetoric and Greek at the University of Harderwijk. Beginning in 1784 he was a tutor to the children of Stadtholder William V. In 1809 he was appointed professor of statistics and diplomacy at Leiden, where he later worked as a professor of Greek and Latin languages
36.
Batavian Revolution
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The Batavian Revolution was a political, social and cultural turmoil at the end of the 18th century that marked the end of the Dutch Republic and saw the proclamation of the Batavian Republic. The period of Dutch history that followed the revolution is referred to as the Batavian-French era even though the time spanned was only 20 years, by the end of the 18th century, the Netherlands found themselves in a deep economic crisis, caused by the devastating Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. Like in much of Europe, the people of the Netherlands grew increasingly discontent with the regime of the stadtholder. During this time, the banks of the Dutch Republic held much of the worlds capital, the government sponsored banks owned up to 40% of Great Britains national debt. This concentration of wealth led to the formation of the Dutch Patriots by a minor Dutch noble named Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol and they were seeking to reduce the amount of power held by the stadtholder. The Patriots held Holland and the city of Utrecht, while the Orangists held the states of Guelders and Utrecht. In 1785, stadtholder William V fled his palace in the west of the country for Nijmegen in the east, in May 1787, the stadholders troops were defeated by the militia of Utrecht near Vreeswijk. When Princess Wilhelmina was stopped by militia near Goejanverwellesluis on June 28,1787. On September 13 a Prussian army of 20,000 men under the command of Duke of Brunswick crossed the border, the fortress of Vianen was deserted, the city of Utrecht opened its gates. At the fortress of Woerden preparations for defense were made, in Amsterdam several houses of patriot regents were plundered by mob. The stadholder returned to Gravenhage and Amsterdam, the last city to hold out, the Patriots continued urging citizens to resist the government by distributing pamphlets, creating Patriot Clubs and holding public demonstrations. The government responded by pillaging those towns where the opposition was concentrated, most Patriots went into exile in France, while Hollands own Ancien Régime strengthened its grip on Dutch government chiefly through the Orangist Grand Pensionary Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel. Only two years later, the French Revolution began, which embraced many of the ideas that the Patriots had espoused in their own revolt. The Stadtholder joined the ill-fated First Coalition of countries in their attempt to subdue the suddenly anti-Austrian French First Republic, however, in many cities revolution broke out even before the French arrived and Revolutionary Committees took over the city governments, and the national government also. The Batavian Revolution ended with the proclamation of the Batavian Republic in 1795, William was forced to flee to England, where he issued the Kew Letters proclaiming that all Dutch colonies were to fall under British rule, as they had declared war on the Batavian Republic. A number of colonies, such as Sri Lanka and the Cape Colony, never returned to Dutch rule. Several coups followed in 1798,1801 and 1805 which brought different groups of Patriots to power, though the French presented themselves as liberators, they behaved like conquerors. The Batavian Republic saw its end in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was founded, with Napoleons brother, Louis Napoleon as King of Holland
37.
Braunschweig
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Braunschweig, also called Brunswick in English, is a city of 252,768 people, in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the furthest navigable point of the Oker river, today, Braunschweig is the second largest city in Lower Saxony and a major centre of scientific research and development. The date and circumstances of the foundation are unknown. The towns original name of Brunswik is a combination of the name Bruno and Low German wik, the towns name therefore indicates an ideal resting-place, as it lay by a ford across the Oker River. Another explanation of the name is that it comes from Brand. The city was first mentioned in documents from the St. Magni Church from 1031, up to the 12th century, Braunschweig was ruled by the Saxon noble family of the Brunonids, then, through marriage, it fell to the House of Welf. In 1142 Henry the Lion of the House of Welf became duke of Saxony and he turned Dankwarderode Castle, the residence of the counts of Brunswick, into his own Pfalz and developed the city further to represent his authority. Under Henrys rule the Cathedral of St. Blasius was built and he also had the statue of a lion, his heraldic animal, the lion subsequently became the citys landmark. Henry the Lion became so powerful that he dared to refuse military aid to the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, Henry went into exile in England. He had previously established ties to the English crown in 1168, through his marriage to King Henry II of Englands daughter Matilda, however, his son Otto, who could regain influence and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor, continued to foster the citys development. By the year 1600, Braunschweig was the seventh largest city in Germany, the Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel didnt regain control over the city until the late 17th century, when Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, took the city by siege. In the 18th century Braunschweig was not only a political, influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment, dukes like Anthony Ulrich and Charles I became patrons of the arts and sciences. In 1745 Charles I founded the Collegium Carolinum, predecessor of the Braunschweig University of Technology, with this he attracted poets and thinkers such as Lessing, Leisewitz, and Jakob Mauvillon to his court and the city. Emilia Galotti by Lessing and Goethes Faust were performed for the first time in Braunschweig, in 1806, the city was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and became part of the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. The exiled duke Frederick William raised a corps, the Black Brunswickers. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Braunschweig was made capital of the reestablished independent Duchy of Brunswick, in the aftermath of the July Revolution in 1830, in Brunswick duke Charles II was forced to abdicate. His absolutist governing style had alienated the nobility and bourgeoisie. During the night of 7–8 September 1830, the palace in Braunschweig was stormed by an angry mob, set on fire
38.
Duchy of Nassau
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The Duchy of Nassau, or simply Nassau, was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the German Confederation and its ruling dynasty, now extinct, was the House of Nassau. The duchy was named for its core city, Nassau, although Wiesbaden. In 1865, it had 465,636 inhabitants, after being occupied and annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866, it was succeeded by the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The area today is a geographical and historical region, Nassau, today, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg still uses Duke of Nassau as his secondary title, and Prince or Princess of Nassau is used as a title of pretense by other members of the grand ducal family. Nassau is also part of the name of the Dutch Royal Family, on 17 July 1806, the remaining counties of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg joined the Confederation of the Rhine. Under pressure from Napoleon I both counties merged to form the Duchy of Nassau on 30 August 1806, under the joint rule of Frederick Augustus, as Frederick August had no heirs, he agreed that Frederick William should become sole ruler after his death. However Frederick William died from a fall on the stairs at Weilburg Castle on 9 January 1816, williams son Adolphe, the last Duke of Nassau, received Luxembourg after the male line of Nassau-Dillenburg became extinct in 1890
39.
Dutch States Army
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The Dutch States Army was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands and it played a major role in the Eighty Years War and in the wars of the Grand Alliance with France after 1672. However, the army did not spring wholly formed from the brow of Mars, the roots of the army are to be found in the armies raised by the rulers of the Habsburg Netherlands, Philip and his father, Charles V in their wars with France before 1559. These were mercenary armies recruited on the market of Landsknechte and followed the organisation, orange also shrank the size of the companies to about 150 men, and introduced the French model of commissioned and non-commissioned officers to replace the Landsknecht organisation. He finally changed the proportion of firearms to pole weapons decidedly in favor of the former in the newly raised companies. Except for the preponderance of firearms, these remained in place throughout the history of the mercenary troops, first of the States of Holland. These forces can, however, not be seen as predecessors of the States Army, the core of that new army were the troops raised by Holland on the model introduced after 1572. Though 16th-century armies were usually preponderantly mercenary armies, there often were elements of feudal levies and these were lacking in the States Army. Apparently it never occurred to the authorities in the Republic to organize a volunteer or conscript army, the authorities of the rebel provinces continued where they left of in this respect. They were, however, content to limit their role to financial administration and these financial institutions helped the Dutch Republic to punch above its weight in military matters. The following table gives the strengths of the Dutch States Army, the Army of Flanders, mercenary armies leveled the playing field. But they were expensive to maintain. For instance, the cost of fielding the States Army before 1609 was about 600,000 guilders annually, in the period between 1621 and 1629 the cost rose to between 800,000 and 1 million guilders annually. After 1629 the cost rose again to between 1.5 and 2 million guilders annually, with a peak of 3 million in 1632 and these sums exceeded the ordinary revenues of the province. The difference had to be borrowed from investors, in 1634 the Southern Quarter of the province alone already owed 44.4 million guilders. After 1588 the financing of the war expenditures of the Republic was put on a new organizational footing, in the Union-of-Utrecht treaty defense of the Union was indicated as one of the main functions of the federal republic. Though every participating province retained certain prerogatives, in practice they agreed to pool their resources and this establishment was enumerated in the so-called Staat van Oorlog that repartitioned the cost of regiments and companies to the several provinces. This statement was drawn up periodically by the Council of State, though such appointments were usually made by the captain-general of the army, the States of the provinces usually presented him with a list of three nominees to choose from
40.
Council of State (Netherlands)
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The Council of State must be consulted by the cabinet on proposed legislation before a law is submitted to parliament. The Council of State Administrative Law division also serves as one of the four highest courts of appeal in administrative matters, the King is president of the Council of State but he seldom chairs meetings. The Vice-President of the Council of State chairs meetings in their absence, under Dutch constitutional law, the Vice-President of the Council is acting head of state when there is no monarch such as if the royal family were to become extinct. Members of the council were the nobles of the realm. The latter faction felt themselves pushed aside and resigned in 1567, before he could arrive the members of the Council were arrested in a coup by the Brussels garrison. Soon afterwards the Pacification of Ghent was concluded pitting the States-General of the Netherlands against the Spanish crown, when the latter retreated to Namur in early 1577 the Council of State split in two rumps, one joining Don Juan the other remaining close to the rebellious States-General. These members were discharged by king Philip in 1578, formally ending the Council as a Habsburg institution in what was to become the Dutch Republic. This Council soon split in two councils, one for the area West of the river Meuse, the other for the area East of that river. The first, residing in Antwerp where the States-General also convened, played the role up to the departure of the Duke. After his departure the Council followed the States-General to Middelburg, Delft, after the assassination of the Prince of Orange in 1584 the Council was given new executive powers and temporarily assumed full executive authority in the place of the Prince. The States-General meanwhile took the lead in the search for another protecting sovereign and this resulted in the Treaty of Nonsuch of 1585 with Elizabeth I of England that explicitly assumed a leading role of the Council in the evolving constitution of the provinces of the Union of Utrecht. Article XIV of the treaty authorised Elizabeth to appoint two English representatives on the Council, besides the Governor-General, who would preside the council, the next articles gave far-reaching authority to the Governor-General, acting with the council, in matters of defense, finance and government. This was the first instance of the way the mighty province of Holland frustrated the policies of Leicester and his attempt to found a new Council of Finances, which was supposed to take a number of the financial powers of the Council of State, was quietly thwarted. These tasks and this influence of the Council did not return after Leicester had left the Netherlands at the end of 1587, by 1588 the Council had therefore reached the structure and functions it would possess during the entire existence of the Dutch Republic. The Council was henceforth made up of members appointed by the States-General on the nomination of the Provincial States, the stadtholders of the provinces were ex officio members, at least outside the First Stadtholderless Period and Second Stadtholderless Period. The executive powers of the Council were limited to policy, administering the Dutch States Armys financial aspects. The Council usually played a role, as laid down in its Instruction of 1651. However, the secretary of the Council, Simon van Slingelandt played a role in an attempt at constitutional reform in 1717
41.
National Convention
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The National Convention was the third government of the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the one-year Legislative Assembly. Created after the insurrection of 10 August 1792, it was the first French government organized as a republic. The Convention sat as an assembly from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795. The National Convention was therefore the first French assembly elected by a suffrage without distinctions of class, although the Convention lasted until 1795, power was effectively stripped from the elected deputies and concentrated in the small Committee of Public Safety from April 1793. After the fall of Robespierre, the Convention lasted for year until a new constitution was written. The election took place from 2 to 6 September 1792 after the election of the colleges by primary assemblies on 26 August. Therefore, the increased suffrage had very little impact, the electorate returned the same sort of men that the active citizens had chosen in 1791. In the whole of France, only eleven primary assemblies wanted to retain the monarchy, of the electoral assemblies, all tacitly voted for a republic – though only Paris used the word. None of the deputies stood as a royalist for elections, out of the five million Frenchmen able to vote, only a million showed up at the polls. The Salle des Machines had galleries for the public who often influenced the debates with interruptions or applause, the members of the Convention came from all classes of society, but the most numerous were lawyers. 75 members had sat in the National Constituent Assembly,183 in the Legislative Assembly, the full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the French colonies, of whom only some arrived in Paris in time. Besides these, however, the newly formed départements annexed to France from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations, according to its own ruling, the Convention elected its President every fortnight, and the outgoing President was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening sessions also occurred frequently, sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For both legislative and administrative the Convention used committees, with more or less widely extended and regulated by successive laws. The most famous of these included the Committee of Public Safety. The Convention held legislative and executive powers during the first years of the French First Republic and had three periods, Girondin, Montagnard or Jacobin, and Thermidorian. The abolition of the royalty is a matter you cannot put off till tomorrow, the first session was held on 20 September 1792. The following day, amidst profound silence, the proposition was put to the assembly, on the 22nd came the news of the Battle of Valmy
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French First Republic
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In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
43.
Flanders Campaign
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The Flanders Campaign was conducted from 6 November 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. A coalition of states mobilised military forces all the French frontiers, with the intention to invade Revolutionary France. The largest of these forces assembled on the Franco-Flemish border, the Allies enjoyed several early victories, but were unable to advance beyond the French border fortresses and were eventually forced to withdraw by a series of French counter-offensives. The Allies established a new front in the south of the Netherlands and Germany, the Austrians pulled back to the lower Rhine and the British to Hanover from where they were eventually evacuated. Austria and Prussia had been at war with France since 1792, although Britain, only after the execution of the French king Louis XVI on 21 January 1793 and the declaration of war by the Revolutionary Government did they finally mobilize. Allied armies mobilised along all of the French frontiers, the largest and most important in the Flanders Franco-Belgian border region. In the north, the immediate aim was to eject the French from the Dutch Republic. Austria and Prussia broadly supported this aim, but both were short of money, initially, just fifteen hundred troops landed with York in February 1793. The Duke of York was obliged to follow objectives set by Pitts Foreign Minister Henry Dundas, thus Allied military decisions in the campaign were tempered by political objectives from Vienna and London. The defences of the Dutch Republic were in condition, its States Army not having fought in a war for 45 years. Williams main concern therefore was the preservation of the House of Orange, many of the old officer class had emigrated, leaving the cavalry in particular in chaotic condition. Only the artillery arm, less affected by emigration, had survived intact, the problems would become even more acute following the introduction of mass conscription, the Levée en Masse, in 1793. The price of failure or disloyalty was the guillotine, as the Austrians retreated, Dumouriez saw an opportunity with the Patriot exiles to overthrow the weak Dutch Republic by making a bold move north. A second French Division under Francisco de Miranda manoeuvred against the Austrians and Hanoverians in eastern Belgium, on 16 February Dumouriezs republican Armée du Nord advanced from Antwerp and invaded Dutch Brabant. Dutch forces fell back to the line of the Meuse abandoning the fortress of Breda after a siege. Within nine days an initial British guards brigade had assembled and dispatched across the English Channel, landing at Hellevoetsluis under the command of general Lake. Meanwhile, while Dumouriez moved north into Brabant, a army under Francisco de Miranda laid siege to Maastricht on 23 February. However the Austrians had been reinforced to 39,000 and, now commanded by Saxe-Coburg, crossed the Ruhr River on 1 March, the next day the Austrians took Aachen before reaching Maastricht on the Meuse and forcing Miranda to lift the siege
44.
Veurne
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Veurne is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Veurne proper and the settlements of Avekapelle, Booitshoeke, Bulskamp, De Moeren, Eggewaartskapelle, Houtem, Steenkerke, Vinkem, Wulveringem, and Zoutenaaie. Veurne, in Latin Furna, is first found in 877 as a possession of the Saint Bertin Abbey in Saint-Omer, around 890 AD, it was noted as a fortification against the Viking raids. It soon was placed at the head of the castellany of Veurne, Veurne became a city in the 12th century. During the following century, trade with England flourished, in 1270, however, the relations with England came to a standstill and the city’s economy went into a long decline, hence the nickname of the Veurne Sleepers. On August 20,1297, the Battle of Veurne was fought in the struggle between the Flemish cities and the French king. The beautiful gothic church of Saint Walburga and the tower of the church of Saint Nicolas, Saint Walburga housed a chapter of canons. Saint Nicholas and Saint Denis were the two parish churches and possessions of the Norbertine abbey of Saint Nicholas. The 15th century saw the construction of a new city hall, as most of the Westhoek, the city and the neighbourghood strongly recessed during the economic and religious problems around 1566–1583. But when the town and the castellany officially got together, the town flourished, most of the other historic buildings date from this time, the prosperous reign of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella around 1600. In 1644 the Capucines organised a procession, since 1646, this procession was organised by the Sodales, a religious confraternity, that organised a crossway during Advent time, under the leadership of the Norbertine monk Jacob Clou. The hooded Sodales took a cross for penitence and this procession was expanded at the end of the 17th century with scenes from the Bible, and is the only one of his kind, remaining up to now in Flanders. The second half of the 17th century was marked by the miseries brought to the region by Louis XIV’s wars, vauban built heavy fortifications around the city, the outlines of which are still noticeable from the air today. Joseph II of Austria put them down and closed some of the institutions, putting a temporary end to the penitents’ procession. Those few cloisters that were still operating were closed at the French Revolution, from the Battle of Waterloo until World War I, Veurne could enjoy a century of quiet and prosperity. In 1831, Veurne was the first city to welcome Belgium’s new king, Leopold I, during World War I, Veurne was located within the Yser pocket of Belgian resistance against the German troops. During the Battle of the Yser, the Veurne city hall became the headquarters for the Belgian troops under King Albert I, in 1920, the French President, Raymond Poincaré, came to Veurne to award the city the Croix de guerre with palm. Veurne suffered some damage during World War II, mainly from allied bombing, today, the city is a regional centre, which gives commercial, medical, and educational services to the surrounding communities while enjoying increasing tourist attention
45.
Battle of Menin (1793)
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The great superiority in numbers being on the French side the battle ended in a victory for France, with the Dutch army suffering heavy losses. Among the casualties was Prince Frederick, who was wounded in the shoulder at Wervik, the combat occurred during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition. Menen is a city in Belgium located on the French border about 100 kilometres west of Brussels, after his victory in the Battle of Hondschoote, the French commander Jean Nicolas Houchard decided to fall on the Dutch forces defending Menen. About 27,000 French troops advanced on Menen from two directions - northward from Lille toward Menen and eastward along the bank of the Leie River toward Wervik. The Dutch defenders held their own on the 12th, however, on the 13th the French won a significant victory, forcing the Dutch to withdraw to Deinze. Two days later, the French were beaten by Beaulieu in the Battle of Courtrai, despite his recent successes, Houchard was charged with treason and executed. In the Summer of 1793 the Coalition forces had split, with the British army besieging Dunkirk under the Duke of York, the Dutch commander therefore repeatedly asked for reinforcements from his Allies, but these requests were denied. The British retreat did not turn into a rout, because Houchard did not pursue them energetically enough, the plan had as objective the relief of Le Quesnoy which was still holding out at this time. Houchard was therefore to march on Tournai and take that fortress, but to that end he had to take care of the Dutch troops around Menen. The Dutch troops had retreated from Ypres, as this was considered indefensible for lack of provisions, and toward Menen and Halluin and this convinced the Dutch commander to remain in position. Houchard knew the Dutch dispositions, which were as follows, on the right flank, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt occupied Wervik and Comines. In the center the Hereditary Prince held Menen itself with 6,000 men with 4 battalions under Wartensleben pushed forward into Roncq, on the left flank the Prussians of Von Geusau and Reitzenstein occupied Tourcoing and Lannoy. Houchard ordered Antoine Anne Lecourt de Béru to Bailleul to meet up with Joseph de Hédouville who marched there with his troops from Houthem by way of Poperinge, Pierre Marie Joseph Salomon Dumesny was already there on 11 September. The three French generals lost valuable time at Bailleul in preparation, but their presence remained hidden from the Dutch and this was also evidenced by the narrative of De Bas, representing the Dutch perspective, who reported the French attack as a complete surprise. In the morning of 12 September, two columns of French troops under Dumesny and Hédouville finally left Bailleul for Menen, marching along the bank of the Leie. At Bailleul, Dumesnys division counted 10,000 troops and Hédouvilles division numbered 6,500 men and these troops advanced east along the north bank of the Leie toward Wervik, forming the left prong of the French attack. Meanwhile, Bérus division with 10,000 to 11,000 soldiers moved north from the camps near Lille, the Lille division was split into a left column under Jacques MacDonald, a center column led by Béru and a right column under Pierre Dupont. Here the Hereditary Prince personally welcomed him and led him across the Leie to a camp near Wevelgem, meanwhile, Dutch troops forced the French vanguard, advancing in two columns toward Menen and Halluin, back near Halluin
46.
Wervik
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Wervik is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Wervik and the town of Geluwe, on January 1,2014, Wervik had a total population of 18,435. The total area is 43.61 km² which gives a density of 423 inhabitants per km². The area is famous for its excellent tobacco and has a tobacco museum, the town is separated from its French counterpart Wervicq-Sud by the river Leie. Wervik is one of the oldest towns in Belgium, stone Age artefacts, flint axes and spearheads, were found in the district of Bas-Flanders and the site Oosthove. The archeological excavations at de Pioneer in 2009 yielded traces of inhabitation from the Iron Age to the Roman Period, Wervik was probably a settlement of the Menapians led by the chief Virovos, at a small height along the banks of the Lys. At the time of the conquest of Gaul by Caesar, a Roman stopping place was next to the Celtic village. The Roman settlement was registered on Roman road maps from the 3rd to 4th century under the name Viroviacum or Virovino, vioviacum was located on the Roman road between Cassel and Bavay. Remains from that period are still being found regularly in Wervik, excavations at Saint Martins Square in the centre exposed the foundations of the old Saint Martins church, which was partly built with Roman waste materials. According to some historians this was formerly a temple dedicated to Mars or Priapus, in the 13th century the population of Belgium rose sharply, thanks to the great heyday of the textile trade which penetrated international markets up to the Far East. In 1327 the city was taken by Philip of Valois and partially destroyed, during the Ghent uprising of 1382, Wervik was an outpost of the army of Philip van Artevelde during the Battle of Westrozebeke. The rebellion failed, and the city was plundered by the Bretons, the Saint Medardus church had to be rebuilt completely. Wervik had not yet fully recovered when a fire in 1400 destroyed the whole town again. Of the 820 dwellings there only 20 remained, jan Zonder Vrees gave Wervik a market hall in 1401, as an incentive for recovery and revival. In 1436 part of the garrison of Calais invaded Wervik and again burnt the town to ashes, the many successive fires were mainly because most houses were built of wood and straw, and that the town had no protection against attacks as it was never walled. After the succession of fires the town was attacked by the plague, in the years 1436 and 1468 the population was decimated by the epidemic. In the middle of the 16th century finally a quieter period began for Wervik, prosperity had vanished and the population had dropped to about 3000 inhabitants. During the religious quarrels, the Saint Medardus church was badly damaged, the Geuzen burnt the church in 1579
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Spain: 876th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece (1814)
United Kingdom: 648th Knight of the Order of the Garter (1814)
Prussia: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle
