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William III of England

William III (William Henry; Dutch: Willem Hendrik; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702),[b] also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II.[2] He ruled Britain and Ireland alongside his wife, Queen Mary II, and their joint reign is known as that of William and Mary.

William III and II
Portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1690
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
Reign1689[a] – 8 March 1702
Coronation11 April 1689
PredecessorJames II
SuccessorAnne
Co-monarchMary II (1689–1694)
Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel
Reign4 July 1672 – 8 March 1702
PredecessorFirst Stadtholderless Period
SuccessorSecond Stadtholderless Period
Prince of Orange
Reign4 November 1650[b] – 8 March 1702
PredecessorWilliam II
SuccessorJohn William Friso (disputed[c])
Born4 November 1650 [NS: 14 November 1650][b]
Binnenhof, The Hague, Dutch Republic
Died8 March 1702 (aged 51) [NS: 19 March 1702]
Kensington Palace, Middlesex, England
Burial12 April 1702
Spouse
(m. 1677; died 1694)
Names
  • William Henry
  • Dutch: Willem Hendrik
HouseOrange-Nassau
FatherWilliam II, Prince of Orange
MotherMary, Princess Royal
ReligionProtestant
Signature
Military service
Battles/wars

William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His father died a week before his birth, making William III the prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he married his first cousin Mary, the eldest daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, the younger brother and later successor of King Charles II.

A Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic French ruler Louis XIV in coalition with both Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded William as a champion of their faith. In 1685, his Catholic uncle and father-in-law, James, became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. James's reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain, who feared a revival of Catholicism. Supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders, William invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution. In 1688, he landed at the south-western English port of Brixham; James was deposed shortly afterward.

William's reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him and his wife to take power. During the early years of his reign, William was occupied abroad with the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), leaving Mary to govern Britain alone. She died in 1694. In 1696 the Jacobites, a faction loyal to the deposed James, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore the deposed James to the throne. William's lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, the son of his sister-in-law Anne, threatened the Protestant succession. The danger was averted by placing his and Mary's cousins, the Protestant Hanoverians, in line to the throne with the Act of Settlement 1701. Upon his death in 1702, William was succeeded in Britain by Anne and as titular Prince of Orange by his cousin John William Friso, beginning the Second Stadtholderless Period.

Early life edit

Birth and family edit

 
William's parents, William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, 1647

William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650.[b][3] Baptised William Henry (Dutch: Willem Hendrik), he was the only child of Mary, Princess Royal, and stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange. His mother was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and sister of Charles II and King James II and VII.

Eight days before William was born, his father died of smallpox; thus William was the sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth.[4] Immediately, a conflict arose between his mother and his paternal grandmother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William (Willem) to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder.[5] William II had intended to appoint his wife as their son's guardian in his will; however, the document remained unsigned at William II's death and was therefore void.[6] On 13 August 1651, the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (Supreme Court) ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother, his grandmother and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, husband of his paternal aunt Louise Henriette.[d]

Childhood and education edit

William's mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society.[7] William's education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard[8] and the Scottish noblewoman, Lady Anna Mackenzie.[9] From April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius.[8]

The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange, a short treatise, perhaps by one of William's tutors, Constantijn Huygens.[10] In these lessons, the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence, fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange-Nassau.[11]

 
The young prince portrayed by Jan Davidsz de Heem and Jan Vermeer van Utrecht within a flower garland filled with symbols of the House of Orange-Nassau, c. 1660

From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius (though never officially enrolling as a student).[12] While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft, William had a small personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck, and a new governor, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein, who (as an illegitimate son of stadtholder Frederick Henry of Orange) was his paternal uncle.

Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his uncle Cornelis de Graeff pushed the States of Holland to take charge of William's education and ensure that he would acquire the skills to serve in a future—though undetermined—state function; the States acted on 25 September 1660.[13] Around this time, the young prince played with De Graeff's sons Pieter and Jacob de Graeff in the park of the country house in Soestdijk. In 1674 Wilhelm bought the estate from Jacob de Graeff, which was later converted into Soestdijk Palace.[14] This first involvement of the authorities did not last long. On 23 December 1660, when William was ten years old, his mother died of smallpox at Whitehall Palace, London, while visiting her brother, the recently restored King Charles II.[13] In her will, Mary requested that Charles look after William's interests, and Charles now demanded that the States of Holland end their interference.[15] To appease Charles, they complied on 30 September 1661.[16] That year, Zuylenstein began to work for Charles and induced William to write letters to his uncle asking him to help William become stadtholder someday.[17] After his mother's death, William's education and guardianship became a point of contention between his dynasty's supporters and the advocates of a more republican Netherlands.[18]

The Dutch authorities did their best at first to ignore these intrigues, but in the Second Anglo-Dutch War one of Charles's peace conditions was the improvement of the position of his nephew.[17] As a countermeasure in 1666, when William was sixteen, the States officially made him a ward of the government, or a "Child of State".[17] All pro-English courtiers, including Zuylenstein, were removed from William's company.[17] William begged De Witt to allow Zuylenstein to stay, but he refused.[19] De Witt, the leading politician of the Republic, took William's education into his own hands, instructing him weekly in state matters and joining him for regular games of real tennis.[19]

Early offices edit

Exclusion from stadtholdership edit

 
Johan de Witt took over William's education in 1666.
 
Gaspar Fagel replaced De Witt as grand pensionary, and was more friendly to William's interests.

After the death of William's father, most provinces had left the office of stadtholder vacant.[e] At the demand of Oliver Cromwell, the Treaty of Westminster, which ended the First Anglo-Dutch War, had a secret annexe that required the Act of Seclusion, which forbade the province of Holland from appointing a member of the House of Orange as stadtholder.[20] After the English Restoration, the Act of Seclusion, which had not remained a secret for long, was declared void as the English Commonwealth (with which the treaty had been concluded) no longer existed.[21] In 1660, Mary and Amalia tried to persuade several provincial States to designate William as their future stadtholder, but they all initially refused.[21]

In 1667, as William III approached the age of 18, the Orangist party again attempted to bring him to power by securing for him the offices of stadtholder and Captain-General. To prevent the restoration of the influence of the House of Orange, De Witt, the leader of the States Party, allowed the pensionary of Haarlem, Gaspar Fagel, to induce the States of Holland to issue the Perpetual Edict.[22] The Edict, supported by the important Amsterdam politicians Andries de Graeff and Gillis Valckenier,[23] declared that the Captain-General or Admiral-General of the Netherlands could not serve as stadtholder in any province.[22] Even so, William's supporters sought ways to enhance his prestige and, on 19 September 1668, the States of Zeeland appointed him as First Noble.[24] To receive this honour, William had to escape the attention of his state tutors and travel secretly to Middelburg.[24] A month later, Amalia allowed William to manage his own household and declared him to be of majority age.[25]

The province of Holland, the centre of anti-Orangism, abolished the office of stadtholder and four other provinces followed suit in March 1670, establishing the so-called "Harmony".[22] De Witt demanded an oath from each Holland regent (city council member) to uphold the Edict; all but one complied.[22] William saw all this as a defeat, but the arrangement was a compromise: De Witt would have preferred to ignore the prince completely, but now his eventual rise to the office of supreme army commander was implicit.[26] De Witt further conceded that William would be admitted as a member of the Raad van State, the Council of State, then the generality organ administering the defence budget.[27] William was introduced to the council on 31 May 1670 with full voting rights, despite De Witt's attempts to limit his role to that of an advisor.[28]

Conflict with republicans edit

In November 1670, William obtained permission to travel to England to urge Charles to pay back at least a part of the 2,797,859 guilder debt the House of Stuart owed the House of Orange.[29] Charles was unable to pay, but William agreed to reduce the amount owed to 1,800,000 guilders.[29] Charles found his nephew to be a dedicated Calvinist and patriotic Dutchman, and reconsidered his desire to show him the Secret Treaty of Dover with France, directed at destroying the Dutch Republic and installing William as "sovereign" of a Dutch rump state.[29] In addition to differing political outlooks, William found that his lifestyle differed from his uncles Charles and James, who were more concerned with drinking, gambling, and cavorting with mistresses.[30]

The following year, the Republic's security deteriorated quickly as an Anglo-French attack became imminent.[31] In view of the threat, the States of Gelderland wanted William to be appointed Captain-General of the Dutch States Army as soon as possible, despite his youth and inexperience.[32] On 15 December 1671, the States of Utrecht made this their official policy.[33] On 19 January 1672, the States of Holland made a counterproposal: to appoint William for just a single campaign.[34] The prince refused this and on 25 February a compromise was reached: an appointment by the States General for one summer, followed by a permanent appointment on his 22nd birthday.[34]

Meanwhile, William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States to appoint William stadtholder.[35] In return, William would ally the Republic with England and serve Charles's interests as much as his "honour and the loyalty due to this state" allowed.[35] Charles took no action on the proposal, and continued his war plans with his French ally.

Becoming stadtholder edit

"Disaster year" and Franco-Dutch War edit

 
William inspects the Dutch Water Line

For the Dutch Republic, 1672 proved calamitous. It became known as the Rampjaar ("disaster year") because in the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Netherlands was invaded by France and its allies: England, Münster, and Cologne. Although the Anglo-French fleet was disabled by the Battle of Solebay, in June the French army quickly overran the provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht. On 14 June, William withdrew with the remnants of his field army into Holland, where the States had ordered the flooding of the Dutch Water Line on 8 June.[36] Louis XIV of France, believing the war was over, began negotiations to extract as large a sum of money from the Dutch as possible.[37] The presence of a large French army in the heart of the Republic caused a general panic, and the people turned against De Witt and his allies.[37]

On 4 July, the States of Holland appointed William stadtholder, and he took the oath five days later.[38] The next day, a special envoy from Charles II, Lord Arlington, met William in Nieuwerbrug and presented a proposal from Charles. In return for William's capitulation to England and France, Charles would make William Sovereign Prince of Holland, instead of stadtholder (a mere civil servant).[39] When William refused, Arlington threatened that William would witness the end of the Republic's existence.[39] William answered famously: "There is one way to avoid this: to die defending it in the last ditch." On 7 July, the inundations were complete and the further advance of the French army was effectively blocked. On 16 July, Zeeland offered the stadtholdership to William.[38]

Johan de Witt had been unable to function as Grand Pensionary after being wounded by an attempt on his life on 21 June.[40] On 15 August, William published a letter from Charles, in which the English king stated that he had made war because of the aggression of the De Witt faction.[41] The people thus incited, De Witt and his brother, Cornelis, were brutally murdered by an Orangist civil militia in The Hague on 20 August.[41] Subsequently, William replaced many of the Dutch regents with his followers.[42]

 
Recapture of Naarden by William of Orange in 1673

Though William's complicity in the lynching has never been proved (and some 19th-century Dutch historians have made an effort to disprove that he was an accessory), he thwarted attempts to prosecute the ringleaders, and even rewarded some, like Hendrik Verhoeff, with money, and others, like Johan van Banchem and Johan Kievit, with high offices.[43] This damaged his reputation in the same fashion as his later actions at Glencoe.

William continued to fight against the invaders from England and France, allying himself with Spain, Brandenburg, and Emperor Leopold I. In November 1672, he took his army to Maastricht to threaten the French supply lines.[44] In September 1673, the Dutch situation further improved. The resolute defence by John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen and Hans Willem van Aylva in the north of the Dutch Republic finally forced the troops of Münster and Cologne to withdraw, while William crossed the Dutch Waterline and recaptured Naarden. In November, a 30,000-strong Dutch-Spanish army, under William's command, marched into the lands of the Bishops of Münster and Cologne. The Dutch troops took revenge and carried out many atrocities. Together with 35,000 Imperial troops, they then captured Bonn, an important magazine in the long logistical lines between France and the Dutch Republic. The French position in the Netherlands became untenable and Louis was forced to evacuate French troops. This deeply shocked Louis and he retreated to Saint Germain where no one, except a few intimates, were allowed to disturb him. The next year only Grave and Maastricht remained in French hands.[45]

Fagel now proposed to treat the liberated provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel as conquered territory (Generality Lands), as punishment for their quick surrender to the enemy.[46] William refused but obtained a special mandate from the States General to appoint all delegates in the States of these provinces anew.[46] William's followers in the States of Utrecht on 26 April 1674 appointed him hereditary stadtholder.[47] On 30 January 1675, the States of Gelderland offered him the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen.[48] The negative reactions to this from Zeeland and the city of Amsterdam made William ultimately decide to decline these honours; he was instead appointed stadtholder of Gelderland and Overijssel.[48] Baruch Spinoza's warning in his Political Treatise of 1677 of the need to organize the state so that the citizens maintain control over the sovereign was an influential expression of this unease with the concentration of power in one person.[49]

 
The thanksgiving service of William III's army in Grave after its capture

Meanwhile, the front of the war against France had shifted to the Spanish Netherlands. In 1674, Allied forces in the Netherlands were numerically superior to the French army under Condé, which was based along the Piéton river near Charleroi. William took the offensive and sought to bring on a battle by outflanking the French positions but the broken ground forced him to divide his army into three separate columns. At Seneffe, Condé led a cavalry attack against the Allied vanguard and by midday on 11 August had halted their advance. Against the advice of his subordinates, he then ordered a series of frontal assaults which led to very heavy casualties on both sides with no concrete result.[50] William and the Dutch blamed the Imperial commander, de Souches, and after a failed attempt to capture Oudenaarde, largely due too obstructionism from de Souches, he was relieved of command. Frustrated, William joined the army under Rabenhaupt with 10,000 troops instead of campaigning further in the Spanish Netherlands. He assumed command of operations at Grave, which had been besieged since 28 June. Grave surrendered on 27 October. The Dutch were split by internal disputes; the powerful Amsterdam mercantile body were anxious to end an expensive war once their commercial interests were secured, while William saw France as a long-term threat that had to be defeated. This conflict increased once ending the war became a distinct possibility when Grave was captured in October 1674, leaving only Maastricht.[51]

 
The Capture of Valenciennes by the French

On both sides, the last years of the war saw minimal return for their investment of men and money.[52] The French were preparing a major offensive, however, at the end of 1676. Intended to capture Valenciennes, Cambrai and Saint-Omer in the Spanish Netherlands. Louis believed this would deprive the Dutch regents of the courage to continue the war any longer. In this, however, he was mistaken. The impending French offensive actually led to an intensification of Dutch-Spanish cooperation. Still, the French offensive of 1677 was a success. The Spaniards found it difficult to raise enough troops due to financial constraints and the Allies were defeated in the Battle of Cassel. This meant that they could not prevent the cities from falling into French hands. The French then took a defensive posture, afraid that more success would force England to intervene on the side of the Allies.[53]

 
Hendrik Overkirk saves William of Orange from a French dragoon at the Battle of Saint-Denis, by Jacob de Vos

The peace talks that began at Nijmegen in 1676 were given a greater sense of urgency in November 1677 when William married his cousin Mary, Charles II of England's niece. An Anglo-Dutch defensive alliance followed in March 1678, although English troops did not arrive in significant numbers until late May. Louis seized this opportunity to improve his negotiating position and captured Ypres and Ghent in early March, before signing a peace treaty with the Dutch on 10 August.[54]

The Battle of Saint-Denis was fought three days later on 13 August, when a combined Dutch-Spanish force under William attacked the French army under Luxembourg. Luxembourg withdrew and William thus ensured Mons would remain in Spanish hands. On 19 August, Spain and France agreed an armistice, followed by a formal peace treaty on 17 September.[55]

The war had seen the rebirth of the Dutch States Army as one of the most disciplined and best-trained European armed forces. This had not been enough to keep France from making conquests in the Spanish Netherlands, which William and the regents blamed mainly on the Spaniards; the Dutch expected the once powerful Spanish Empire to have more military strength.[56]

Marriage edit

 
William married his first cousin, the future Queen Mary II, in 1677.

During the war with France, William tried to improve his position by marrying, in 1677, his first cousin Mary, elder surviving daughter of the Duke of York, later King James II of England (James VII of Scotland). Mary was eleven years his junior and he anticipated resistance to a Stuart match from the Amsterdam merchants who had disliked his mother (another Mary Stuart), but William believed that marrying Mary would increase his chances of succeeding to Charles's kingdoms, and would draw England's monarch away from his pro-French policies.[57] James was not inclined to consent, but Charles II pressured his brother to agree.[58] Charles wanted to use the possibility of marriage to gain leverage in negotiations relating to the war, but William insisted that the two issues be decided separately.[59] Charles relented, and Bishop Henry Compton married the couple on 4 November 1677.[60] Mary became pregnant soon after the marriage, but miscarried. After a further illness later in 1678, she never conceived again.[61]

Throughout William and Mary's marriage, William had only one reputed mistress, Elizabeth Villiers, in contrast to the many mistresses his uncles openly kept.[62]

Tensions with France, intrigue with England edit

By 1678, Louis XIV sought peace with the Dutch Republic.[63] Even so, tensions remained: William remained suspicious of Louis, thinking that the French king desired "universal kingship" over Europe; Louis described William as "my mortal enemy" and saw him as an obnoxious warmonger. France's annexations in the Southern Netherlands and Germany (the Réunion policy) and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, caused a surge of Huguenot refugees to the Republic.[64] This led William III to join various anti-French alliances, such as the Association League, and ultimately the League of Augsburg (an anti-French coalition that also included the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, Spain and several German states) in 1686.[65]

 
Portrait of William, aged 27, in the manner of Willem Wissing after a prototype by Sir Peter Lely

After his marriage in November 1677, William became a strong candidate for the English throne should his father-in-law (and uncle) James be excluded because of his Catholicism. During the crisis concerning the Exclusion Bill in 1680, Charles at first invited William to come to England to bolster the king's position against the exclusionists, then withdrew his invitation—after which Lord Sunderland also tried unsuccessfully to bring William over, but now to put pressure on Charles.[66] Nevertheless, William secretly induced the States General to send Charles the "Insinuation", a plea beseeching the king to prevent any Catholics from succeeding him, without explicitly naming James.[67] After receiving indignant reactions from Charles and James, William denied any involvement.[67]

In 1685, when James II succeeded Charles, William at first attempted a conciliatory approach, at the same time trying not to offend the Protestants in England.[68] William, ever looking for ways to diminish the power of France, hoped that James would join the League of Augsburg, but by 1687 it became clear that James would not join the anti-French alliance.[68] Relations worsened between William and James thereafter.[69] In November, James's second wife, Mary of Modena, was announced to be pregnant.[70] That month, to gain the favour of English Protestants, William wrote an open letter to the English people in which he disapproved of James's pro-Roman Catholic policy of religious toleration. Seeing him as a friend, and often having maintained secret contacts with him for years, many English politicians began to urge an armed invasion of England.[71]

Glorious Revolution edit

Invasion of England edit

 
The formation of the Dutch fleet that sailed for England with more than 450 ships, more than 2 times the size of the Spanish Armada of 1588

William at first opposed the prospect of invasion, but most historians now agree that he began to assemble an expeditionary force in April 1688, as it became increasingly clear that France would remain occupied by campaigns in Germany and Italy, and thus unable to mount an attack while William's troops would be occupied in Britain.[72] Believing that the English people would not react well to a foreign invader, he demanded in a letter to Rear-Admiral Arthur Herbert that the most eminent English Protestants first invite him to invade.[73] In June, Mary of Modena, after a string of miscarriages, gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who displaced William's Protestant wife to become first in the line of succession and raised the prospect of an ongoing Catholic monarchy.[74] Public anger also increased because of the trial of seven bishops who had publicly opposed James's Declaration of Indulgence granting religious liberty to his subjects, a policy which appeared to threaten the establishment of the Anglican Church.[75]

On 30 June 1688—the same day the bishops were acquitted—a group of political figures, known afterward as the "Immortal Seven", sent William a formal invitation.[73] William's intentions to invade were public knowledge by September 1688.[76] With a Dutch army, William landed at Brixham in southwest England on 5 November 1688.[77] He came ashore from the ship Den Briel, proclaiming "the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain". William's fleet was vastly larger than the Spanish Armada 100 years earlier: approximately consisting of 463 ships with 40,000 men on board,[78] including 9,500 sailors, 11,000 foot soldiers, 4,000 cavalry and 5,000 English and Huguenot volunteers.[79] James's support began to dissolve almost immediately upon William's arrival; Protestant officers defected from the English army (the most notable of whom was Lord Churchill of Eyemouth, James's most able commander), and influential noblemen across the country declared their support for the invader.[80]

James at first attempted to resist William, but saw that his efforts would prove futile.[80] He sent representatives to negotiate with William, but secretly attempted to flee on 11 December,[b] throwing the Great Seal into the Thames on his way.[81] He was discovered and brought back to London by a group of fishermen.[81] He was allowed to leave for France in a second escape attempt on 23 December.[81] William permitted James to leave the country, not wanting to make him a martyr for the Roman Catholic cause; it was in his interests for James to be perceived as having left the country of his own accord, rather than having been forced or frightened into fleeing.[82] William is the last person to successfully invade England by force of arms.[83]

Proclaimed king edit

 
Portrait attributed to Thomas Murray, c. 1690

William summoned a Convention Parliament in England, which met on 22 January 1689, to discuss the appropriate course of action following James's flight.[84] William felt insecure about his position; though his wife preceded him in the line of succession to the throne, he wished to reign as king in his own right, rather than as a mere consort.[85] The only precedent for a joint monarchy in England dated from the 16th century, when Queen Mary I married Philip of Spain.[86] Philip remained king only during his wife's lifetime, and restrictions were placed on his power. William, on the other hand, demanded that he remain as king even after his wife's death.[87] When the majority of Tory Lords proposed to acclaim her as sole ruler, William threatened to leave the country immediately. Furthermore, Mary, remaining loyal to her husband, refused.[88]

The House of Commons, with a Whig majority, quickly resolved that the throne was vacant, and that it was safer if the ruler were Protestant. There were more Tories in the House of Lords, which would not initially agree, but after William refused to be a regent or to agree to remain king only in his wife's lifetime, there were negotiations between the two houses and the Lords agreed by a narrow majority that the throne was vacant. On 13 February 1689, Parliament passed the Bill of Rights 1689, in which it deemed that James, by attempting to flee, had abdicated the government of the realm, thereby leaving the throne vacant.[89]

The Crown was not offered to James's infant son, who would have been the heir apparent under normal circumstances, but to William and Mary as joint sovereigns.[85] It was, however, provided that "the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint lives".[85]

William and Mary were crowned together at Westminster Abbey on 11 April 1689 by the Bishop of London, Henry Compton.[90] Normally, the coronation is performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the Archbishop at the time, William Sancroft, refused to recognise James's removal.[90]

William also summoned a Convention of the Estates of Scotland, which met on 14 March 1689 and sent a conciliatory letter, while James sent haughty uncompromising orders, swaying a majority in favour of William. On 11 April, the day of the English coronation, the Convention finally declared that James was no longer King of Scotland.[91] William and Mary were offered the Scottish Crown; they accepted on 11 May.[92]

Revolution settlement edit

 
Engraving of William III and Mary II, 1703

William encouraged the passage of the Toleration Act 1689, which guaranteed religious toleration to Protestant nonconformists.[84] It did not, however, extend toleration as far as he wished, still restricting the religious liberty of Roman Catholics, non-trinitarians, and those of non-Christian faiths.[90] In December 1689, one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, the Bill of Rights, was passed.[93] The Act, which restated and confirmed many provisions of the earlier Declaration of Right, established restrictions on the royal prerogative. It provided, amongst other things, that the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament, levy taxes without parliamentary consent, infringe the right to petition, raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent, deny the right to bear arms to Protestant subjects, unduly interfere with parliamentary elections, punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates, require excessive bail or inflict cruel and unusual punishments.[84] William was opposed to the imposition of such constraints, but he chose not to engage in a conflict with Parliament and agreed to abide by the statute.[94]

The Bill of Rights also settled the question of succession to the Crown. After the death of either William or Mary, the other would continue to reign. Next in the line of succession was Mary II's sister, Anne, and her issue, followed by any children William might have had by a subsequent marriage.[93] Roman Catholics, as well as those who married Catholics, were excluded.[93]

Rule with Mary II edit

Jacobite resistance edit

 
Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III, 12 July 1690, Jan van Huchtenburg

Although most in Britain accepted William and Mary as sovereigns, a significant minority refused to acknowledge their claim to the throne, instead believing in the divine right of kings, which held that the monarch's authority derived directly from God rather than being delegated to the monarch by Parliament. Over the next 57 years Jacobites pressed for restoration of James and his heirs. Nonjurors in England and Scotland, including over 400 clergy and several bishops of the Church of England and Scottish Episcopal Church as well as numerous laymen, refused to take oaths of allegiance to William.

Ireland was controlled by Roman Catholics loyal to James, and Franco-Irish Jacobites arrived from France with French forces in March 1689 to join the war in Ireland and contest Protestant resistance at the Siege of Derry.[95] William sent his navy to the city in July, and his army landed in August. After progress stalled, William personally intervened to lead his armies to victory over James at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690,[f] after which James fled back to France.[96]

 
Lieutenant-General Godert de Ginkell successfully commanded the Williamite forces in Ireland after William left.

Upon William's return to England, his close friend Dutch General Godert de Ginkell, who had accompanied William to Ireland and had commanded a body of Dutch cavalry at the Battle of the Boyne, was named Commander in Chief of William's forces in Ireland and entrusted with further conduct of the war there. Ginkell took command in Ireland in the spring of 1691, and following the Battle of Aughrim, succeeded in capturing both Galway and Limerick, thereby effectively suppressing the Jacobite forces in Ireland within a few more months. After difficult negotiations a capitulation was signed on 3 October 1691—the Treaty of Limerick. Thus concluded the Williamite pacification of Ireland, and for his services the Dutch general received the formal thanks of the House of Commons, and was awarded the title of Earl of Athlone by the king.

A series of Jacobite risings also took place in Scotland, where Viscount Dundee raised Highland forces and won a victory on 27 July 1689 at the Battle of Killiecrankie, but he died in the fight and a month later Scottish Cameronian forces subdued the rising at the Battle of Dunkeld.[97] William offered Scottish clans that had taken part in the rising a pardon provided that they signed allegiance by a deadline, and his government in Scotland punished a delay with the Massacre of Glencoe of 1692, which became infamous in Jacobite propaganda as William had countersigned the orders.[98][99] Bowing to public opinion, William dismissed those responsible for the massacre, though they still remained in his favour; in the words of the historian John Dalberg-Acton, "one became a colonel, another a knight, a third a peer, and a fourth an earl."[98]

William's reputation in Scotland suffered further damage when he refused English assistance to the Darien scheme, a Scottish colony (1698–1700) that failed disastrously.[100]

Parliament and faction edit

 
Silver Crown coin, 1695. The Latin inscription is (obverse) GVLIELMVS III DEI GRA[TIA] (reverse) MAG[NAE] BR[ITANNIAE], FRA[NCIAE], ET HIB[ERNIAE] REX 1695. English: "William III, By the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, 1695." The reverse shows the arms, clockwise from top, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, centred on William's personal arms of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Although the Whigs were William's strongest supporters, he initially favoured a policy of balance between the Whigs and Tories.[101] The Marquess of Halifax, a man known for his ability to chart a moderate political course, gained William's confidence early in his reign.[102] The Whigs, a majority in Parliament, had expected to dominate the government, and were disappointed that William denied them this chance.[103] This "balanced" approach to governance did not last beyond 1690, as the conflicting factions made it impossible for the government to pursue effective policy, and William called for new elections early that year.[104]

After the Parliamentary elections of 1690, William began to favour the Tories, led by Danby and Nottingham.[105] While the Tories favoured preserving the king's prerogatives, William found them unaccommodating when he asked Parliament to support his continuing war with France.[106] As a result, William began to prefer the Whig faction known as the Junto.[107] The Whig government was responsible for the creation of the Bank of England following the example of the Bank of Amsterdam. William's decision to grant the Royal Charter in 1694 to the Bank of England, a private institution owned by bankers, is his most relevant economic legacy.[108] It laid the financial foundation of the English take-over of the central role of the Dutch Republic and Bank of Amsterdam in global commerce in the 18th century.

William dissolved Parliament in 1695, and the new Parliament that assembled that year was led by the Whigs. The following year Parliament passed a colonial trade bill.[109][110]

War in Europe edit

 
The return of the Stadholder-King in the Dutch Republic on 31 January 1691, by Ludolf Bakhuysen

William continued to absent himself from Britain for extended periods during his Nine Years' War (1688–1697) against France, leaving each spring and returning to England each autumn.[111] England joined the League of Augsburg, which then became known as the Grand Alliance.[112] Whilst William was away fighting, his wife, Mary II, governed the realm, but acted on his advice. Each time he returned to England, Mary gave up her power to him without reservation, an arrangement that lasted for the rest of Mary's life.[113]

After the Anglo-Dutch fleet defeated a French fleet at La Hogue in 1692, the allies controlled the seas for the rest of the conflict, and the Treaty of Limerick (1691) pacified Ireland.[114] At the same time, the Grand Alliance fared poorly in Europe, as William lost Namur in the Spanish Netherlands in 1692.[115] A surprise attack on the French under the command of the Duke of Luxembourg at Steenkerke was repulsed and the French defeated the allies at the Battle of Landen in 1693. However, William managed to inflict such damage on the French in these battles that further major French offensives were ruled out.[116] The following year, the Allies possessed the numerical upper hand in the Low Countries. This enabled William to recapture Huy in 1694. A year later, the Allies achieved their grand success and recaptured Namur from the French. The fortress was considered one of the strongest fortresses in Europe and the conquest was a major blow to Louis XIV's reputation.[117]

Economic crisis edit

William's rule led to rapid inflation in England, which caused widespread hunger from 1693 onwards.[118] The Nine Years' War damaged English maritime trade and led to a doubling in taxation.[118] These factors coupled with government mismanagement caused a currency crisis 1695–1697 and a run on the recently created Bank of England.[118]

Later years edit

 
William painted in the 1690s by Godfried Schalcken

Mary II died of smallpox on 28 December 1694, leaving William III to rule alone.[119] William deeply mourned his wife's death.[120] Despite his conversion to Anglicanism, William's popularity in England plummeted during his reign as a sole monarch.[121]

Rumours of homosexuality edit

During the 1690s, rumours grew of William's alleged homosexual inclinations and led to the publication of many satirical pamphlets by his Jacobite detractors.[122] He did have several close male associates, including two Dutch courtiers to whom he granted English titles: Hans Willem Bentinck became Earl of Portland, and Arnold Joost van Keppel was created Earl of Albemarle. These relationships with male friends, and his apparent lack of mistresses, led William's enemies to suggest that he might prefer homosexual relationships. William's modern biographers disagree on the veracity of these allegations. Some believe there may have been truth to the rumours,[123] while others affirm that they were no more than figments of his enemies' imaginations, as it was common for someone childless like William to adopt, or evince paternal affections for, a younger man.[124]

Whatever the case, Bentinck's closeness to William did arouse jealousies at the royal court. William's young protégé, Keppel, aroused more gossip and suspicion, being 20 years William's junior, strikingly handsome, and having risen from the post of a royal page to an earldom with some ease.[125] Portland wrote to William in 1697 that "the kindness which your Majesty has for a young man, and the way in which you seem to authorise his liberties ... make the world say things I am ashamed to hear."[126] This, he said, was "tarnishing a reputation which has never before been subject to such accusations". William tersely dismissed these suggestions, however, saying, "It seems to me very extraordinary that it should be impossible to have esteem and regard for a young man without it being criminal."[126]

Peace with France edit

 
Engraving from 1695 showing the Lord Justices who administered the kingdom while William was on campaign

In 1696, the Dutch territory of Drenthe made William its Stadtholder. In the same year, Jacobites plotted to assassinate William in an attempt to restore James to the English throne. The plan failed and support for William surged.[127] Parliament passed a bill of attainder against the ringleader, John Fenwick, and he was beheaded in 1697.[128] In accordance with the Treaty of Rijswijk (20 September 1697), which ended the Nine Years' War, the French king, Louis XIV, recognised William III as King of England, and undertook to give no further assistance to James II.[129] Thus deprived of French dynastic backing after 1697, Jacobites posed no further serious threats during William's reign.

As his life drew towards its conclusion, William, like many other contemporary European rulers, felt concern over the question of succession to the throne of Spain, which brought with it vast territories in Italy, the Low Countries and the New World. Charles II of Spain was an invalid with no prospect of having children; some of his closest relatives included Louis XIV and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. William sought to prevent the Spanish inheritance from going to either monarch, for he feared that such a calamity would upset the balance of power. William and Louis XIV agreed to the First Partition Treaty (1698), which provided for the division of the Spanish Empire: Joseph Ferdinand, Electoral Prince of Bavaria, would obtain Spain, while France and the Holy Roman Emperor would divide the remaining territories between them.[130] Charles II accepted the nomination of Joseph Ferdinand as his heir, and war appeared to be averted.[131]

 
Louis XIV of France, William's lifelong enemy

When, however, Joseph Ferdinand died of smallpox in February 1699, the issue re-opened. In 1700, William and Louis XIV agreed to the Second Partition Treaty (also called the Treaty of London), under which the territories in Italy would pass to a son of the King of France, and the other Spanish territories would be inherited by a son of the Holy Roman Emperor.[132] This arrangement infuriated both the Spanish, who still sought to prevent the dissolution of their empire, and the Holy Roman Emperor, who regarded the Italian territories as much more useful than the other lands.[132] Unexpectedly, Charles II of Spain interfered as he lay dying in late 1700.[133] Unilaterally, he willed all Spanish territories to Philip, Duke of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV. The French conveniently ignored the Second Partition Treaty and claimed the entire Spanish inheritance.[133] Furthermore, Louis XIV alienated William III by recognising James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of the former King James II (who died in September 1701), as de jure King of England.[134] The subsequent conflict, known as the War of the Spanish Succession, broke out in July 1701 and continued until 1713/1714.

English royal succession edit

Another royal inheritance, apart from that of Spain, also concerned William. His marriage with Mary had not produced any children, and he did not seem likely to remarry. Mary's sister, Anne, had borne numerous children, all of whom died during childhood. The death of her last surviving child (Prince William, Duke of Gloucester) in 1700 left her as the only individual in the line of succession established by the Bill of Rights.[135] As the complete exhaustion of the defined line of succession would have encouraged a restoration of James II's line, the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701, which provided that if Anne died without surviving issue and William failed to have surviving issue by any subsequent marriage, the Crown would pass to a distant relative, Sophia, Electress of Hanover (a granddaughter of James I) and to her Protestant heirs.[136] The Act debarred Roman Catholics from the throne, thereby excluding the candidacy of several dozen people more closely related to Mary and Anne than Sophia. The Act extended to England and Ireland, but not to Scotland, whose Estates had not been consulted before the selection of Sophia.[136]

Death edit

 
19th-century depiction of William's deadly fall from his horse

In 1702, William died of pneumonia, a complication from a broken collarbone following a fall from his horse, Sorrel. It was rumoured that the horse had been confiscated from Sir John Fenwick, one of the Jacobites who had conspired against William.[137] Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow, many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat".[138] Years later, Winston Churchill, in his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, stated that the fall "opened the door to a troop of lurking foes".[139] William was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside his wife.[140] His sister-in-law and cousin, Anne, became queen regnant of England, Scotland and Ireland.

William's death meant that he would remain the only member of the Dutch House of Orange to reign over England. Members of this House had served as stadtholder of Holland and the majority of the other provinces of the Dutch Republic since the time of William the Silent (William I). The five provinces of which William III was stadtholder—Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel—all suspended the office after his death. Thus, he was the last patrilineal descendant of William I to be named stadtholder for the majority of the provinces. Under William III's will, John William Friso stood to inherit the Principality of Orange as well as several lordships in the Netherlands.[141] He was William's closest agnatic relative, as well as grandson of William's aunt Henriette Catherine. However, Frederick I of Prussia also claimed the Principality as the senior cognatic heir, his mother Louise Henriette being Henriette Catherine's older sister.[142] Under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Frederick I's successor, Frederick William I of Prussia, ceded his territorial claim to Louis XIV of France, keeping only a claim to the title. Friso's posthumous son, William IV, succeeded to the title at his birth in 1711; in the Treaty of Partition (1732), William IV agreed to share the title "Prince of Orange" with Frederick William.[143]

Legacy edit

He was a great man, an enemy of France, to which he did a great deal of harm, but we owe him our esteem.

 
Statue of William III formerly located on College Green, Dublin. Erected in 1701, it was destroyed by the IRA in 1928.[145]

William's primary achievement was to contain France when it was in a position to impose its will across much of Europe. His life's aim was largely to oppose Louis XIV of France. This effort continued after his death during the War of the Spanish Succession. Another important consequence of William's reign in England involved the ending of a bitter conflict between Crown and Parliament that had lasted since the accession of the first English monarch of the House of Stuart, James I, in 1603. The conflict over royal and parliamentary power had led to the English Civil War during the 1640s and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.[146] During William's reign, however, the conflict was settled in Parliament's favour by the Bill of Rights 1689, the Triennial Act 1694 and the Act of Settlement 1701.[146]

The historical verdict on William's qualities as an army commander is mixed. Many contemporaries agreed that he was a great field commander. Even his enemies spoke highly of him. The Marquis de Quincy, for example, wrote that it was due to William's insight and personal courage that the Allies held out at the Battle of Seneffe, while he also praises how William led his troops to safety during the battles of Steenkerque and Landen. Still, William has been blamed by French and British historians for his ability to be impatient and reckless and for treating the lives of himself and his soldiers lightly. British historian John Childs acknowledges William's great qualities, but feels that he fell short as a field commander because, by often throwing himself into the fray, he no longer had the complete oversight. William commanded several field battles; Battle of Seneffe (1674), Battle of Cassel (1677), Battle of Saint-Denis (1678), Battle of the Boyne (1690), Battle of Steenkerque (1692) and the Battle of Landen (1693). While most of these were defeats, it would be wrong to place the responsibility solely on him. He was up against a strong uniformly organised army with a coalition army. Many of the coalition troops were not as practised and disciplined as the Dutch troops, and it took time to incorporate them into the Dutch system. William did not attach much value to traditional victory signs either. He considered himself a winner if he managed to inflate French losses to the point where French offensive plans had to be abandoned. The battles he fought were almost all ones of attrition. That the Allies also suffered many casualties he took for granted. The Dutch army organisation was prepared for that; and, from 1689, so was England's.[147]

William endowed the College of William and Mary (in present-day Williamsburg, Virginia) in 1693.[148] Nassau County, New York, a county on Long Island, is a namesake.[149] Long Island itself was also known as Nassau during early Dutch rule.[149] Though many alumni of Princeton University think that the town of Princeton, New Jersey (and hence the university), were named in his honour, this is probably untrue, although Nassau Hall, the college's first building, is named for him.[150] New York City was briefly renamed New Orange for him in 1673 after the Dutch recaptured the city, which had been renamed New York by the British in 1665. His name was applied to the fort and administrative centre for the city on two separate occasions reflecting his different sovereign status—first as Fort Willem Hendrick in 1673, and then as Fort William in 1691 when the English evicted Colonists who had seized the fort and city.[151] Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas, is named after Fort Nassau, which was renamed in 1695 in his honour.[152] The Dutch East India Company built a military fort in Cape Town, South Africa, in the 17th century, naming it the Castle of Good Hope. The five bastions were named after William III's titles: Orange, Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Buuren and Leerdam.[153]

Titles, styles, and arms edit

 
Joint monogram of William and Mary carved onto Hampton Court Palace

Titles and styles edit

  • 4 November 1650 – 9 July 1672: His Highness[154] The Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau[155]
  • 9–16 July 1672: His Highness The Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland
  • 16 July 1672 – 26 April 1674: His Highness The Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland
  • 26 April 1674 – 13 February 1689: His Highness The Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel
  • 13 February 1689 – 8 March 1702: His Majesty The King

By 1674, William was fully styled as "Willem III, by God's grace Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau etc., Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht etc., Captain- and Admiral-General of the United Netherlands".[156] After their accession in Great Britain in 1689, William and Mary used the titles "King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, etc."[157]

Arms edit

As Prince of Orange, William's coat of arms was: Quarterly, I Azure billetty a lion rampant Or (for Nassau); II Or a lion rampant guardant Gules crowned Azure (Katzenelnbogen); III Gules a fess Argent (Vianden), IV Gules two lions passant guardant Or, armed and langued azure (Dietz); between the I and II quarters an inescutcheon, Or a fess Sable (Moers); at the fess point an inescutcheon, quarterly I and IV Gules, a bend Or (Châlons); II and III Or a bugle horn Azure, stringed Gules (Orange) with an inescutcheon, Nine pieces Or and Azure (Geneva); between the III and IV quarters, an inescutcheon, Gules a fess counter embattled Argent (Buren).[158]

The coat of arms used by the king and queen was: Quarterly, I and IV Grand quarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); over all an escutcheon Azure billetty a lion rampant Or.[159] In his later coat of arms, William used the motto: Je Maintiendrai (medieval French for "I will maintain"). The motto represents the House of Orange-Nassau, since it came into the family with the Principality of Orange.

 
 
 
The coat of arms used by William III as Prince of Orange[160] Royal coat of arms outside Scotland Royal coat of arms in Scotland

Ancestry edit

Family tree edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ William was declared King by the Parliament of England on 13 February 1689 and by the Parliament of Scotland on 11 April 1689.
  2. ^ a b c d e During William's lifetime, two calendars were in use in Europe: the Old Style Julian calendar in Britain and parts of Northern and Eastern Europe, and the New Style Gregorian calendar elsewhere, including William's birthplace in the Netherlands. At the time of William's birth, Gregorian dates were ten days ahead of Julian dates: thus William was born on 14 November 1650 by Gregorian reckoning, but on 4 November 1650 by Julian reckoning. At William's death, Gregorian dates were eleven days ahead of Julian dates. He died on 19 March 1702 by the Gregorian calendar, and on 8 March 1702 by the standard Julian calendar. (However, the English New Year fell on 25 March, so by English reckoning of the time, William died on 8 March 1701.) Unless otherwise noted, dates in this article follow the Julian calendar with New Year falling on 1 January.
  3. ^ Friso was made William's universal heir in his Last Will and Testament. However, the title was disputed by Frederick I of Prussia, who had a claim to the title on the basis of a fideicommis made by his grandfather Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, in which if the House of Orange became extinct in the male line the issue of his eldest daughter, Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau, Frederick I's mother, would have first claim. (Friso's mother, Princess Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau, was a younger daughter of Frederick Henry.) The dispute was eventually settled in 1732 with the Treaty of Partition[1] cf. First Stadtholderless Period.
  4. ^ Frederick William was chosen because he could act as a neutral party mediating between the two women, but also because as a possible heir he was interested in protecting the Orange family fortune, which Amalia feared Mary would squander. Troost, pp. 26–27.
  5. ^ In the province of Friesland that office was filled by William's uncle-by-marriage William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz.
  6. ^ Due to the change to the Gregorian calendar, William's victory is commemorated annually by Northern Irish and Scottish Protestants on The Twelfth of July – cf. Troost, pp. 278–280

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ "Treaty between Prussia and Orange-Nassau, Berlin, 1732". Heraldica (in French). Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  2. ^ . UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  3. ^ Claydon, p. 9
  4. ^ Claydon, p. 14
  5. ^ Troost, p. 26; van der Zee, pp. 6–7
  6. ^ Troost, p. 26
  7. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 5–6; Troost, p. 27
  8. ^ a b Troost, pp. 34–37
  9. ^ Rosalind K. Marshall, 'Mackenzie, Anna, countess of Balcarres and countess of Argyll (c. 1621–1707)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 accessed 29 Nov 2014
  10. ^ Troost, 27. The author may also have been Johan van den Kerckhoven. Ibid.
  11. ^ Troost, pp. 36–37
  12. ^ Troost, pp. 37–40
  13. ^ a b Troost, p. 43
  14. ^ Catharina Hooft at Vrouwen van Soestdijk
  15. ^ Troost, pp. 43–44
  16. ^ Troost, p. 44
  17. ^ a b c d Troost, p. 49
  18. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 12–17
  19. ^ a b Van der Kiste, pp. 14–15
  20. ^ Troost, pp. 29–30
  21. ^ a b Troost, p. 41
  22. ^ a b c d Troost, pp. 52–53
  23. ^ opgang van Mens en Wetenschap, by Hubert Luns, p 90 (2018); Jephta Dullaart: Triumph of Peace; Andries de Graeff, voorbeeld van culturele elite? Tweede opdrach, by Pieter Vis
  24. ^ a b Van der Kiste, pp. 16–17
  25. ^ Troost, p. 57
  26. ^ Troost, pp. 53–54
  27. ^ Troost, p. 59
  28. ^ Troost, p. 60
  29. ^ a b c Troost, pp. 62–64
  30. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 18–20
  31. ^ Troost, p. 64
  32. ^ Troost, p. 65
  33. ^ Troost, p. 66
  34. ^ a b Troost, p. 67
  35. ^ a b Troost, pp. 65–66
  36. ^ Troost, p. 74
  37. ^ a b Troost, pp. 78–83
  38. ^ a b Troost, p. 76
  39. ^ a b Troost, pp. 80–81
  40. ^ Troost, p. 75
  41. ^ a b Troost, pp. 85–86
  42. ^ Troost, pp. 89–90
  43. ^ Rowen, H. H. (1986) John de Witt: Statesman of the "true Freedom", Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-5215-2708-2, p. 222; Nijhoff, D. C. (1893) Staatkundige Geschiedenis van Nederland. Tweede Deel, pp. 92–93, and fn. 4 p. 92; Fruin, Robert, "De schuld van Willem III en zijn vrienden aan den moord der gebroeders de Witt", in De Gids (1867), pp. 201–218
  44. ^ Troost, p. 122
  45. ^ Panhuysen 2009, pp. 391–398.
  46. ^ a b Troost, pp. 106–110
  47. ^ Troost, p. 109
  48. ^ a b Troost, pp. 109–112
  49. ^ Bartholomew Begley, "Spinoza, Before and After the Rampjaar", European Legacy 27.6 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10848770.2022.2083912
  50. ^ Lynn 1999, pp. 80–81.
  51. ^ Jacques 2007, p. 408.
  52. ^ Nolan 2008, pp. 126–128.
  53. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, pp. 157–161.
  54. ^ Lesaffer, Randall. "The Wars of Louis XIV in Treaties (Part V): The Peace of Nijmegen (1678–1679)". Oxford Public International Law. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  55. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, p. 166.
  56. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, pp. 166–167.
  57. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 38–39
  58. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 42–43
  59. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 44–46
  60. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 47
  61. ^ Chapman, pp. 86–93
  62. ^ Van der Zee, pp. 202–206
  63. ^ Troost, pp. 141–145
  64. ^ Troost, pp. 153–156
  65. ^ Troost, pp. 156–163
  66. ^ Troost, pp. 150–151
  67. ^ a b Troost, pp. 152–153
  68. ^ a b Troost, pp. 173–175
  69. ^ Troost, pp. 180–183
  70. ^ Troost, p. 189
  71. ^ Troost, p. 186
  72. ^ e.g. Troost, p. 190; Claydon, Tony (May 2008) [September 2004]. "William III and II (1650–1702)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29450. Retrieved 8 August 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (Subscription required)
  73. ^ a b Troost, p. 191
  74. ^ Troost, p. 191; van der Kiste, pp. 91–92
  75. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 91
  76. ^ Troost, pp. 193–196
  77. ^ Troost, pp. 200–203; van der Kiste, pp. 102–103
  78. ^ Rodger, p. 137
  79. ^ Van Nimwegen, 183–186
  80. ^ a b Troost, pp. 204–205
  81. ^ a b c Troost, pp. 205–207
  82. ^ Baxter, pp. 242–246; Miller, p. 208
  83. ^ Israel, Jonathan (2003). The Dutch role in the Glorious Revolution. Cambridge University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-5213-9075-3.
  84. ^ a b c Davies, pp. 614–615
  85. ^ a b c Troost, pp. 207–210
  86. ^ Davies, p. 469; Israel, p. 136
  87. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 107–108
  88. ^ Troost, p. 209
  89. ^ Troost, pp. 210–212
  90. ^ a b c Troost, pp. 219–220
  91. ^ Troost, pp. 266–268
  92. ^ Davies, pp. 614–615. William was "William II" of Scotland, for there was only one previous Scottish king named William.
  93. ^ a b c Van der Kiste, pp. 114–115
  94. ^ Troost, pp. 212–214
  95. ^ "The Siege of Derry (1688–1689)". Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  96. ^ "The Battle of the Boyne (1689–1690)". Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  97. ^ Troost, pp. 270–273
  98. ^ a b Troost, pp. 274–275
  99. ^ "BBC – History – Scottish History – Restoration and Revolution (II)". The Making of the Union. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  100. ^ "BBC – History – British History in depth: The Jacobite Cause". Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  101. ^ Troost, pp. 220–223
  102. ^ Troost, p. 221
  103. ^ Van der Zee, pp. 296–297
  104. ^ Troost, p. 222; van der Zee, pp. 301–302
  105. ^ Troost, pp. 223–227
  106. ^ Troost, p. 226
  107. ^ Troost, pp. 228–232
  108. ^ Claydon, pp. 129–131
  109. ^ "Treasury Calendar: October 1696, 16-31." Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 11, 1696-1697. Ed. William A Shaw. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1933. 290-301. British History Online website Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  110. ^ Andrew A. Hanham. "BLATHWAYT, William (1649-1717), of Little Wallingford House, Great Street, Westminster and Dyrham Park, Glos.". published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, London: Boydell and Brewer. 2002. History of Parliament website Retrieved 3 Aug 2023.
  111. ^ Troost, pp. 239–241; van der Zee, pp. 368–369
  112. ^ Troost, pp. 241–246
  113. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 150–158
  114. ^ Troost, pp. 281–283
  115. ^ Troost, pp. 244–246
  116. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, p. 95 & 236.
  117. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, p. 239 & 250.
  118. ^ a b c Waddell, Brodie (2023). "The Economic Crisis of the 1690s in England". The Historical Journal. 66 (2): 281–302. doi:10.1017/S0018246X22000309. ISSN 0018-246X. S2CID 254000548.
  119. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 179–180
  120. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 180–184
  121. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 186–192; Troost, pp. 226–237
  122. ^ Black, J, ed. (1997), Culture and Society in Britain, Manchester, p. 97{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
  123. ^ Troost, pp. 25–26; Van der Zee, pp. 421–423
  124. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 204–205; Baxter, p. 352; Falkner, James (2004), "Keppel, Arnold Joost van, first earl of Albemarle (1669/70–1718)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
  125. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 201
  126. ^ a b Van der Kiste, pp. 202–203
  127. ^ Van der Zee, pp. 402–403
  128. ^ Van der Zee, p. 414
  129. ^ Troost, p. 251
  130. ^ Troost, pp. 253–255
  131. ^ Troost, p. 255
  132. ^ a b Troost, pp. 256–257
  133. ^ a b Troost, pp. 258–260
  134. ^ Troost, p. 260
  135. ^ Troost, p. 234
  136. ^ a b Troost, p. 235
  137. ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 251–254
  138. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 255
  139. ^ Churchill, pp. 30–31
  140. ^ . Westminster Abbey Official site. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  141. ^ Israel, pp. 959–960
  142. ^ Israel, pp. 962, 968
  143. ^ Israel, pp. 991–992; "Text of the Treaty of Partition" (in French). Heraldica. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
  144. ^ Collot d'Escury 1825, p. 306.
  145. ^ "Statue of King William III". Dublin City Council. 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  146. ^ a b Claydon, pp. 3–4
  147. ^ Van Nimwegen 2020, p. 36-39 & 95.
  148. ^ . College of William and Mary. Archived from the original on 15 July 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  149. ^ a b "History of Nassau County". Nassau County website. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  150. ^ Norris, Edwin Mark (1917). The Story of Princeton. Little, Brown. pp. 5–6.
  151. ^ "The Dutch Under English Rule" The History of North America by Guy Carleton Lee Francis and Francis Newton Thorpe. Published 1904 by G. Barrie & Sons, p. 167
  152. ^ Craton, Michael; Saunders-Smith, Gail (1992). Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People. University of Georgia Press. p. 101. ISBN 0-8203-2122-2.
  153. ^ "The Castle of Good Hope, oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa, is completed". South African History Online. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  154. ^ Troost, p. 5
  155. ^ S. and J. Sprint (1703). The life of William III. Late King of England, and Prince of Orange. Google eBoek (scanned version). p. 28. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  156. ^ Troost, p. 77
  157. ^ The Guinness Book of Answers. Guinness Publishing. 1991. p. 709. ISBN 0-8511-2957-9.
  158. ^ Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974), The Royal Heraldry of England, Heraldry Today, Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press, pp. 191–192, ISBN 0-9004-5525-X
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  162. ^ Harry Gerber (1953), "Amalie, Prinzessin von Oranien", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 238–239; (full text online)

Bibliography edit

  • Baxter, Stephen B. (1966). William III and the Defense of European Liberty. pp. 1650–1702. OCLC 473975225.
  • Chapman, Hester W. (1953). Mary II: Queen of England. OCLC 753145632.
  • Churchill, Winston (2002). A History of the English-Speaking Peoples: Age of Revolution. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-3043-6393-6. Age of Revolution is the third volume of four, published 1957.
  • Claydon, Tony (2002). William III: Profiles in Power. Longman. ISBN 0-5824-0523-8.
  • Collot d'Escury, Hendrik (1825). Hollands roem in kunsten en wetenschappen. Met register: Volume 2 (in Dutch). Van Cleef.
  • Davies, Norman (1999). The Isles: A History. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-1951-3442-7.
  • Israel, Jonathan I. (1995). The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall. Clarendon Press. pp. 1477–1806. ISBN 0-1982-0734-4.
  • Jacques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century, Volume 2, F–O. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-3133-3538-9.
  • Lesaffer, Randall. "The Wars of Louis XIV in Treaties (Part V): The Peace of Nijmegen (1678–1679)". Oxford Public International Law. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  • Lynn, John (1999). The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714 (Modern Wars in Perspective). Longman. ISBN 978-0-5820-5629-9.
  • Mijers, Esther; Onnekink, David, eds. (2007). . Ashgate. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  • Miller, John (1991). James II: A Study in Kingship. Methuen. ISBN 0-4136-5290-4.
  • Nolan, Cathal (2008). Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650–1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-3133-3046-9.
  • Ogg, David (1957). England in the Reigns of James II and William III (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Panhuysen, Luc (2009). Rampjaar 1672: Hoe de Republiek aan de ondergang ontsnapte. Uitgeverij Atlas. ISBN 978-9-0450-1328-2.
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  • Rodger, N.A.M. (2004). The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-0-3930-6050-8.
  • Troost, Wout (2005). William III, The Stadholder-king: A Political Biography. Translated by J. C. Grayson. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0-7546-5071-5.
  • Van der Kiste, John (2003). William and Mary. ISBN 0-7509-3048-9.
  • Van der Zee, Henri; Van der Zee, Barbara (1973). William and Mary. Knopf. ISBN 0-3944-8092-9.
  • Van Nimwegen, Olaf (2020). De Veertigjarige Oorlog 1672–1712: de strijd van de Nederlanders tegen de Zonnekoning [The 40 Years War 1672–1712: the Dutch struggle against the Sun King] (in Dutch). Prometheus. ISBN 978-9-0446-3871-4.
  • Waller, Maureen (2006). Sovereign Ladies: Sex, Sacrifice, and Power. The Six Reigning Queens of England. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-3123-3801-5.

External links edit

William III of England and Orange & II of Scotland
Cadet branch of the House of Nassau
Born: 4 November 1650 Died: 8 March 1702
Regnal titles
Vacant
Title last held by
William II
Prince of Orange
1650–1702
Succeeded byas titular claimant
Vacant
Title last held by
James II & VII
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
1689–1702
with Mary II (1689–1694)
Succeeded by
Political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
William II
Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland
1672–1702
Vacant
Title next held by
William IV
Stadtholder of Utrecht
1674–1702
Stadtholder of Guelders and Overijssel
1675–1702
Preceded by Lord High Admiral
1689
Succeeded by

william, england, william, william, henry, dutch, willem, hendrik, november, 1650, march, 1702, also, widely, known, william, orange, sovereign, prince, orange, from, birth, stadtholder, holland, zeeland, utrecht, guelders, overijssel, dutch, republic, from, 1. William III William Henry Dutch Willem Hendrik 4 November 1650 8 March 1702 b also widely known as William of Orange was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth Stadtholder of Holland Zeeland Utrecht Guelders and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s and King of England Ireland and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702 As King of Scotland he is known as William II 2 He ruled Britain and Ireland alongside his wife Queen Mary II and their joint reign is known as that of William and Mary William III and IIPortrait by Godfrey Kneller 1690King of England Scotland and Ireland more Reign1689 a 8 March 1702Coronation11 April 1689PredecessorJames IISuccessorAnneCo monarchMary II 1689 1694 Stadtholder of Holland Zeeland Utrecht Guelders and OverijsselReign4 July 1672 8 March 1702PredecessorFirst Stadtholderless PeriodSuccessorSecond Stadtholderless PeriodPrince of OrangeReign4 November 1650 b 8 March 1702PredecessorWilliam IISuccessorJohn William Friso disputed c Born4 November 1650 NS 14 November 1650 b Binnenhof The Hague Dutch RepublicDied8 March 1702 aged 51 NS 19 March 1702 Kensington Palace Middlesex EnglandBurial12 April 1702Westminster Abbey EnglandSpouseMary II of England m 1677 died 1694 wbr NamesWilliam HenryDutch Willem HendrikHouseOrange NassauFatherWilliam II Prince of OrangeMotherMary Princess RoyalReligionProtestantSignatureMilitary serviceBattles warsFranco Dutch War Siege of Naarden Siege of Bonn Battle of Seneffe Siege of Grave Siege of Maastricht Battle of Cassel Battle of Saint Denis Nine Years War Invasion of England Battle of the Boyne Siege of Limerick Battle of Steenkerque Battle of Landen Siege of NamurWilliam was the only child of William II Prince of Orange and Mary Princess Royal the daughter of King Charles I of England Scotland and Ireland His father died a week before his birth making William III the prince of Orange from birth In 1677 he married his first cousin Mary the eldest daughter of his maternal uncle James Duke of York the younger brother and later successor of King Charles II A Protestant William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic French ruler Louis XIV in coalition with both Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe Many Protestants heralded William as a champion of their faith In 1685 his Catholic uncle and father in law James became king of England Scotland and Ireland James s reign was unpopular with the Protestant majority in Britain who feared a revival of Catholicism Supported by a group of influential British political and religious leaders William invaded England in what became known as the Glorious Revolution In 1688 he landed at the south western English port of Brixham James was deposed shortly afterward William s reputation as a staunch Protestant enabled him and his wife to take power During the early years of his reign William was occupied abroad with the Nine Years War 1688 1697 leaving Mary to govern Britain alone She died in 1694 In 1696 the Jacobites a faction loyal to the deposed James plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate William and restore the deposed James to the throne William s lack of children and the death in 1700 of his nephew Prince William Duke of Gloucester the son of his sister in law Anne threatened the Protestant succession The danger was averted by placing his and Mary s cousins the Protestant Hanoverians in line to the throne with the Act of Settlement 1701 Upon his death in 1702 William was succeeded in Britain by Anne and as titular Prince of Orange by his cousin John William Friso beginning the Second Stadtholderless Period Contents 1 Early life 1 1 Birth and family 1 2 Childhood and education 2 Early offices 2 1 Exclusion from stadtholdership 2 2 Conflict with republicans 3 Becoming stadtholder 3 1 Disaster year and Franco Dutch War 3 2 Marriage 3 3 Tensions with France intrigue with England 4 Glorious Revolution 4 1 Invasion of England 4 2 Proclaimed king 4 3 Revolution settlement 5 Rule with Mary II 5 1 Jacobite resistance 5 2 Parliament and faction 5 3 War in Europe 5 4 Economic crisis 6 Later years 6 1 Rumours of homosexuality 6 2 Peace with France 6 3 English royal succession 7 Death 8 Legacy 9 Titles styles and arms 9 1 Titles and styles 9 2 Arms 10 Ancestry 10 1 Family tree 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 13 1 Citations 13 2 Bibliography 14 External linksEarly life editBirth and family edit nbsp William s parents William II Prince of Orange and Mary Princess Royal 1647William III was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 4 November 1650 b 3 Baptised William Henry Dutch Willem Hendrik he was the only child of Mary Princess Royal and stadtholder William II Prince of Orange His mother was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England Scotland and Ireland and sister of Charles II and King James II and VII Eight days before William was born his father died of smallpox thus William was the sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth 4 Immediately a conflict arose between his mother and his paternal grandmother Amalia of Solms Braunfels over the name to be given to the infant Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother but her mother in law insisted on giving him the name William Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder 5 William II had intended to appoint his wife as their son s guardian in his will however the document remained unsigned at William II s death and was therefore void 6 On 13 August 1651 the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland Supreme Court ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother his grandmother and Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg husband of his paternal aunt Louise Henriette d Childhood and education edit William s mother showed little personal interest in her son sometimes being absent for years and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society 7 William s education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses some of English descent including Walburg Howard 8 and the Scottish noblewoman Lady Anna Mackenzie 9 From April 1656 the prince received daily instruction in the Reformed religion from the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland a follower of the Contra Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius 8 The ideal education for William was described in Discours sur la nourriture de S H Monseigneur le Prince d Orange a short treatise perhaps by one of William s tutors Constantijn Huygens 10 In these lessons the prince was taught that he was predestined to become an instrument of Divine Providence fulfilling the historical destiny of the House of Orange Nassau 11 nbsp The young prince portrayed by Jan Davidsz de Heem and Jan Vermeer van Utrecht within a flower garland filled with symbols of the House of Orange Nassau c 1660From early 1659 William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius though never officially enrolling as a student 12 While residing in the Prinsenhof at Delft William had a small personal retinue including Hans Willem Bentinck and a new governor Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein who as an illegitimate son of stadtholder Frederick Henry of Orange was his paternal uncle Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his uncle Cornelis de Graeff pushed the States of Holland to take charge of William s education and ensure that he would acquire the skills to serve in a future though undetermined state function the States acted on 25 September 1660 13 Around this time the young prince played with De Graeff s sons Pieter and Jacob de Graeff in the park of the country house in Soestdijk In 1674 Wilhelm bought the estate from Jacob de Graeff which was later converted into Soestdijk Palace 14 This first involvement of the authorities did not last long On 23 December 1660 when William was ten years old his mother died of smallpox at Whitehall Palace London while visiting her brother the recently restored King Charles II 13 In her will Mary requested that Charles look after William s interests and Charles now demanded that the States of Holland end their interference 15 To appease Charles they complied on 30 September 1661 16 That year Zuylenstein began to work for Charles and induced William to write letters to his uncle asking him to help William become stadtholder someday 17 After his mother s death William s education and guardianship became a point of contention between his dynasty s supporters and the advocates of a more republican Netherlands 18 The Dutch authorities did their best at first to ignore these intrigues but in the Second Anglo Dutch War one of Charles s peace conditions was the improvement of the position of his nephew 17 As a countermeasure in 1666 when William was sixteen the States officially made him a ward of the government or a Child of State 17 All pro English courtiers including Zuylenstein were removed from William s company 17 William begged De Witt to allow Zuylenstein to stay but he refused 19 De Witt the leading politician of the Republic took William s education into his own hands instructing him weekly in state matters and joining him for regular games of real tennis 19 Early offices editExclusion from stadtholdership edit Main article First Stadtholderless Period nbsp Johan de Witt took over William s education in 1666 nbsp Gaspar Fagel replaced De Witt as grand pensionary and was more friendly to William s interests After the death of William s father most provinces had left the office of stadtholder vacant e At the demand of Oliver Cromwell the Treaty of Westminster which ended the First Anglo Dutch War had a secret annexe that required the Act of Seclusion which forbade the province of Holland from appointing a member of the House of Orange as stadtholder 20 After the English Restoration the Act of Seclusion which had not remained a secret for long was declared void as the English Commonwealth with which the treaty had been concluded no longer existed 21 In 1660 Mary and Amalia tried to persuade several provincial States to designate William as their future stadtholder but they all initially refused 21 In 1667 as William III approached the age of 18 the Orangist party again attempted to bring him to power by securing for him the offices of stadtholder and Captain General To prevent the restoration of the influence of the House of Orange De Witt the leader of the States Party allowed the pensionary of Haarlem Gaspar Fagel to induce the States of Holland to issue the Perpetual Edict 22 The Edict supported by the important Amsterdam politicians Andries de Graeff and Gillis Valckenier 23 declared that the Captain General or Admiral General of the Netherlands could not serve as stadtholder in any province 22 Even so William s supporters sought ways to enhance his prestige and on 19 September 1668 the States of Zeeland appointed him as First Noble 24 To receive this honour William had to escape the attention of his state tutors and travel secretly to Middelburg 24 A month later Amalia allowed William to manage his own household and declared him to be of majority age 25 The province of Holland the centre of anti Orangism abolished the office of stadtholder and four other provinces followed suit in March 1670 establishing the so called Harmony 22 De Witt demanded an oath from each Holland regent city council member to uphold the Edict all but one complied 22 William saw all this as a defeat but the arrangement was a compromise De Witt would have preferred to ignore the prince completely but now his eventual rise to the office of supreme army commander was implicit 26 De Witt further conceded that William would be admitted as a member of the Raad van State the Council of State then the generality organ administering the defence budget 27 William was introduced to the council on 31 May 1670 with full voting rights despite De Witt s attempts to limit his role to that of an advisor 28 Conflict with republicans edit In November 1670 William obtained permission to travel to England to urge Charles to pay back at least a part of the 2 797 859 guilder debt the House of Stuart owed the House of Orange 29 Charles was unable to pay but William agreed to reduce the amount owed to 1 800 000 guilders 29 Charles found his nephew to be a dedicated Calvinist and patriotic Dutchman and reconsidered his desire to show him the Secret Treaty of Dover with France directed at destroying the Dutch Republic and installing William as sovereign of a Dutch rump state 29 In addition to differing political outlooks William found that his lifestyle differed from his uncles Charles and James who were more concerned with drinking gambling and cavorting with mistresses 30 The following year the Republic s security deteriorated quickly as an Anglo French attack became imminent 31 In view of the threat the States of Gelderland wanted William to be appointed Captain General of the Dutch States Army as soon as possible despite his youth and inexperience 32 On 15 December 1671 the States of Utrecht made this their official policy 33 On 19 January 1672 the States of Holland made a counterproposal to appoint William for just a single campaign 34 The prince refused this and on 25 February a compromise was reached an appointment by the States General for one summer followed by a permanent appointment on his 22nd birthday 34 Meanwhile William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States to appoint William stadtholder 35 In return William would ally the Republic with England and serve Charles s interests as much as his honour and the loyalty due to this state allowed 35 Charles took no action on the proposal and continued his war plans with his French ally Becoming stadtholder edit Disaster year and Franco Dutch War edit Main article Rampjaar nbsp William inspects the Dutch Water LineFor the Dutch Republic 1672 proved calamitous It became known as the Rampjaar disaster year because in the Franco Dutch War and the Third Anglo Dutch War the Netherlands was invaded by France and its allies England Munster and Cologne Although the Anglo French fleet was disabled by the Battle of Solebay in June the French army quickly overran the provinces of Gelderland and Utrecht On 14 June William withdrew with the remnants of his field army into Holland where the States had ordered the flooding of the Dutch Water Line on 8 June 36 Louis XIV of France believing the war was over began negotiations to extract as large a sum of money from the Dutch as possible 37 The presence of a large French army in the heart of the Republic caused a general panic and the people turned against De Witt and his allies 37 On 4 July the States of Holland appointed William stadtholder and he took the oath five days later 38 The next day a special envoy from Charles II Lord Arlington met William in Nieuwerbrug and presented a proposal from Charles In return for William s capitulation to England and France Charles would make William Sovereign Prince of Holland instead of stadtholder a mere civil servant 39 When William refused Arlington threatened that William would witness the end of the Republic s existence 39 William answered famously There is one way to avoid this to die defending it in the last ditch On 7 July the inundations were complete and the further advance of the French army was effectively blocked On 16 July Zeeland offered the stadtholdership to William 38 Johan de Witt had been unable to function as Grand Pensionary after being wounded by an attempt on his life on 21 June 40 On 15 August William published a letter from Charles in which the English king stated that he had made war because of the aggression of the De Witt faction 41 The people thus incited De Witt and his brother Cornelis were brutally murdered by an Orangist civil militia in The Hague on 20 August 41 Subsequently William replaced many of the Dutch regents with his followers 42 nbsp Recapture of Naarden by William of Orange in 1673Though William s complicity in the lynching has never been proved and some 19th century Dutch historians have made an effort to disprove that he was an accessory he thwarted attempts to prosecute the ringleaders and even rewarded some like Hendrik Verhoeff with money and others like Johan van Banchem and Johan Kievit with high offices 43 This damaged his reputation in the same fashion as his later actions at Glencoe William continued to fight against the invaders from England and France allying himself with Spain Brandenburg and Emperor Leopold I In November 1672 he took his army to Maastricht to threaten the French supply lines 44 In September 1673 the Dutch situation further improved The resolute defence by John Maurice of Nassau Siegen and Hans Willem van Aylva in the north of the Dutch Republic finally forced the troops of Munster and Cologne to withdraw while William crossed the Dutch Waterline and recaptured Naarden In November a 30 000 strong Dutch Spanish army under William s command marched into the lands of the Bishops of Munster and Cologne The Dutch troops took revenge and carried out many atrocities Together with 35 000 Imperial troops they then captured Bonn an important magazine in the long logistical lines between France and the Dutch Republic The French position in the Netherlands became untenable and Louis was forced to evacuate French troops This deeply shocked Louis and he retreated to Saint Germain where no one except a few intimates were allowed to disturb him The next year only Grave and Maastricht remained in French hands 45 Fagel now proposed to treat the liberated provinces of Utrecht Gelderland and Overijssel as conquered territory Generality Lands as punishment for their quick surrender to the enemy 46 William refused but obtained a special mandate from the States General to appoint all delegates in the States of these provinces anew 46 William s followers in the States of Utrecht on 26 April 1674 appointed him hereditary stadtholder 47 On 30 January 1675 the States of Gelderland offered him the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen 48 The negative reactions to this from Zeeland and the city of Amsterdam made William ultimately decide to decline these honours he was instead appointed stadtholder of Gelderland and Overijssel 48 Baruch Spinoza s warning in his Political Treatise of 1677 of the need to organize the state so that the citizens maintain control over the sovereign was an influential expression of this unease with the concentration of power in one person 49 nbsp The thanksgiving service of William III s army in Grave after its captureMeanwhile the front of the war against France had shifted to the Spanish Netherlands In 1674 Allied forces in the Netherlands were numerically superior to the French army under Conde which was based along the Pieton river near Charleroi William took the offensive and sought to bring on a battle by outflanking the French positions but the broken ground forced him to divide his army into three separate columns At Seneffe Conde led a cavalry attack against the Allied vanguard and by midday on 11 August had halted their advance Against the advice of his subordinates he then ordered a series of frontal assaults which led to very heavy casualties on both sides with no concrete result 50 William and the Dutch blamed the Imperial commander de Souches and after a failed attempt to capture Oudenaarde largely due too obstructionism from de Souches he was relieved of command Frustrated William joined the army under Rabenhaupt with 10 000 troops instead of campaigning further in the Spanish Netherlands He assumed command of operations at Grave which had been besieged since 28 June Grave surrendered on 27 October The Dutch were split by internal disputes the powerful Amsterdam mercantile body were anxious to end an expensive war once their commercial interests were secured while William saw France as a long term threat that had to be defeated This conflict increased once ending the war became a distinct possibility when Grave was captured in October 1674 leaving only Maastricht 51 nbsp The Capture of Valenciennes by the FrenchOn both sides the last years of the war saw minimal return for their investment of men and money 52 The French were preparing a major offensive however at the end of 1676 Intended to capture Valenciennes Cambrai and Saint Omer in the Spanish Netherlands Louis believed this would deprive the Dutch regents of the courage to continue the war any longer In this however he was mistaken The impending French offensive actually led to an intensification of Dutch Spanish cooperation Still the French offensive of 1677 was a success The Spaniards found it difficult to raise enough troops due to financial constraints and the Allies were defeated in the Battle of Cassel This meant that they could not prevent the cities from falling into French hands The French then took a defensive posture afraid that more success would force England to intervene on the side of the Allies 53 nbsp Hendrik Overkirk saves William of Orange from a French dragoon at the Battle of Saint Denis by Jacob de VosThe peace talks that began at Nijmegen in 1676 were given a greater sense of urgency in November 1677 when William married his cousin Mary Charles II of England s niece An Anglo Dutch defensive alliance followed in March 1678 although English troops did not arrive in significant numbers until late May Louis seized this opportunity to improve his negotiating position and captured Ypres and Ghent in early March before signing a peace treaty with the Dutch on 10 August 54 The Battle of Saint Denis was fought three days later on 13 August when a combined Dutch Spanish force under William attacked the French army under Luxembourg Luxembourg withdrew and William thus ensured Mons would remain in Spanish hands On 19 August Spain and France agreed an armistice followed by a formal peace treaty on 17 September 55 The war had seen the rebirth of the Dutch States Army as one of the most disciplined and best trained European armed forces This had not been enough to keep France from making conquests in the Spanish Netherlands which William and the regents blamed mainly on the Spaniards the Dutch expected the once powerful Spanish Empire to have more military strength 56 Marriage edit nbsp William married his first cousin the future Queen Mary II in 1677 During the war with France William tried to improve his position by marrying in 1677 his first cousin Mary elder surviving daughter of the Duke of York later King James II of England James VII of Scotland Mary was eleven years his junior and he anticipated resistance to a Stuart match from the Amsterdam merchants who had disliked his mother another Mary Stuart but William believed that marrying Mary would increase his chances of succeeding to Charles s kingdoms and would draw England s monarch away from his pro French policies 57 James was not inclined to consent but Charles II pressured his brother to agree 58 Charles wanted to use the possibility of marriage to gain leverage in negotiations relating to the war but William insisted that the two issues be decided separately 59 Charles relented and Bishop Henry Compton married the couple on 4 November 1677 60 Mary became pregnant soon after the marriage but miscarried After a further illness later in 1678 she never conceived again 61 Throughout William and Mary s marriage William had only one reputed mistress Elizabeth Villiers in contrast to the many mistresses his uncles openly kept 62 Tensions with France intrigue with England edit By 1678 Louis XIV sought peace with the Dutch Republic 63 Even so tensions remained William remained suspicious of Louis thinking that the French king desired universal kingship over Europe Louis described William as my mortal enemy and saw him as an obnoxious warmonger France s annexations in the Southern Netherlands and Germany the Reunion policy and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 caused a surge of Huguenot refugees to the Republic 64 This led William III to join various anti French alliances such as the Association League and ultimately the League of Augsburg an anti French coalition that also included the Holy Roman Empire Sweden Spain and several German states in 1686 65 nbsp Portrait of William aged 27 in the manner of Willem Wissing after a prototype by Sir Peter LelyAfter his marriage in November 1677 William became a strong candidate for the English throne should his father in law and uncle James be excluded because of his Catholicism During the crisis concerning the Exclusion Bill in 1680 Charles at first invited William to come to England to bolster the king s position against the exclusionists then withdrew his invitation after which Lord Sunderland also tried unsuccessfully to bring William over but now to put pressure on Charles 66 Nevertheless William secretly induced the States General to send Charles the Insinuation a plea beseeching the king to prevent any Catholics from succeeding him without explicitly naming James 67 After receiving indignant reactions from Charles and James William denied any involvement 67 In 1685 when James II succeeded Charles William at first attempted a conciliatory approach at the same time trying not to offend the Protestants in England 68 William ever looking for ways to diminish the power of France hoped that James would join the League of Augsburg but by 1687 it became clear that James would not join the anti French alliance 68 Relations worsened between William and James thereafter 69 In November James s second wife Mary of Modena was announced to be pregnant 70 That month to gain the favour of English Protestants William wrote an open letter to the English people in which he disapproved of James s pro Roman Catholic policy of religious toleration Seeing him as a friend and often having maintained secret contacts with him for years many English politicians began to urge an armed invasion of England 71 Glorious Revolution editMain article Glorious Revolution Invasion of England edit nbsp The formation of the Dutch fleet that sailed for England with more than 450 ships more than 2 times the size of the Spanish Armada of 1588William at first opposed the prospect of invasion but most historians now agree that he began to assemble an expeditionary force in April 1688 as it became increasingly clear that France would remain occupied by campaigns in Germany and Italy and thus unable to mount an attack while William s troops would be occupied in Britain 72 Believing that the English people would not react well to a foreign invader he demanded in a letter to Rear Admiral Arthur Herbert that the most eminent English Protestants first invite him to invade 73 In June Mary of Modena after a string of miscarriages gave birth to a son James Francis Edward Stuart who displaced William s Protestant wife to become first in the line of succession and raised the prospect of an ongoing Catholic monarchy 74 Public anger also increased because of the trial of seven bishops who had publicly opposed James s Declaration of Indulgence granting religious liberty to his subjects a policy which appeared to threaten the establishment of the Anglican Church 75 On 30 June 1688 the same day the bishops were acquitted a group of political figures known afterward as the Immortal Seven sent William a formal invitation 73 William s intentions to invade were public knowledge by September 1688 76 With a Dutch army William landed at Brixham in southwest England on 5 November 1688 77 He came ashore from the ship Den Briel proclaiming the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain William s fleet was vastly larger than the Spanish Armada 100 years earlier approximately consisting of 463 ships with 40 000 men on board 78 including 9 500 sailors 11 000 foot soldiers 4 000 cavalry and 5 000 English and Huguenot volunteers 79 James s support began to dissolve almost immediately upon William s arrival Protestant officers defected from the English army the most notable of whom was Lord Churchill of Eyemouth James s most able commander and influential noblemen across the country declared their support for the invader 80 James at first attempted to resist William but saw that his efforts would prove futile 80 He sent representatives to negotiate with William but secretly attempted to flee on 11 December b throwing the Great Seal into the Thames on his way 81 He was discovered and brought back to London by a group of fishermen 81 He was allowed to leave for France in a second escape attempt on 23 December 81 William permitted James to leave the country not wanting to make him a martyr for the Roman Catholic cause it was in his interests for James to be perceived as having left the country of his own accord rather than having been forced or frightened into fleeing 82 William is the last person to successfully invade England by force of arms 83 Proclaimed king edit nbsp Portrait attributed to Thomas Murray c 1690William summoned a Convention Parliament in England which met on 22 January 1689 to discuss the appropriate course of action following James s flight 84 William felt insecure about his position though his wife preceded him in the line of succession to the throne he wished to reign as king in his own right rather than as a mere consort 85 The only precedent for a joint monarchy in England dated from the 16th century when Queen Mary I married Philip of Spain 86 Philip remained king only during his wife s lifetime and restrictions were placed on his power William on the other hand demanded that he remain as king even after his wife s death 87 When the majority of Tory Lords proposed to acclaim her as sole ruler William threatened to leave the country immediately Furthermore Mary remaining loyal to her husband refused 88 The House of Commons with a Whig majority quickly resolved that the throne was vacant and that it was safer if the ruler were Protestant There were more Tories in the House of Lords which would not initially agree but after William refused to be a regent or to agree to remain king only in his wife s lifetime there were negotiations between the two houses and the Lords agreed by a narrow majority that the throne was vacant On 13 February 1689 Parliament passed the Bill of Rights 1689 in which it deemed that James by attempting to flee had abdicated the government of the realm thereby leaving the throne vacant 89 The Crown was not offered to James s infant son who would have been the heir apparent under normal circumstances but to William and Mary as joint sovereigns 85 It was however provided that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and executed by the said Prince of Orange in the names of the said Prince and Princess during their joint lives 85 William and Mary were crowned together at Westminster Abbey on 11 April 1689 by the Bishop of London Henry Compton 90 Normally the coronation is performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury but the Archbishop at the time William Sancroft refused to recognise James s removal 90 William also summoned a Convention of the Estates of Scotland which met on 14 March 1689 and sent a conciliatory letter while James sent haughty uncompromising orders swaying a majority in favour of William On 11 April the day of the English coronation the Convention finally declared that James was no longer King of Scotland 91 William and Mary were offered the Scottish Crown they accepted on 11 May 92 Revolution settlement edit nbsp Engraving of William III and Mary II 1703William encouraged the passage of the Toleration Act 1689 which guaranteed religious toleration to Protestant nonconformists 84 It did not however extend toleration as far as he wished still restricting the religious liberty of Roman Catholics non trinitarians and those of non Christian faiths 90 In December 1689 one of the most important constitutional documents in English history the Bill of Rights was passed 93 The Act which restated and confirmed many provisions of the earlier Declaration of Right established restrictions on the royal prerogative It provided amongst other things that the Sovereign could not suspend laws passed by Parliament levy taxes without parliamentary consent infringe the right to petition raise a standing army during peacetime without parliamentary consent deny the right to bear arms to Protestant subjects unduly interfere with parliamentary elections punish members of either House of Parliament for anything said during debates require excessive bail or inflict cruel and unusual punishments 84 William was opposed to the imposition of such constraints but he chose not to engage in a conflict with Parliament and agreed to abide by the statute 94 The Bill of Rights also settled the question of succession to the Crown After the death of either William or Mary the other would continue to reign Next in the line of succession was Mary II s sister Anne and her issue followed by any children William might have had by a subsequent marriage 93 Roman Catholics as well as those who married Catholics were excluded 93 Rule with Mary II editJacobite resistance edit nbsp Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III 12 July 1690 Jan van HuchtenburgAlthough most in Britain accepted William and Mary as sovereigns a significant minority refused to acknowledge their claim to the throne instead believing in the divine right of kings which held that the monarch s authority derived directly from God rather than being delegated to the monarch by Parliament Over the next 57 years Jacobites pressed for restoration of James and his heirs Nonjurors in England and Scotland including over 400 clergy and several bishops of the Church of England and Scottish Episcopal Church as well as numerous laymen refused to take oaths of allegiance to William Ireland was controlled by Roman Catholics loyal to James and Franco Irish Jacobites arrived from France with French forces in March 1689 to join the war in Ireland and contest Protestant resistance at the Siege of Derry 95 William sent his navy to the city in July and his army landed in August After progress stalled William personally intervened to lead his armies to victory over James at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690 f after which James fled back to France 96 nbsp Lieutenant General Godert de Ginkell successfully commanded the Williamite forces in Ireland after William left Upon William s return to England his close friend Dutch General Godert de Ginkell who had accompanied William to Ireland and had commanded a body of Dutch cavalry at the Battle of the Boyne was named Commander in Chief of William s forces in Ireland and entrusted with further conduct of the war there Ginkell took command in Ireland in the spring of 1691 and following the Battle of Aughrim succeeded in capturing both Galway and Limerick thereby effectively suppressing the Jacobite forces in Ireland within a few more months After difficult negotiations a capitulation was signed on 3 October 1691 the Treaty of Limerick Thus concluded the Williamite pacification of Ireland and for his services the Dutch general received the formal thanks of the House of Commons and was awarded the title of Earl of Athlone by the king A series of Jacobite risings also took place in Scotland where Viscount Dundee raised Highland forces and won a victory on 27 July 1689 at the Battle of Killiecrankie but he died in the fight and a month later Scottish Cameronian forces subdued the rising at the Battle of Dunkeld 97 William offered Scottish clans that had taken part in the rising a pardon provided that they signed allegiance by a deadline and his government in Scotland punished a delay with the Massacre of Glencoe of 1692 which became infamous in Jacobite propaganda as William had countersigned the orders 98 99 Bowing to public opinion William dismissed those responsible for the massacre though they still remained in his favour in the words of the historian John Dalberg Acton one became a colonel another a knight a third a peer and a fourth an earl 98 William s reputation in Scotland suffered further damage when he refused English assistance to the Darien scheme a Scottish colony 1698 1700 that failed disastrously 100 Parliament and faction edit nbsp Silver Crown coin 1695 The Latin inscription is obverse GVLIELMVS III DEI GRA TIA reverse MAG NAE BR ITANNIAE FRA NCIAE ET HIB ERNIAE REX 1695 English William III By the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland 1695 The reverse shows the arms clockwise from top of England Scotland France and Ireland centred on William s personal arms of the House of Orange Nassau Although the Whigs were William s strongest supporters he initially favoured a policy of balance between the Whigs and Tories 101 The Marquess of Halifax a man known for his ability to chart a moderate political course gained William s confidence early in his reign 102 The Whigs a majority in Parliament had expected to dominate the government and were disappointed that William denied them this chance 103 This balanced approach to governance did not last beyond 1690 as the conflicting factions made it impossible for the government to pursue effective policy and William called for new elections early that year 104 After the Parliamentary elections of 1690 William began to favour the Tories led by Danby and Nottingham 105 While the Tories favoured preserving the king s prerogatives William found them unaccommodating when he asked Parliament to support his continuing war with France 106 As a result William began to prefer the Whig faction known as the Junto 107 The Whig government was responsible for the creation of the Bank of England following the example of the Bank of Amsterdam William s decision to grant the Royal Charter in 1694 to the Bank of England a private institution owned by bankers is his most relevant economic legacy 108 It laid the financial foundation of the English take over of the central role of the Dutch Republic and Bank of Amsterdam in global commerce in the 18th century William dissolved Parliament in 1695 and the new Parliament that assembled that year was led by the Whigs The following year Parliament passed a colonial trade bill 109 110 War in Europe edit Main article Nine Years War nbsp The return of the Stadholder King in the Dutch Republic on 31 January 1691 by Ludolf BakhuysenWilliam continued to absent himself from Britain for extended periods during his Nine Years War 1688 1697 against France leaving each spring and returning to England each autumn 111 England joined the League of Augsburg which then became known as the Grand Alliance 112 Whilst William was away fighting his wife Mary II governed the realm but acted on his advice Each time he returned to England Mary gave up her power to him without reservation an arrangement that lasted for the rest of Mary s life 113 After the Anglo Dutch fleet defeated a French fleet at La Hogue in 1692 the allies controlled the seas for the rest of the conflict and the Treaty of Limerick 1691 pacified Ireland 114 At the same time the Grand Alliance fared poorly in Europe as William lost Namur in the Spanish Netherlands in 1692 115 A surprise attack on the French under the command of the Duke of Luxembourg at Steenkerke was repulsed and the French defeated the allies at the Battle of Landen in 1693 However William managed to inflict such damage on the French in these battles that further major French offensives were ruled out 116 The following year the Allies possessed the numerical upper hand in the Low Countries This enabled William to recapture Huy in 1694 A year later the Allies achieved their grand success and recaptured Namur from the French The fortress was considered one of the strongest fortresses in Europe and the conquest was a major blow to Louis XIV s reputation 117 Economic crisis edit William s rule led to rapid inflation in England which caused widespread hunger from 1693 onwards 118 The Nine Years War damaged English maritime trade and led to a doubling in taxation 118 These factors coupled with government mismanagement caused a currency crisis 1695 1697 and a run on the recently created Bank of England 118 Later years edit nbsp William painted in the 1690s by Godfried SchalckenMary II died of smallpox on 28 December 1694 leaving William III to rule alone 119 William deeply mourned his wife s death 120 Despite his conversion to Anglicanism William s popularity in England plummeted during his reign as a sole monarch 121 Rumours of homosexuality edit During the 1690s rumours grew of William s alleged homosexual inclinations and led to the publication of many satirical pamphlets by his Jacobite detractors 122 He did have several close male associates including two Dutch courtiers to whom he granted English titles Hans Willem Bentinck became Earl of Portland and Arnold Joost van Keppel was created Earl of Albemarle These relationships with male friends and his apparent lack of mistresses led William s enemies to suggest that he might prefer homosexual relationships William s modern biographers disagree on the veracity of these allegations Some believe there may have been truth to the rumours 123 while others affirm that they were no more than figments of his enemies imaginations as it was common for someone childless like William to adopt or evince paternal affections for a younger man 124 Whatever the case Bentinck s closeness to William did arouse jealousies at the royal court William s young protege Keppel aroused more gossip and suspicion being 20 years William s junior strikingly handsome and having risen from the post of a royal page to an earldom with some ease 125 Portland wrote to William in 1697 that the kindness which your Majesty has for a young man and the way in which you seem to authorise his liberties make the world say things I am ashamed to hear 126 This he said was tarnishing a reputation which has never before been subject to such accusations William tersely dismissed these suggestions however saying It seems to me very extraordinary that it should be impossible to have esteem and regard for a young man without it being criminal 126 Peace with France edit nbsp Engraving from 1695 showing the Lord Justices who administered the kingdom while William was on campaignIn 1696 the Dutch territory of Drenthe made William its Stadtholder In the same year Jacobites plotted to assassinate William in an attempt to restore James to the English throne The plan failed and support for William surged 127 Parliament passed a bill of attainder against the ringleader John Fenwick and he was beheaded in 1697 128 In accordance with the Treaty of Rijswijk 20 September 1697 which ended the Nine Years War the French king Louis XIV recognised William III as King of England and undertook to give no further assistance to James II 129 Thus deprived of French dynastic backing after 1697 Jacobites posed no further serious threats during William s reign As his life drew towards its conclusion William like many other contemporary European rulers felt concern over the question of succession to the throne of Spain which brought with it vast territories in Italy the Low Countries and the New World Charles II of Spain was an invalid with no prospect of having children some of his closest relatives included Louis XIV and Leopold I Holy Roman Emperor William sought to prevent the Spanish inheritance from going to either monarch for he feared that such a calamity would upset the balance of power William and Louis XIV agreed to the First Partition Treaty 1698 which provided for the division of the Spanish Empire Joseph Ferdinand Electoral Prince of Bavaria would obtain Spain while France and the Holy Roman Emperor would divide the remaining territories between them 130 Charles II accepted the nomination of Joseph Ferdinand as his heir and war appeared to be averted 131 nbsp Louis XIV of France William s lifelong enemyWhen however Joseph Ferdinand died of smallpox in February 1699 the issue re opened In 1700 William and Louis XIV agreed to the Second Partition Treaty also called the Treaty of London under which the territories in Italy would pass to a son of the King of France and the other Spanish territories would be inherited by a son of the Holy Roman Emperor 132 This arrangement infuriated both the Spanish who still sought to prevent the dissolution of their empire and the Holy Roman Emperor who regarded the Italian territories as much more useful than the other lands 132 Unexpectedly Charles II of Spain interfered as he lay dying in late 1700 133 Unilaterally he willed all Spanish territories to Philip Duke of Anjou a grandson of Louis XIV The French conveniently ignored the Second Partition Treaty and claimed the entire Spanish inheritance 133 Furthermore Louis XIV alienated William III by recognising James Francis Edward Stuart the son of the former King James II who died in September 1701 as de jure King of England 134 The subsequent conflict known as the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in July 1701 and continued until 1713 1714 English royal succession edit Another royal inheritance apart from that of Spain also concerned William His marriage with Mary had not produced any children and he did not seem likely to remarry Mary s sister Anne had borne numerous children all of whom died during childhood The death of her last surviving child Prince William Duke of Gloucester in 1700 left her as the only individual in the line of succession established by the Bill of Rights 135 As the complete exhaustion of the defined line of succession would have encouraged a restoration of James II s line the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701 which provided that if Anne died without surviving issue and William failed to have surviving issue by any subsequent marriage the Crown would pass to a distant relative Sophia Electress of Hanover a granddaughter of James I and to her Protestant heirs 136 The Act debarred Roman Catholics from the throne thereby excluding the candidacy of several dozen people more closely related to Mary and Anne than Sophia The Act extended to England and Ireland but not to Scotland whose Estates had not been consulted before the selection of Sophia 136 Death edit nbsp 19th century depiction of William s deadly fall from his horseIn 1702 William died of pneumonia a complication from a broken collarbone following a fall from his horse Sorrel It was rumoured that the horse had been confiscated from Sir John Fenwick one of the Jacobites who had conspired against William 137 Because his horse had stumbled into a mole s burrow many Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat 138 Years later Winston Churchill in his A History of the English Speaking Peoples stated that the fall opened the door to a troop of lurking foes 139 William was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside his wife 140 His sister in law and cousin Anne became queen regnant of England Scotland and Ireland William s death meant that he would remain the only member of the Dutch House of Orange to reign over England Members of this House had served as stadtholder of Holland and the majority of the other provinces of the Dutch Republic since the time of William the Silent William I The five provinces of which William III was stadtholder Holland Zeeland Utrecht Gelderland and Overijssel all suspended the office after his death Thus he was the last patrilineal descendant of William I to be named stadtholder for the majority of the provinces Under William III s will John William Friso stood to inherit the Principality of Orange as well as several lordships in the Netherlands 141 He was William s closest agnatic relative as well as grandson of William s aunt Henriette Catherine However Frederick I of Prussia also claimed the Principality as the senior cognatic heir his mother Louise Henriette being Henriette Catherine s older sister 142 Under the Treaty of Utrecht 1713 Frederick I s successor Frederick William I of Prussia ceded his territorial claim to Louis XIV of France keeping only a claim to the title Friso s posthumous son William IV succeeded to the title at his birth in 1711 in the Treaty of Partition 1732 William IV agreed to share the title Prince of Orange with Frederick William 143 Legacy editSee also Cultural depictions of William III of England He was a great man an enemy of France to which he did a great deal of harm but we owe him our esteem Napoleon Bonaparte 144 nbsp Statue of William III formerly located on College Green Dublin Erected in 1701 it was destroyed by the IRA in 1928 145 William s primary achievement was to contain France when it was in a position to impose its will across much of Europe His life s aim was largely to oppose Louis XIV of France This effort continued after his death during the War of the Spanish Succession Another important consequence of William s reign in England involved the ending of a bitter conflict between Crown and Parliament that had lasted since the accession of the first English monarch of the House of Stuart James I in 1603 The conflict over royal and parliamentary power had led to the English Civil War during the 1640s and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 146 During William s reign however the conflict was settled in Parliament s favour by the Bill of Rights 1689 the Triennial Act 1694 and the Act of Settlement 1701 146 The historical verdict on William s qualities as an army commander is mixed Many contemporaries agreed that he was a great field commander Even his enemies spoke highly of him The Marquis de Quincy for example wrote that it was due to William s insight and personal courage that the Allies held out at the Battle of Seneffe while he also praises how William led his troops to safety during the battles of Steenkerque and Landen Still William has been blamed by French and British historians for his ability to be impatient and reckless and for treating the lives of himself and his soldiers lightly British historian John Childs acknowledges William s great qualities but feels that he fell short as a field commander because by often throwing himself into the fray he no longer had the complete oversight William commanded several field battles Battle of Seneffe 1674 Battle of Cassel 1677 Battle of Saint Denis 1678 Battle of the Boyne 1690 Battle of Steenkerque 1692 and the Battle of Landen 1693 While most of these were defeats it would be wrong to place the responsibility solely on him He was up against a strong uniformly organised army with a coalition army Many of the coalition troops were not as practised and disciplined as the Dutch troops and it took time to incorporate them into the Dutch system William did not attach much value to traditional victory signs either He considered himself a winner if he managed to inflate French losses to the point where French offensive plans had to be abandoned The battles he fought were almost all ones of attrition That the Allies also suffered many casualties he took for granted The Dutch army organisation was prepared for that and from 1689 so was England s 147 William endowed the College of William and Mary in present day Williamsburg Virginia in 1693 148 Nassau County New York a county on Long Island is a namesake 149 Long Island itself was also known as Nassau during early Dutch rule 149 Though many alumni of Princeton University think that the town of Princeton New Jersey and hence the university were named in his honour this is probably untrue although Nassau Hall the college s first building is named for him 150 New York City was briefly renamed New Orange for him in 1673 after the Dutch recaptured the city which had been renamed New York by the British in 1665 His name was applied to the fort and administrative centre for the city on two separate occasions reflecting his different sovereign status first as Fort Willem Hendrick in 1673 and then as Fort William in 1691 when the English evicted Colonists who had seized the fort and city 151 Nassau the capital of The Bahamas is named after Fort Nassau which was renamed in 1695 in his honour 152 The Dutch East India Company built a military fort in Cape Town South Africa in the 17th century naming it the Castle of Good Hope The five bastions were named after William III s titles Orange Nassau Catzenellenbogen Buuren and Leerdam 153 Titles styles and arms edit nbsp Joint monogram of William and Mary carved onto Hampton Court PalaceTitles and styles edit 4 November 1650 9 July 1672 His Highness 154 The Prince of Orange Count of Nassau 155 9 16 July 1672 His Highness The Prince of Orange Stadtholder of Holland 16 July 1672 26 April 1674 His Highness The Prince of Orange Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland 26 April 1674 13 February 1689 His Highness The Prince of Orange Stadtholder of Holland Zeeland Utrecht Gelderland and Overijssel 13 February 1689 8 March 1702 His Majesty The KingBy 1674 William was fully styled as Willem III by God s grace Prince of Orange Count of Nassau etc Stadtholder of Holland Zeeland Utrecht etc Captain and Admiral General of the United Netherlands 156 After their accession in Great Britain in 1689 William and Mary used the titles King and Queen of England Scotland France and Ireland Defenders of the Faith etc 157 Arms edit As Prince of Orange William s coat of arms was Quarterly I Azure billetty a lion rampant Or for Nassau II Or a lion rampant guardant Gules crowned Azure Katzenelnbogen III Gules a fess Argent Vianden IV Gules two lions passant guardant Or armed and langued azure Dietz between the I and II quarters an inescutcheon Or a fess Sable Moers at the fess point an inescutcheon quarterly I and IV Gules a bend Or Chalons II and III Or a bugle horn Azure stringed Gules Orange with an inescutcheon Nine pieces Or and Azure Geneva between the III and IV quarters an inescutcheon Gules a fess counter embattled Argent Buren 158 The coat of arms used by the king and queen was Quarterly I and IV Grand quarterly Azure three fleurs de lis Or for France and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or for England II Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter flory Gules for Scotland III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent for Ireland over all an escutcheon Azure billetty a lion rampant Or 159 In his later coat of arms William used the motto Je Maintiendrai medieval French for I will maintain The motto represents the House of Orange Nassau since it came into the family with the Principality of Orange nbsp nbsp nbsp The coat of arms used by William III as Prince of Orange 160 Royal coat of arms outside Scotland Royal coat of arms in ScotlandAncestry editAncestors of William III of England 161 8 William the Silent4 Frederick Henry Prince of Orange9 Louise de Coligny2 William II Prince of Orange10 John Albert I Count of Solms Braunfels5 Amalia of Solms Braunfels11 Countess Agnes of Sayn Wittgenstein 162 1 William III of England12 James VI and I6 Charles I of England13 Anne of Denmark3 Mary Princess Royal14 Henry IV of France7 Henrietta Maria of France15 Marie de Medici Family tree edit Family of William III of EnglandWilliam the Silent Prince of OrangeHenry IV of FranceJames I of EnglandAmalia of Solms BraunfelsFrederick Henry Prince of OrangeHenrietta MariaCharles I of EnglandElizabeth StuartLouise Henriette of NassauAlbertine Agnes of NassauWilliam II Prince of OrangeMary Princess RoyalCharles II of EnglandJames II of EnglandSophia of HanoverFrederick I of PrussiaHenry Casimir II Prince of Nassau DietzWilliam III of EnglandMary II of EnglandAnne of EnglandJames Francis EdwardGeorge I of Great BritainJohn William Friso Prince of OrangeSee also editAnglo Dutch Wars British monarchs family tree Constantijn Huygens Jr secretary to William III Abel Tassin d Alonne illegitimate elder half brother of William III and his secretary after the death of Huygens List of deserters from King James II to William of OrangeNotes edit William was declared King by the Parliament of England on 13 February 1689 and by the Parliament of Scotland on 11 April 1689 a b c d e During William s lifetime two calendars were in use in Europe the Old Style Julian calendar in Britain and parts of Northern and Eastern Europe and the New Style Gregorian calendar elsewhere including William s birthplace in the Netherlands At the time of William s birth Gregorian dates were ten days ahead of Julian dates thus William was born on 14 November 1650 by Gregorian reckoning but on 4 November 1650 by Julian reckoning At William s death Gregorian dates were eleven days ahead of Julian dates He died on 19 March 1702 by the Gregorian calendar and on 8 March 1702 by the standard Julian calendar However the English New Year fell on 25 March so by English reckoning of the time William died on 8 March 1701 Unless otherwise noted dates in this article follow the Julian calendar with New Year falling on 1 January Friso was made William s universal heir in his Last Will and Testament However the title was disputed by Frederick I of Prussia who had a claim to the title on the basis of a fideicommis made by his grandfather Frederick Henry Prince of Orange in which if the House of Orange became extinct in the male line the issue of his eldest daughter Louise Henriette of Orange Nassau Frederick I s mother would have first claim Friso s mother Princess Henriette Amalia of Anhalt Dessau was a younger daughter of Frederick Henry The dispute was eventually settled in 1732 with the Treaty of Partition 1 cf First Stadtholderless Period Frederick William was chosen because he could act as a neutral party mediating between the two women but also because as a possible heir he was interested in protecting the Orange family fortune which Amalia feared Mary would squander Troost pp 26 27 In the province of Friesland that office was filled by William s uncle by marriage William Frederick Prince of Nassau Dietz Due to the change to the Gregorian calendar William s victory is commemorated annually by Northern Irish and Scottish Protestants on The Twelfth of July cf Troost pp 278 280References editCitations edit Treaty between Prussia and Orange Nassau Berlin 1732 Heraldica in French Retrieved 29 June 2023 Act of Union 1707 the Revolution in Scotland UK Parliament Archived from the original on 15 June 2008 Retrieved 8 August 2008 Claydon p 9 Claydon p 14 Troost p 26 van der Zee pp 6 7 Troost p 26 Van der Kiste pp 5 6 Troost p 27 a b Troost pp 34 37 Rosalind K Marshall Mackenzie Anna countess of Balcarres and countess of Argyll c 1621 1707 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press 2004 online edn Oct 2006 accessed 29 Nov 2014 Troost 27 The author may also have been Johan van den Kerckhoven Ibid Troost pp 36 37 Troost pp 37 40 a b Troost p 43 Catharina Hooft at Vrouwen van Soestdijk Troost pp 43 44 Troost p 44 a b c d Troost p 49 Van der Kiste pp 12 17 a b Van der Kiste pp 14 15 Troost pp 29 30 a b Troost p 41 a b c d Troost pp 52 53 opgang van Mens en Wetenschap by Hubert Luns p 90 2018 Jephta Dullaart Triumph of Peace Andries de Graeff voorbeeld van culturele elite Tweede opdrach by Pieter Vis a b Van der Kiste pp 16 17 Troost p 57 Troost pp 53 54 Troost p 59 Troost p 60 a b c Troost pp 62 64 Van der Kiste pp 18 20 Troost p 64 Troost p 65 Troost p 66 a b Troost p 67 a b Troost pp 65 66 Troost p 74 a b Troost pp 78 83 a b Troost p 76 a b Troost pp 80 81 Troost p 75 a b Troost pp 85 86 Troost pp 89 90 Rowen H H 1986 John de Witt Statesman of the true Freedom Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 5215 2708 2 p 222 Nijhoff D C 1893 Staatkundige Geschiedenis van Nederland Tweede Deel pp 92 93 and fn 4 p 92 Fruin Robert De schuld van Willem III en zijn vrienden aan den moord der gebroeders de Witt in De Gids 1867 pp 201 218 Troost p 122 Panhuysen 2009 pp 391 398 a b Troost pp 106 110 Troost p 109 a b Troost pp 109 112 Bartholomew Begley Spinoza Before and After the Rampjaar European Legacy 27 6 https www tandfonline com doi full 10 1080 10848770 2022 2083912 Lynn 1999 pp 80 81 Jacques 2007 p 408 Nolan 2008 pp 126 128 Van Nimwegen 2020 pp 157 161 Lesaffer Randall The Wars of Louis XIV in Treaties Part V The Peace of Nijmegen 1678 1679 Oxford Public International Law Retrieved 30 December 2018 Van Nimwegen 2020 p 166 Van Nimwegen 2020 pp 166 167 Van der Kiste pp 38 39 Van der Kiste pp 42 43 Van der Kiste pp 44 46 Van der Kiste p 47 Chapman pp 86 93 Van der Zee pp 202 206 Troost pp 141 145 Troost pp 153 156 Troost pp 156 163 Troost pp 150 151 a b Troost pp 152 153 a b Troost pp 173 175 Troost pp 180 183 Troost p 189 Troost p 186 e g Troost p 190 Claydon Tony May 2008 September 2004 William III and II 1650 1702 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 29450 Retrieved 8 August 2008 Subscription or UK public library membership required Subscription required a b Troost p 191 Troost p 191 van der Kiste pp 91 92 Van der Kiste p 91 Troost pp 193 196 Troost pp 200 203 van der Kiste pp 102 103 Rodger p 137 Van Nimwegen 183 186 a b Troost pp 204 205 a b c Troost pp 205 207 Baxter pp 242 246 Miller p 208 Israel Jonathan 2003 The Dutch role in the Glorious Revolution Cambridge University Press p 105 ISBN 0 5213 9075 3 a b c Davies pp 614 615 a b c Troost pp 207 210 Davies p 469 Israel p 136 Van der Kiste pp 107 108 Troost p 209 Troost pp 210 212 a b c Troost pp 219 220 Troost pp 266 268 Davies pp 614 615 William was William II of Scotland for there was only one previous Scottish king named William a b c Van der Kiste pp 114 115 Troost pp 212 214 The Siege of Derry 1688 1689 Retrieved 10 November 2009 The Battle of the Boyne 1689 1690 Retrieved 10 November 2009 Troost pp 270 273 a b Troost pp 274 275 BBC History Scottish History Restoration and Revolution II The Making of the Union Retrieved 9 November 2009 BBC History British History in depth The Jacobite Cause Retrieved 9 November 2009 Troost pp 220 223 Troost p 221 Van der Zee pp 296 297 Troost p 222 van der Zee pp 301 302 Troost pp 223 227 Troost p 226 Troost pp 228 232 Claydon pp 129 131 Treasury Calendar October 1696 16 31 Calendar of Treasury Books Volume 11 1696 1697 Ed William A Shaw London His Majesty s Stationery Office 1933 290 301 British History Online website Retrieved 3 August 2023 Andrew A Hanham BLATHWAYT William 1649 1717 of Little Wallingford House Great Street Westminster and Dyrham Park Glos published in The History of Parliament the House of Commons 1690 1715 ed D Hayton E Cruickshanks S Handley London Boydell and Brewer 2002 History of Parliament website Retrieved 3 Aug 2023 Troost pp 239 241 van der Zee pp 368 369 Troost pp 241 246 Van der Kiste pp 150 158 Troost pp 281 283 Troost pp 244 246 Van Nimwegen 2020 p 95 amp 236 Van Nimwegen 2020 p 239 amp 250 a b c Waddell Brodie 2023 The Economic Crisis of the 1690s in England The Historical Journal 66 2 281 302 doi 10 1017 S0018246X22000309 ISSN 0018 246X S2CID 254000548 Van der Kiste pp 179 180 Van der Kiste pp 180 184 Van der Kiste pp 186 192 Troost pp 226 237 Black J ed 1997 Culture and Society in Britain Manchester p 97 a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Troost pp 25 26 Van der Zee pp 421 423 Van der Kiste pp 204 205 Baxter p 352 Falkner James 2004 Keppel Arnold Joost van first earl of Albemarle 1669 70 1718 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press Van der Kiste p 201 a b Van der Kiste pp 202 203 Van der Zee pp 402 403 Van der Zee p 414 Troost p 251 Troost pp 253 255 Troost p 255 a b Troost pp 256 257 a b Troost pp 258 260 Troost p 260 Troost p 234 a b Troost p 235 Van der Kiste pp 251 254 Van der Kiste p 255 Churchill pp 30 31 William III Westminster Abbey Official site Archived from the original on 6 January 2008 Retrieved 8 August 2008 Israel pp 959 960 Israel pp 962 968 Israel pp 991 992 Text of the Treaty of Partition in French Heraldica Retrieved 8 August 2008 Collot d Escury 1825 p 306 Statue of King William III Dublin City Council 2019 Retrieved 28 September 2019 a b Claydon pp 3 4 Van Nimwegen 2020 p 36 39 amp 95 Historical Chronology pp 1618 1699 College of William and Mary Archived from the original on 15 July 2008 Retrieved 30 July 2008 a b History of Nassau County Nassau County website Retrieved 10 April 2016 Norris Edwin Mark 1917 The Story of Princeton Little Brown pp 5 6 The Dutch Under English Rule The History of North America by Guy Carleton Lee Francis and Francis Newton Thorpe Published 1904 by G Barrie amp Sons p 167 Craton Michael Saunders Smith Gail 1992 Islanders in the Stream A History of the Bahamian People University of Georgia Press p 101 ISBN 0 8203 2122 2 The Castle of Good Hope oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa is completed South African History Online Retrieved 21 December 2018 Troost p 5 S and J Sprint 1703 The life of William III Late King of England and Prince of Orange Google eBoek scanned version p 28 Retrieved 1 September 2011 Troost p 77 The Guinness Book of Answers Guinness Publishing 1991 p 709 ISBN 0 8511 2957 9 Pinches John Harvey Pinches Rosemary 1974 The Royal Heraldry of England Heraldry Today Slough Buckinghamshire Hollen Street Press pp 191 192 ISBN 0 9004 5525 X Maclagan Michael Louda Jiri 1999 Line of Succession Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe Little Brown amp Co pp 29 30 ISBN 1 8560 5469 1 Rietstap Johannes Baptist 2003 Armorial general Vol 2 Genealogical Publishing Co p 297 ISBN 0 8063 4811 9 Maclagan and Louda pp 27 73 Harry Gerber 1953 Amalie Prinzessin von Oranien Neue Deutsche Biographie in German vol 1 Berlin Duncker amp Humblot pp 238 239 full text online Bibliography edit Baxter Stephen B 1966 William III and the Defense of European Liberty pp 1650 1702 OCLC 473975225 Chapman Hester W 1953 Mary II Queen of England OCLC 753145632 Churchill Winston 2002 A History of the English Speaking Peoples Age of Revolution Weidenfeld amp Nicolson ISBN 0 3043 6393 6 Age of Revolution is the third volume of four published 1957 Claydon Tony 2002 William III Profiles in Power Longman ISBN 0 5824 0523 8 Collot d Escury Hendrik 1825 Hollands roem in kunsten en wetenschappen Met register Volume 2 in Dutch Van Cleef Davies Norman 1999 The Isles A History Oxford University Press USA ISBN 0 1951 3442 7 Israel Jonathan I 1995 The Dutch Republic Its Rise Greatness and Fall Clarendon Press pp 1477 1806 ISBN 0 1982 0734 4 Jacques Tony 2007 Dictionary of Battles and Sieges A Guide to 8 500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty first Century Volume 2 F O Greenwood ISBN 978 0 3133 3538 9 Lesaffer Randall The Wars of Louis XIV in Treaties Part V The Peace of Nijmegen 1678 1679 Oxford Public International Law Retrieved 30 December 2018 Lynn John 1999 The Wars of Louis XIV 1667 1714 Modern Wars in Perspective Longman ISBN 978 0 5820 5629 9 Mijers Esther Onnekink David eds 2007 Redefining William III The Impact of the King Stadholder in International Context Ashgate Archived from the original on 23 September 2015 Miller John 1991 James II A Study in Kingship Methuen ISBN 0 4136 5290 4 Nolan Cathal 2008 Wars of the Age of Louis XIV 1650 1715 An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization Greenwood ISBN 978 0 3133 3046 9 Ogg David 1957 England in the Reigns of James II and William III 2nd ed Oxford Clarendon Press Panhuysen Luc 2009 Rampjaar 1672 Hoe de Republiek aan de ondergang ontsnapte Uitgeverij Atlas ISBN 978 9 0450 1328 2 Pull William 2021 William III From Prince of Orange to King of England Robb Nesca 1962 William of Orange OCLC 401229115 Rodger N A M 2004 The Command of the Ocean A Naval History of Britain 1649 1815 Penguin Group ISBN 978 0 3930 6050 8 Troost Wout 2005 William III The Stadholder king A Political Biography Translated by J C Grayson Ashgate Publishing ISBN 0 7546 5071 5 Van der Kiste John 2003 William and Mary ISBN 0 7509 3048 9 Van der Zee Henri Van der Zee Barbara 1973 William and Mary Knopf ISBN 0 3944 8092 9 Van Nimwegen Olaf 2020 De Veertigjarige Oorlog 1672 1712 de strijd van de Nederlanders tegen de Zonnekoning The 40 Years War 1672 1712 the Dutch struggle against the Sun King in Dutch Prometheus ISBN 978 9 0446 3871 4 Waller Maureen 2006 Sovereign Ladies Sex Sacrifice and Power The Six Reigning Queens of England New York St Martin s Press ISBN 0 3123 3801 5 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to William III of England nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to William III of England William III King of England Encyclopaedia Britannica Vol 28 11th ed 1911 pp 662 664 William II amp III and Mary II at the official website of the British monarchy William III at the official website of the Royal Collection Trust BBC History N Japikse ed Correspondentie van Willem III en van Hans Willem Bentinck eersten graaf van Portland Archival material relating to William III of England UK National Archives nbsp Portraits of King William III at the National Portrait Gallery London nbsp William III of England and Orange amp II of ScotlandHouse of Orange NassauCadet branch of the House of NassauBorn 4 November 1650 Died 8 March 1702Regnal titlesVacantTitle last held byWilliam II Prince of Orange1650 1702 Succeeded byJohn William Frisoas titular claimantVacantGlorious RevolutionTitle last held byJames II amp VII King of England Scotland and Ireland1689 1702with Mary II 1689 1694 Succeeded byAnnePolitical officesVacantFirst Stadtholderless PeriodTitle last held byWilliam II Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland1672 1702 VacantSecond Stadtholderless PeriodTitle next held byWilliam IVStadtholder of Utrecht1674 1702Stadtholder of Guelders and Overijssel1675 1702Preceded byJames II Lord High Admiral1689 Succeeded byThe Earl of Torrington Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title William III of England amp oldid 1181523393, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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