Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

William III of England

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: William III
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

(born Nov. 14, 1650, The Hague, United Provinces of the Netherlands — died March 19, 1702, London, Eng.) Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1672 – 1702) and king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689 – 1702). Son of William II, prince of Orange, and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England, he was born in The Hague soon after his father's death. The Act of Seclusion (1654) that barred the house of Orange from power in the United Provinces was rescinded in 1660, and William was appointed captain general and named stadtholder by popular acclaim in 1672. He successfully defended his country against Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France. In 1677 he married Mary (later Queen Mary II), daughter of the English duke of York (later James II). In 1688 William was invited by James's opponents to intervene against the Catholic ruler, and he landed with a Dutch army in Devon, Eng. He and Mary were proclaimed joint rulers of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1689; he ruled alone after Mary's death in 1694. He directed the European opposition to Louis XIV, which eventually led to the War of the Grand Alliance after William's death. In Britain he secured religious toleration and strengthened Parliament, granting independence to the judiciary in the Act of Settlement.

For more information on William III, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Biography: William III
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Biographies

William III (1650-1702), Prince of Orange, reigned as king of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689 to 1702. He was also stadholder of the United Netherlands from 1672 to 1702.

As perhaps the pivotal European figure of the late 17th century, William of Orange remains most noted for having fought France, the dominant power in Europe, to a standstill in three wars. In this process he reunited his native Netherlands and became king of England. In his English role William fostered the legal bulwarks of the Glorious Revolution of 1688: religious toleration for Protestant dissenters, a prescribed monarchy, and parliamentary partnership with the Crown concerning legislation. As William drew England into his wars against France, he concluded more than a century's isolation for England and initiated a series of victories that later yielded Great Britain a worldwide empire.

Early Years and Education

Eight days before William was born at The Hague on Nov. 4, 1650, his father, William II, Prince of Orange and Stadholder of the United Netherlands, died, bequeathing a divided Netherlands to his son. William's mother was Mary, the oldest daughter of Charles I of England. The De Witt brothers, Jan and Cornelius, heads of an urban and commercial coalition, assumed power and pursued a policy of autonomy for the seven provinces of the Netherlands. The house of Orange, aristocratic leader of the landed interests, had stood for unity as the only means of protection against foreign interests. Despite the De Witts' control over his education, William nurtured plans to restore the stadholdership. In the meantime, the young prince prepared himself, mastering four languages, studying politics and war, and exercising the Spartan self-control and taciturnity for which he became famous.

In 1667 the prince's popularity rose dramatically when Louis XIV of France made the first of his many attempts to conquer the Dutch. Public exasperation greeted the De Witts' inactivity while Louis's armies occupied neighboring Flanders. When the southern Dutch provinces were invaded in 1672, William was advanced quickly from captain general in February to stadholder in July. In August a panicked mob murdered the De Witts, and a year later William's office was made hereditary.

Stadholder of the United Provinces

The war with France raged from 1672 to 1678, and while William battled against armies that were sometimes five times the size of his own, he built an alliance with Spain, Denmark, and Brandenburg. He fought the Great Condé - Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé - to a draw at the Battle of Seneff in August 1674. Despite a near-fatal bout with smallpox in 1675 and a severe arm wound in 1676, William wrung from the French a recognition of Dutch independence in the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678.

Toward the end of the French war, William married - in 1677 - Mary, the Protestant elder daughter of James, Duke of York, later King James II of England. With England as the Netherlands' partner there could be no doubt about maintaining Dutch independence. The match was advanced by the pro-Dutch English minister, the Earl of Danby, and after the marriage William slowly intruded himself into English politics. He ostensibly visited Charles II in 1681 to seek aid against renewed French hostilities, but he actually came to observe the increasing antagonism of the Whigs to the proposed succession of York, whose autocracy and Roman Catholicism displeased many Englishmen. William quietly let it be known that if Charles should die without issue, he would be willing to be named regent over his father-in-law in case James should be excluded from the throne.

Glorious Revolution of 1688

During the War of the League of Augsburg, William brought to the alliance the overwhelming support of England in 1689. James II's precipitate illegalities in favor of his Roman Catholic subjects after he became king in 1685 alienated most English leaders, who in turn sought the alternative earlier suggested by William. William invaded England in November 1688 with a force of 15,000. Met by many of England's important men, he proceeded under such careful circumstances that not one shot was fired. James's flight to France in December cleared the path for William and Mary to assume the vacated throne. Their reign became the only jointly held monarchy in English history. In May 1689 England declared war on France.

Between 1689 and 1693 William, equipped with an army often numbering 90,000, remained mostly in the field, leaving duties at home in Mary's hands. In Ireland, William defeated an attempt by French and Irish troops to dethrone him, nearly being killed in the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. At sea the English repelled an invasion at La Hogue in May 1692; but on the Continent, William barely held his own. William's defeat at Neerwinden in July 1693 cost the French so many lives that Louis XIV began peace overtures. Sporadic campaigning continued until lengthy negotiations finally resulted in the Treaty of Ryswick (September 1697), in which Louis XIV recognized William as the legitimate ruler of England (Mary had died in 1694).

Last Years

William's domestic relations in England were intermittently strained because he understood little of the compromise required under the parliamentary system of broad-based consultation and administration. He was the last English king to use the veto extensively, although he usually yielded to Parliament's wishes rather than risk losing support for his wars. William fostered the Toleration Act of 1689 and the establishment of the Bank of England to fund the war debt in 1694. He assented to the Declaration of Right and to the Triennial Act.

William's frequent absences from England and his reliance upon Dutch counselors accounted for his general unpopularity. However, the discovery of the Turnham Green Plot against his life in 1696 prompted a personal loyalty lasting until the end of his reign. In 1702 William fell from his horse, seriously undermining his fragile health. He died on March 8, 1702, as he was constructing a new alliance against France for the War of the Spanish Succession.

Further Reading

The most thorough of the modern biographies, focusing particularly on William III's role and importance during England's crisis with France, is Stephan B. Baxter, William III and the Defense of European Liberty, 1650-1702 (1966). An anecdotal glimpse into William's private life is provided by Nesca A. Robb's highly readable William of Orange: A Personal Portrait (2 vols., 1962-1966). David Ogg, William III (1956), is an attractive brief sketch. Three indispensable works on William's age are John B. Wolf, The Emergence of the Great Powers, 1685-1715 (1951); David Ogg, England in the Reigns of James II and William III (1955; corrected 1963); and Maurice Ashley, The Glorious Revolution of 1688 (1966). Peter Geyl, Orange and Stuart, 1641-1672 (trans. 1970), is superb.

Additional Sources

Miller, John, The life and times of William and Mary, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1974.

Archaeology Dictionary: William III
Top
Home > Library > Science > Archaeology Dictionary

[Na]

King of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland from 1689; born of the House of Stuart in 1650; son of William II, prince of Orange, and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I. Married Mary, elder daughter of James II. Died in 1702 aged 51; reigned thirteen years.
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: William III
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia - People
William III, 1650-1702, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689-1702); son of William II, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and of Mary, oldest daughter of King Charles I of England. William's personality was cold and his public policy calculating, but he was an able soldier and an astute politician, and his reign was of momentous constitutional importance.

Early Life

He was born at The Hague after his father's death, when the office of stadtholder was suspended and power fell into the hands of Jan de Witt. In 1672, however, a revolution was precipitated by Louis XIV's invasion of the Netherlands; De Witt was overthrown, and William was made stadtholder, captain general, and admiral for life. In the ensuing warfare with France (see Dutch Wars b>3), William was able to drive the French out of the Netherlands. He made peace with England in 1674 and finally with France in 1678. Thereafter he endeavored to build up a European coalition to prevent further French aggression.

Reign

The Glorious Revolution

In 1677, William had married the English Princess Mary (see Mary II), Protestant daughter of the Roman Catholic James, duke of York (later James II). After James's succession (1685) to the English throne, the Protestant William kept in close contact with the opposition to the king. Finally, after the birth of a son to James in 1688, he was invited to England by seven important nobles.

William landed in Devon with an army of 15,000 and advanced to London, meeting virtually no opposition. James was allowed to escape to France. Early in 1689, William summoned a Convention Parliament and accepted its offer of the crown jointly with his wife. The Glorious Revolution was thus accomplished in England without bloodshed, and it proved a decisive victory for Parliament in its long struggle with the crown; William was forced to accept the Bill of Rights (1689), which greatly limited the royal power and prescribed the line of succession, and to give Parliament control of finances and of the army.

In Scotland, the Jacobites resisted violently, but after their defeat at Killiecrankie (1689) William was able to make Scottish Presbyterianism secure. He blackened his reputation, however, by apparently condoning the bloody massacre of Glencoe (1692). In Ireland, after William's victory over the exiled James at the battle of the Boyne (1690) and the conclusion of the Treaty of Limerick (1691), the Penal Laws against Roman Catholics were increased in severity.

Foreign Policy and Constitutional Change

The Jacobite effort in Ireland had been supported by Louis XIV, who hoped thus to divert William from the larger war then being fought on the Continent (see Grand Alliance, War of the). William, however, took an English army to the Spanish Netherlands in 1691 and was constantly involved in campaigning until the conclusion of peace by the Treaty of Ryswick (1697). William attempted to ignore the party divisions in England, but he was forced to rely increasingly on Whig ministers because only the Whigs supported his foreign policy fully.

His Whig ministers, most notably Charles Montagu, earl of Halifax, were responsible for establishment (1694) of the Bank of England and the policy of the national debt. William and the Whigs were also responsible for the Toleration Act (1689), which lifted some of the disabilities imposed on Protestant nonconformists, and for allowing the Licensing Act to lapse (1695), a great step toward freedom of the press. William sought to maintain royal prerogatives but was unable to prevent passage of the Triennial Act (1694), which required a new Parliament every three years, and the Act of Settlement (1701), which imposed the first statutory limitation on royal control of foreign policy.

Later Years

A center of disaffection from c.1690 was the household of the queen's sister Anne (later Queen Anne), who with her favorites, the Marlboroughs, had been alienated by the hostile attitude of William and Mary. William's popularity diminished greatly after the death (1694) of the childless Queen Mary, and his concern near the end of his life with the Partition Treaties and with the War of the Spanish Succession (see Spanish Succession, War of the), in which England was involved in another long duel with France, did nothing to improve it.

Bibliography

A standard source for William's time is the history of Gilbert Burnet. See also biographies by N. A. Robb (2 vol., 1962-66), S. Baxter (1966), and H. and B. C. Van der Zee (1973); studies by L. Pinkham (1954, repr. 1969), D. Ogg (1956, repr. 1969), and G. Barany (1986); G. N. Clarke, The Later Stuarts (2d ed. 1956); R. P. MacCubbin and M. Hamilton-Phillips, ed., The Age of William III and Mary II (1988).

Wikipedia: William III of England
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
William III & II
William III by Sir Godfrey Kneller
Prince of Orange
Reign 14 November 1650 – 8 March 1702
Predecessor William II
Successor John William Friso
Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel
Reign July 1672 – 8 March 1702
Predecessor William II
Successor William IV
King of England, Scotland and Ireland (more ...)
Reign 13 February 1689 – 8 March 1702 (11 May 1689 – 8 March 1702 in Scotland)
Coronation 11 April 1689
Predecessor James VII & II
Successor Anne
Co-monarch Mary II
Spouse Mary II of England
Father William II, Prince of Orange
Mother Mary, Princess Royal
Born 14 November 1650(1650-11-14)
[OS: 4 November 1650][1]
Binnenhof, The Hague
Died 8 March 1702 (aged 51)
Kensington Palace, London
Burial Westminster Abbey, London
Signature

William III (14 November 1650 – 8 March 1702)[1] was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland.[2] He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy".[3] A member of the House of Orange-Nassau, William won the English, Scottish, and Irish crowns following the Glorious Revolution, in which his uncle and father-in-law James II was deposed. In England, Scotland, and Ireland, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694.

A Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith. Largely because of that reputation, William was able to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. William's victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemorated by the Orange Institution in Northern Ireland to this day. His reign marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more-Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover.

Contents

Early life

Portrait of a woman in a yellow gown and a man in a black suit
William's parents, William II of Orange and Mary Stuart, Princess Royal

Birth and family

William Henry of Orange was born in The Hague in the Dutch Republic on 14 November 1650.[4] He was the only child of stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal. Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland, and sister of King Charles II.

Eight days before William's birth, his father died from smallpox; thus William was the Sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth.[5] Immediately a conflict ensued between the Princess Royal and William II's mother, 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 or Willem to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder.[6] William II had appointed his wife as his son's guardian in his will; however the document remained unsigned at William II's death and was void.[7] On 13 August 1651 the Dutch Hoge Raad (Supreme Council) ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother, his paternal grandmother and Frederick William, the Elector of Brandenburg, whose wife, Louise Henriette, was his father's eldest sister.[8]

Childhood and education

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.[9] William's education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, and some of English descent, including Walburg Howard. From April 1656 the Calvinist preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the Contra-Remonstrant theologian Gisbertus Voetius, instructed the prince daily in the reformed religion.[10] A short treatise, perhaps by one of William's tutors, Constantijn Huygens, details the ideal education for William entitled Discours sur la nourriture de S.H. Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange.[11] 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.[12]

Portrait of a man with long black hair, seated
William's uncle, Charles II of England, took an interest in his upbringing.

From early 1659, William spent seven years at the University of Leiden for a formal education—though never officially enrolling as a student—under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius.[13] 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, the illegitimate son of stadtholder Frederick Henry of Orange. He was taught French by Samuel Chappuzeau (who was dismissed by William's grandmother after the death of his mother).[14]

On 25 September 1660 the States of Holland under the prime movers Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his uncle Cornelis de Graeff resolved to take charge of William's education to ensure he would acquire the skills to serve in a future—though undetermined—state function.[15] This first involvement of the authorities would 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 King Charles II.[15] In her will, Mary requested that Charles look after William's interests, and the English King now demanded the States of Holland end their interference.[16] To appease Charles, they complied on 30 September 1661.[17] In 1661, Zuylenstein began to work for Charles, and induced William to write letters to the English king asking his uncle to interfere on his behalf to improve his prospects on the stadtholderate.[18] 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.[19]

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.[18] As a countermeasure in 1666, when William was sixteen, the States of Holland officially made him a ward of the government, or a "Child of State".[18] All pro-English courtiers, including Zuylenstein, were removed from William's company.[18] William begged De Witt to allow Zuylenstein to stay, but he refused.[20] 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 in a regular game of real tennis.[20]

Early offices

portrait of a man dressed all in black, looking left
Johan de Witt took over William's education in 1666.
portrait of a plump man standing at a desk with papers lying on it
Gaspar Fagel replaced De Witt as Grand Pensionary, and was more friendly to William's interests.

Exclusion from stadtholdership

Main article: First Stadtholderless Period

At William's father's death, the provinces had suspended the office of stadtholder. The Treaty of Westminster, which ended the First Anglo-Dutch War, had a secret annex attached on demand of Oliver Cromwell: the Act of Seclusion, which forbade the province of Holland to appoint a member of the House of Orange as stadtholder.[21] After the English Restoration, the Act of Seclusion, which had not remained a secret for very long, was declared void as the English Commonwealth (with which the treaty had been concluded) no longer existed.[22] In 1660, Mary and Amalia tried to convince several provincial States to designate William as their future stadtholder, but they all initially refused.[22]

In 1667, as William III approached the age of eighteen, 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 allowed the pensionary of Haarlem, Gaspar Fagel, to induce the States of Holland to issue the Perpetual Edict (1667).[23] The Edict declared that the Captain-General or Admiral-General of the Netherlands could not serve as stadtholder in any province.[23] Even so, William's supporters sought ways to enhance his prestige, and on 19 September 1668, the States of Zeeland received 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 center of anti-Orangism, abolished the office of stadtholder and four other provinces followed suit in March 1670, establishing the so-called "Harmony".[23] De Witt demanded an oath from each Holland regent (city council member) to uphold the Edict; all but one complied.[23] William saw all this as a defeat, but in fact this 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 powers, despite De Witt's attempts to limit his role to that of an advisor.[28]

Conflict with republicans

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 guilder.[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 Charles's and James's lifestyles differed from his own, being 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 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 of the Netherlands for one summer, followed by a permanent appointment on his twenty-second 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-General 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

"Disaster year": 1672

Main article: Rampjaar

For the Dutch Republic 1672 proved calamitous, becoming known as the "disaster year" (Dutch: rampjaar) because of the Franco-Dutch War and the Third Anglo-Dutch War in which the Netherlands were invaded by France under Louis XIV, 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. William on 14 June 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, 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, Lord Arlington, met with William in Nieuwerbrug. He offered to make William Sovereign Prince of Holland in exchange for his capitulation—whereas a stadtholder was a mere civil servant.[39] When William refused, Arlington threatened that William would witness the end of the republic's existence.[39] William made his famous answer: "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 stadtholderate to William.[38]

Johan de Witt had been unable to function as Grand Pensionary after having been 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 murdered by an Orangist civil militia in The Hague on 20 August.[41] After this William replaced many of the Dutch regents with his followers.[42]

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

William III continued to fight against the invaders from England and France, allying himself with Spain and Brandenburg. In November 1672 he took his army to Maastricht to threaten the French supply lines.[44] By 1673, the situation further improved. Although Louis took Maastricht and William's attack against Charleroi failed, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter defeated the Anglo-French fleet three times, forcing Charles to end England's involvement by the Treaty of Westminster; after 1673, France slowly withdrew from Dutch territory (with the exception of Maastricht), while making gains elsewhere.[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 newly appoint all delegates in the States of these provinces.[46] William's followers in the States of Utrecht on 26 April 1674 appointed him hereditary stadtholder.[47] The States of Gelderland on 30 January 1675 offered the titles of Duke of Guelders and Count of Zutphen.[48] The negative reactions to this from Zeeland and the city of Amsterdam, where the stock market collapsed, made William ultimately decide to decline these honours; he was instead appointed stadtholder of Gelderland and Overijssel.[48]

Marriage

portrait of a woman with brown hair in a blue-and-gray dress
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 Mary Stuart, his cousin and daughter of James, Duke of York and eleven years his junior. Although he anticipated resistance to a Stuart match from the Amsterdam merchants who had disliked his mother (another Mary Stuart), 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.[49] James was not inclined to consent, but Charles pressured his brother to go along.[50] 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.[51] Charles relented, and Bishop Henry Compton married the couple on 4 November 1677.[52] Mary became pregnant soon after the marriage, but miscarried. After a further illness later in 1678, she never conceived again.[53]

Throughout William and Mary's marriage, William had only one acknowledged mistress, Elizabeth Villiers, in contrast to the many mistresses his uncles openly kept.[54]

Possible homosexual relations

During the 1690s rumours of William's homosexual inclinations grew and led to the publication of many satirical pamphlets.[55] He had several male favourites, including two Dutch courtiers to whom he granted English dignities: Hans Willem Bentinck became Earl of Portland, and Arnold Joost van Keppel was created Earl of Albemarle. These close relationships with men and the lack of mistresses led William's enemies to suggest that he preferred homosexual relationships. William's modern biographers still disagree on the veracity of these allegations, with some insisting that they were figments of his enemies' imaginations,[56] and others suggesting that there may have been some truth to the rumours.[57]

Bentinck's closeness to William aroused jealousies, but some modern historians doubt that there was a homosexual element about their relationship.[58] The same could not be said for Keppel, who was 20 years William's junior and strikingly handsome, and had risen from being a royal page to an earldom with suspicious ease.[59] 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'.[60] This, he said, was 'tarnishing a reputation which has never before been subject to such accusations'. William replied, 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'.[60]

Peace with France, intrigue with England

By 1678, Louis sought peace with the Dutch Republic.[61] Even so, tensions remained: William remained very suspicious of Louis, thinking the French king desired "Universal Kingship" over Europe; Louis described William as "my mortal enemy" and saw him as an obnoxious warmonger. France's small annexations in Germany (the Réunion policy) and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, caused a surge of Huguenot refugees to the Republic.[62] 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.[63]

portrait of a man clad in armor, looking right
Portrait of William, aged 27, by Peter Lely

After his marriage in November 1677, William became a possible candidate for the English throne if his father-in-law (and uncle) James would 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.[64] Nevertheless, William secretly induced the States-General to send the Insinuation to Charles, beseeching the king to prevent any Catholics from succeeding him, without explicitly naming James.[65] After receiving indignant reactions from Charles and James, William denied any involvement.[65]

In 1685, when James II succeeded Charles, William at first attempted a conciliatory approach, whilst at the same time trying not to offend the Protestants in England.[66] William, ever looking for ways to diminish the power of France, hoped James would join the League of Augsburg, but by 1687 it became clear that James would not join the anti-French alliance.[66] Relations worsened between William and James thereafter.[67] In November, James's wife Mary of Modena was announced to be pregnant.[68] 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 religious policies. Seeing him as a friend, and often having maintained secret contacts with him for years, many English politicians began to negotiate an armed invasion of England.[69]

Glorious Revolution

sepia-toned allegorical engraving representing William III's arrival at Tor Bay
The Arrival of William III by Sir James Thornhill. William landed in England on 5 November (Guy Fawkes day); a day already special in the Protestant calendar.
Main article: Glorious Revolution

Invasion of England

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.[70][71] 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.[72] In June, James's wife, Mary of Modena, bore a son (James Francis Edward Stuart), who displaced William's wife to become first in the line of succession.[73] Public anger also increased because of the trial of seven bishops who had publicly opposed James's religious policies and had petitioned him to reform them.[74]

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.[72] William's intentions to invade were public knowledge by September 1688.[75] With a Dutch army, William landed at Brixham in southwest England on 5 November 1688.[76] He came ashore from the ship Brill, proclaiming "the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain". William had come ashore with approximately 11,000 foot and 4,000 horse soldiers.[77] 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.[78]

James at first attempted to resist William, but saw that his efforts would prove futile.[78] He sent representatives to negotiate with William, but secretly attempted to flee on 11 December.[79] A group of fishermen caught him and brought him back to London.[79] He successfully escaped to France in a second attempt on 23 December.[79] William permitted James to leave the country, not wanting to make him a martyr for the Roman Catholic cause.[80]

Proclaimed King

A silver coin picturing William III and his coat of arms
Silver crown coin of William III, dated 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, centered on William's personal arms of the House of Orange-Nassau.

William summoned a Convention Parliament in England, which met on 22 January 1689,[81] to discuss the appropriate course of action following James's flight.[82] William felt insecure about his position; though only his wife was formally eligible to assume the throne, he wished to reign as King in his own right, rather than as a mere consort.[83] The only precedent for a joint monarchy in England dated from the sixteenth century, when Queen Mary I married the Spanish Prince Philip.[84] 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.[85] Although the majority of Tory Lords proposed to acclaim her as sole ruler, Mary, remaining loyal to her husband, refused.[86]

The House of Commons, with a Whig majority, quickly resolved that the throne was vacant, and that it was safer if the ruler was 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 remaining 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. The Commons made William accept a Bill of Rights,[81] and on 13 February 1689, Parliament passed the Declaration of Right, in which it deemed that James, by attempting to flee, had abdicated the government of the realm, thereby leaving the Throne vacant.[87] The Crown was not offered to James's eldest son, James Francis Edward (who would have been the heir-apparent under normal circumstances), but to William and Mary as joint Sovereigns.[83] 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".[83]

William and Mary were crowned together at Westminster Abbey on 11 April 1689 by the Bishop of London, Henry Compton.[88] Normally, the coronation is performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the Archbishop at the time, William Sancroft, refused to recognise James's removal.[88]

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.[89] William and Mary were offered the Scottish Crown; they accepted on 11 May.[90]

Revolution settlement

Statue of a rider on a horse
Statue of an idealised William III by John Michael Rysbrack erected in Queen Square, Bristol in 1736

William III of England encouraged the passage of the Act of Toleration (1689), which guaranteed religious toleration to certain Protestant nonconformists.[82] It did not, however, extend toleration as far as William wished, still restricting the religious liberty of Roman Catholics, non-trinitarians, and those of non-Christian faiths.[88] In December 1689, one of the most important constitutional documents in English history, the Bill of Rights, was passed.[91] 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.[82] 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.[92]

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, the Princess Anne, and her issue.[91] Finally, any children William might have had by a subsequent marriage were included in the line of succession. Roman Catholics, as well as those who married Catholics, were excluded.[91]

Rule with Mary II

Resistance to validity of rule

Although most in Britain accepted William as Sovereign, a significant minority refused to accept the validity of his claim to the throne, holding that the divine right of kings was authority directly from God, not delegated to the monarch by Parliament. Over the next 57 years Jacobites pressed for restoration of James and his heirs.[93] 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.[94]

Painting of a battle scene
Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III, 11 June 1690, Jan van Huchtenburg

Ireland was controlled by Roman Catholics loyal to James, who arrived with French forces in March 1689 to join the war in Ireland and contest Protestant resistance at the Siege of Derry.[95] William's navy relieved 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 in July 1690, after which James II fled back to France.[96] William's victory is commemorated annually by Northern Irish and Scottish Protestants on the The Twelfth of July.[97]

The first of a series of Jacobite risings took place in Scotland, where Viscount Dundee raised Highland forces and won a stunning 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.[98] William offered Scottish clans that had taken part in the rising a pardon provided 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.[99][100] 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."[99]

William's reputation in Scotland was further damaged when he refused English assistance to the Darien scheme, a colony which then failed disastrously.[101]

Parliament and faction

Engraving depicting a king, queen, throne, and arms
A 1703 engraving of King William III and Queen Mary II

Although the Whigs were William's strongest supporters, he initially favoured a policy of balance between the Whigs and Tories.[102] The Marquess of Halifax, a man known for his ability to chart a moderate political course, gained William's confidence early in his reign.[103] The Whigs, a majority in Parliament, had expected to dominate the government, and were disappointed that William denied them this chance.[104] 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.[105]

After the Parliamentary elections of 1690, William began to favour the Tories, led by Danby and Nottingham.[106] While the Tories favoured preserving the king's prerogatives, William found them unaccommodating when he asked Parliament to support his continuing war with France.[107] As a result, William began to prefer the Whig faction known as the Junto.[108] The Whig government was responsible for the creation of the Bank of England. William's decision to grant the Royal Charter in 1694 to the Bank, a private institution owned by bankers, is his most relevant economic legacy.[109] 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. There was a considerable surge in support for William following the exposure of a Jacobite plan to assassinate him in 1696.[110] Parliament passed a bill of attainder against the ringleader, John Fenwick, and he was beheaded in 1697.[111]

War in Europe

William continued to be absent from the realm for extended periods during his war with France, leaving each spring and returning to England each autumn.[112] England joined the League of Augsburg, which then became known as the Grand Alliance.[113] 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.[114]

After the Anglo-Dutch fleet defeated a French fleet at La Hogue in 1692, the allies for a short period controlled the seas, and Ireland was pacified thereafter by the Treaty of Limerick.[115] At the same time, the Grand Alliance fared poorly in Europe, as William lost Namur in the Spanish Netherlands in 1692, and was badly beaten at the Battle of Landen in 1693.[116]

Later years

Mary II died of smallpox in 1694, leaving William III to rule alone.[117] William deeply mourned his wife's death.[118] Despite his conversion to Anglicanism, William's popularity plummeted during his reign as a sole Sovereign.[119]

Peace with France

Black and white depiction of six small portraits arrayed in a circle around a larger portrait
Engraving from 1695 showing the Lord Justices who administered the kingdom while William was on campaign. (Queen Mary had performed this function prior to her death in 1694.)

In 1696, the Dutch territory of Drenthe made William its Stadtholder. In the same year, Jacobites plotted to assassinate William III in an attempt to restore James to the English throne, but failed. In accordance with the Treaty of Rijswijk (20 September 1697), which ended the Nine Years' War, Louis recognised William III as King of England, and undertook to give no further assistance to James II.[120] 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 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. The King of Spain, Charles II, was an invalid with no prospect of having children; amongst his closest relatives were Louis XIV (the King of France) 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, which provided for the division of the Spanish Empire: Duke Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria would obtain Spain, while France and the Holy Roman Emperor would divide the remaining territories between them.[121] Charles II accepted the nomination of Joseph Ferdinand as his heir, and war appeared to be averted.[122]

Portrait of a man, standing, wearing a ermine robed faced with fleur-de-lis
Louis XIV of France was William's life-long enemy; an uneasy peace agreed in 1697 was soon broken

When, however, Joseph Ferdinand died of smallpox, the issue re-opened. In 1700, the two rulers 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.[123] This arrangement infuriated both the Spanish, who still sought to prevent the dissolution of their empire, and the Holy Roman Emperor, to whom the Italian territories were much more useful than the other lands.[123] Unexpectedly, the invalid King of Spain, Charles II, interfered as he lay dying in late 1700.[124] Unilaterally, he willed all Spanish territories to Philip, a grandson of Louis XIV. The French conveniently ignored the Second Partition Treaty and claimed the entire Spanish inheritance.[124] Furthermore, Louis XIV alienated William III by recognising James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of the former King James II who had died in 1701, as King of England.[125] The subsequent conflict, known as the War of the Spanish Succession, continued until 1713.

English succession

Scottish and English Royalty
House of Stuart
UK Arms 1689.svg
Mary II & William III
William III

The Spanish inheritance was not the only one which concerned William. His marriage with Mary II had not yielded any children, and he did not seem likely to remarry. Mary's sister, the Princess Anne, had borne numerous children, all of whom died during childhood. The death of William, Duke of Gloucester in 1700 left the Princess Anne as the only individual left in the line of succession established by the Bill of Rights.[126] As the complete exhaustion of the line of succession would have encouraged a restoration of James II's line, Parliament saw fit to pass the Act of Settlement 1701, in which it was provided that the Crown would be inherited by a distant relative, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her Protestant heirs if Princess Anne died without surviving issue, and if William III failed to have surviving issue by any subsequent marriage.[127] (Several Catholics with genealogically senior claims to Sophia were omitted.) The Act extended to England and Ireland, but not to Scotland, whose Estates had not been consulted before the selection of Sophia.[127]

Death

Main article: Second Stadtholderless Period

In 1702, William died of pneumonia, a complication from a broken collarbone, resulting from a fall off his horse, Sorrel.[128] Because his horse had stumbled into a mole's burrow, many Jacobites toasted "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat."[129] Years later, Sir Winston Churchill, in his epic the History of the English Speaking Peoples, put it more poetically when he said that the fall "opened the door to a troop of lurking foes".[130] William was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside his wife.[131]

William's death brought an end to the Dutch House of Orange, members of which 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 agnatic descendant of William I to be named stadtholder for the majority of the provinces. Under William III's will, Johan Willem Friso stood to inherit the Principality of Orange as well as several lordships in the Netherlands.[132] He was an agnatic relative of the Princes of Orange, as well as a descendant of William the Silent through a female line. However, King Frederick I of Prussia also claimed the Principality as the senior cognatic heir, stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange having been his maternal grandfather and William III his first cousin.[133] Under the Treaty of Utrecht, which was agreed to in 1713, Frederick William I of Prussia (who kept the title as part of his titulary) ceded the Principality of Orange to the King of France, Louis XIV; Friso's son, William IV, shared the title of "Prince of Orange", which had accumulated high prestige in the Netherlands as well as in the entire Protestant world, with Frederick William after the Treaty of Partition (1732).[134][135]

Legacy

A modern Orange Banner

William's primary achievement was to contain France when it was in a position to impose its will across much of Europe. His life was largely opposed to the will of 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.[136] 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.[136]

William endowed the College of William and Mary (in present day Williamsburg, Virginia) in 1693.[137] Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas, is named after Fort Nassau, which was renamed in 1695 in his honor.[138] Similarly Nassau County, New York a county on Long Island, is a namesake.[139] Long Island itself was also known as Nassau during early Dutch rule.[139] Though many alumni of Princeton University think that Princeton, N.J. (and hence the university) was named in his honor, this is probably untrue. Nassau Hall, at the university campus, is so named, however.[140]

The modern day Orange Institution is named after William III, and makes a point of celebrating his victory at the Boyne. 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 center 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.[141]

Style and arms

Style

Royal styles of
King William III of England

UK Arms 1689.svg
Reference style His Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty
Alternative style Sire

From 1672, William was "Stadtholder of Holland, Prince of Orange".[142] After their accession in Great Britain, William and Mary used the style "King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, etc."[143] (The claim to France was only nominal, and had been asserted by every English King since Edward III, regardless of the amount of French territory actually controlled, see English claims to the French throne).

Arms

The arms used by the King and Queen were: Quarterly, I and IV Grandquarterly, 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 tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); overall an escutcheon Azure billetty and a lion rampant Or (for Nassau).[144]

Ancestry

In popular culture

William has been played on screen by:

The Baroque Cycle series of books by Neal Stephenson prominently feature William of Orange. William of Orange is referenced in Flanders and Swann's satirical song "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice," in a verse describing the Irish: "He blows up policemen, or so I have heard/and blames it on Cromwell and William the Third."

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b During William's lifetime, two calendars were in use in Europe: the Julian calendar in Britain and parts of Eastern Europe, and the 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. At William's death, Gregorian dates were now eleven days ahead of Julian dates. He died on 8 March 1702 by the Julian Calendar still applying in Britain, but on 19 March 1702 by the Gregorian Calendar. Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of the dates in this article follow the Julian Calendar.
  2. ^ "Act of Union 1707, the Revolution in Scotland". UK Parliament. http://www.parliament.uk/actofunion/01_03_revolution.html. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
  3. ^ Peter Burke (1997). Varieties of Cultural History. Cornell University Press. p. 51. ISBN 0801484928. 
  4. ^ Claydon, 9
  5. ^ Claydon, 14
  6. ^ Troost, 26; van der Zee, 6–7
  7. ^ Troost, 26
  8. ^ Troost, 26–27. The Prussian prince 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.
  9. ^ Van der Kiste, 5–6; Troost, 27
  10. ^ Troost, 34–37
  11. ^ Troost, 27. The author may also have been Johan van den Kerckhoven. Ibid.
  12. ^ Troost, 36–37
  13. ^ Troost, 37–40
  14. ^ Meinel
  15. ^ a b Troost, 43
  16. ^ Troost, 43–44
  17. ^ Troost, 44
  18. ^ a b c d Troost, 49
  19. ^ Van der Kiste, 12–17
  20. ^ a b Van der Kiste, 14–15
  21. ^ Troost, 29–30
  22. ^ a b Troost, 41
  23. ^ a b c d Troost, 52–53
  24. ^ a b Van der Kiste, 16–17
  25. ^ Troost, 57
  26. ^ Troost, 53–54
  27. ^ Troost, 59
  28. ^ Troost, 60
  29. ^ a b c Troost, 62–64
  30. ^ Van der Kiste, 18–20
  31. ^ Troost, 64
  32. ^ Troost, 65
  33. ^ Troost, 66
  34. ^ a b Troost, 67
  35. ^ a b Troost, 65–66
  36. ^ Troost, 74
  37. ^ a b Troost, 78–83
  38. ^ a b Troost, 76
  39. ^ a b Troost, 80–81
  40. ^ Troost, 75
  41. ^ a b Troost, 85–86
  42. ^ Troost, 89–90
  43. ^ Rowen, H.H. (1986) John de Witt: Statesman of the "true Freedom", Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521527082, p. 222; Nijhoff, D.C. (1893) Staatkundige Geschiedenis van Nederland. Tweede Deel, pp. 92–93, and fn.4 p. 92; Robert Fruin, "De schuld van Willem III en zijn vrienden aan den moord der gebroeders de Witt", in De Gids (1867), pp. 201–218[1]
  44. ^ Troost, 122
  45. ^ Troost, 128–129
  46. ^ a b Troost, 106–110
  47. ^ Troost, 109
  48. ^ a b Troost, 109–112
  49. ^ Van der Kiste, 38–39
  50. ^ Van der Kiste, 42–43
  51. ^ Van der Kiste, 44–46
  52. ^ Van der Kiste, 47
  53. ^ Chapman, 86–93
  54. ^ Van der Zee, 202–206
  55. ^ Culture and Society In Britain, J. Black (ed.), Manchester, 1997. p97
  56. ^ Van der Kiste, 204–205; Baxter, 352
  57. ^ Troost, 25–26; Van der Zee, 421–423
  58. ^ Van der Kiste, 205
  59. ^ Van der Kiste, 201
  60. ^ a b Van der Kiste, 202–203
  61. ^ Troost, 141–145
  62. ^ Troost, 153–156
  63. ^ Troost, 156–163
  64. ^ Troost, 150–151
  65. ^ a b Troost, 152–153
  66. ^ a b Troost, 173–175
  67. ^ Troost, 180–183
  68. ^ Troost, 189
  69. ^ Troost, 186
  70. ^ e.g. Troost, 190
  71. ^ Claydon, Tony (September 2004; rev. May 2008). "William III and II (1650–1702)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29450. Retrieved 2008-08-08.  (Subscription required)
  72. ^ a b Troost, 191
  73. ^ Troost, 191; van der Kiste, 91–92
  74. ^ Van der Kiste, 91
  75. ^ Troost, 193–196
  76. ^ Troost, 200–203; van der Kiste, 102–103
  77. ^ Van der Kiste, 105
  78. ^ a b Troost, 204–205
  79. ^ a b c Troost, 205–207
  80. ^ Baxter, 242–246; Miller, 208
  81. ^ a b "Legitimism in England". http://jacobite.ca/essays/ruvigny.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
  82. ^ a b c Davies, 614–615
  83. ^ a b c Troost, 207–210
  84. ^ Davies, 469; Israel, 136
  85. ^ Van der Kiste, 107–108
  86. ^ Troost, 209
  87. ^ Troost, 210–212
  88. ^ a b c Troost, 219–220
  89. ^ Troost, 266–268
  90. ^ Davies, 614–615. William was "William II" of Scotland, for there was only one previous Scottish King named William.
  91. ^ a b c Van der Kiste, 114–115
  92. ^ Troost, 212–214
  93. ^ "The Jacobite Heritage". http://jacobite.ca/. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
  94. ^ "Nonjurors". http://jacobite.ca/essays/nonjurors.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
  95. ^ "The Siege of Derry (1688–1689)". http://www.libraryireland.com/JoyceHistory/Derry.php. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
  96. ^ "The Battle of the Boyne (1689–1690)". http://www.libraryireland.com/JoyceHistory/Boyne.php. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
  97. ^ Troost, 278–280
  98. ^ Troost, 270–273
  99. ^ a b Troost, 274–275
  100. ^ "BBC – History – Scottish History – Restoration and Revolution (II)". The Making of the Union. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/union/features_union_restoration2.shtml. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
  101. ^ "BBC – History – British History in depth: The Jacobite Cause". http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_jacobites_01.shtml. Retrieved 2009-11-09. 
  102. ^ Troost, 220–223
  103. ^ Troost, 221
  104. ^ Van der Zee, 296–297
  105. ^ Troost, 222; van der Zee, 301–302
  106. ^ Troost, 223–227
  107. ^ Troost, 226
  108. ^ Troost, 228–232
  109. ^ Claydon, 129–131
  110. ^ Van der Zee, 402–403
  111. ^ Van der Zee, 414
  112. ^ Troost, 239–241; van der Zee, 368–369
  113. ^ Troost, 241–246
  114. ^ Van der Kiste, 150–158
  115. ^ Troost, 281–283
  116. ^ Troost, 244–246
  117. ^ Van der Kiste, 179–180
  118. ^ Van der Kiste, 180–184
  119. ^ Van der Kiste, 186–192; Troost, 226–237
  120. ^ Troost, 251
  121. ^ Troost, 253–255
  122. ^ Troost, 255
  123. ^ a b Troost, 256–257
  124. ^ a b Troost, 258–260
  125. ^ Troost, 260
  126. ^ Troost, 234
  127. ^ a b Troost, 235
  128. ^ Van der Kiste, 251–254
  129. ^ Van der Kiste, 255
  130. ^ Churchill, 30–31
  131. ^ "William III". Westminster Abbey Official site. Archived from the original on 2008-01-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20080106223703/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/monuments-gravestones/royalty/12322. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
  132. ^ Israel, 959–960
  133. ^ Israel, 962, 968
  134. ^ Israel, 991–992
  135. ^ "Text of the Treaty of Partition" (in French). Heraldica. http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/berlin1732.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
  136. ^ a b Claydon, 3–4
  137. ^ "Historical Chronology, 1618 – 1699". College of William and Mary. http://web.archive.org/web/20080715225541/http://www.wm.edu/vitalfacts/seventeenth.php. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  138. ^ Craton, Michael; Saunders-Smith, Gail (1992). Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People. University of Georgia Press. p. 101. ISBN 0820321222. 
  139. ^ a b "History of Nassau County". Nassau County website. http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/website/EN/facts_stats_maps/history_of_NC.html. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
  140. ^ Norris, Edwin Mark (1917). The Story of Princeton. Little, Brown. pp. 5–6. 
  141. ^ The History of North America by Guy Carleton Lee by Guy Carleton Lee Francis and Francis Newton Thorpe Published 1904 Published by G. Barrie & sons, p. 167 The Dutch Under English Rule
  142. ^ Ashley, Mike (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. London: Robinson. p. 693. ISBN 1841190969. 
  143. ^ The Guinness Book of Answers. London: Guinness Publishing. 1991. p. 709. ISBN 0-85112-957-9. 
  144. ^ Maclagan, Michael; Louda, Jiří (1999). Line of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. London: Little, Brown & Co. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0-85605-469-1. 

References

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William III of England
William III of England and Orange & II of Scotland
Cadet branch of the House of Nassau
Born: 14 November 1650 Died: 8 March 1702
Regnal titles
Preceded by
William II		 Prince of Orange
1650–1702		 Succeeded by
Johan Willem Friso
Baron of Breda
1650–1702
Preceded by
James II		 King of England
King of Ireland
1689–1702
with Mary II (1689–1694)		 Succeeded by
Anne
King of Scotland
1689–1702
with Mary II (1689–1694)
English royalty
Preceded by
James, Prince of Wales		 Heir to the English, Scottish and Irish Thrones
as heir apparent to Mary II
13 February 1689 – 28 December, 1694		 Succeeded by
Princess George of Denmark
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
James II		 Lord High Admiral
1689		 Succeeded by
The Earl of Torrington
Titles in pretence
Preceded by
James II of England		 — TITULAR —
King of France
1689–1702
with Mary II of England
Reason for succession failure:
Capetian Succession Failure		 Succeeded by
Anne of England
v • d • e
Stadtholders of Guelders

Willem van Egmond · Willem van Egmond jr. · Filips van Croy · Willem van Egmond jr. · Adolf III of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein  · Jan V of Nassau-Vianden-Diez · Philip of Burgundy · Floris van Egmond · René of Châlon · Filips van Lalaing · Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn · Karel van Brimeu · Gillis van Berlaymont · John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg · Willem IV van den Bergh · Adolf van Nieuwenaar · Maurice of Nassau · Frederick Henry of Orange · William II of Orange · interregnum · William III of Orange · interregnum · William IV of Orange · William V of Orange
v • d • e
Stadtholders of Holland, Zeeland and (from 1528) Utrecht
Hugo van Lannoy · Willem van Lalaing · Gozewijn de Wilde · Jan van Lannoy · Lewis de Bruges · Wolfert VI van Borselen · Joost van Lalaing · Jan III van Egmond · Henry III of Nassau-Breda · Antoon van Lalaing · René of Châlon · Louis of Flanders · Maximilian II of Burgundy · William of Orange · Maximilian of Hennin · Philip of Noircarmes · William of Orange · Adolf van Nieuwenaar (Utrecht only) · Maurice of Nassau · Frederick Henry of Orange · William II of Orange · interregnum · William III of Orange · interregnum · William IV of Orange · William V of Orange
v • d • e
Stadtholders of Overijssel
v • d • e
Stadtholders of Drenthe

Christoph van Moers • Jasper van Marwijck • Charles, Duke of Guelders • Ludolf Coenders • Georg Schenck van Toutenburg • Maximiliaan van Egmond • Jan van Ligne • Karel van Brimeu • Gillis van Berlaymont • Caspar van Robles • Georges van Lalaing • Francisco Verdugo • Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dietz • Maurice of Nassau • Ernst Casimir • Hendrik Casimir I • Willem Frederik • Hendrik Casimir II • William II of Orange • William III of Orange • William IV of Orange • William V of Orange
v • d • e
Tudor rose.svg  English monarchs  UK Royal Coat of Arms.svg
Kingdom of the
English
886–1066
Kingdom of
England
1066–1649
Commonwealth of
England, Scotland and Ireland
1653–1659
Kingdom of
England
1660–1707
Flag of England.svg

Charles II3  · James II3  · William III and Mary II3  · Anne3
1Overlord of Britain. 2Also ruler of Ireland. 3Also ruler of Scotland. 4Lord Protector.
Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.
v • d • e
Pictish and Scottish Monarchs
Monarchs of the Picts
(traditional)
Monarchs of the Scots
(traditional)
Royal coat of arms of Scotland.svg
Kenneth I MacAlpin · Donald I · Constantine I (II) · Áed · Giric · Eochaid (doubtful) · Donald II · Constantine II (III) · Malcolm I · Indulf · Dub · Cuilén · Amlaíb · Kenneth II · Constantine III (IV) · Kenneth III · Malcolm II · Duncan I · Macbeth · Lulach · Malcolm III Canmore · Donald III · Duncan II · Donald III · Edgar · Alexander I · David I · Malcolm IV · William I · Alexander II · Alexander III · Margaret (disputed)  · First Interregnum · John · Second Interregnum · Robert I · David II · Robert II · Robert III · James I · James II · James III · James IV · James V · Mary I · James VI* · Charles I* · Charles II · The Covenanters · The Protectorate · Charles II* · James VII* · Mary II* · William II* · Anne*
* also monarch of England and Ireland.


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Best of the Web: William III of England
Top

Some good "William III of England" pages on the web:


Royalty
www.genuki.org.uk
 
 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "William III of England".  Read more