Five Brothers and a War

History—1600 to 1700 AD

The role of Stadhouder became vacant. The Eerste Stadhouderloze Tijdperk (“First Governor less Period”) is the period in the history of the Dutch Republic between 1650 and 1672 in which the office of Stadhouder was absent in five of the seven Dutch provinces. Friesland and Groningen, however, retained their customary stadthouder position from a branch of the House of Orange). This period happened to coincide with the period when Holland reached the zenith of its economic, military and political Golden Age, though the two were unrelated. To some, it showed the ability of the nation to function without the overview of the stadthouder.

holland

Willem II van Oranje

In 1672, Willem III was appointed Stadhouder . He married Mary Stuart II, the daughter of the future James II (at the time, he was still the Duke of York), his first cousin, in 1677. Mary was 15 years old. Their reign was a joint one, becoming known as “William and Mary” until her death in 1694. To summarize, Willem van Oranje was succeed by his son, Filips Willem, who was succeeded by his half-brother, Maurits, who was succeeded by another half-brother, Frederik Henrik. Next was Willem II, who was the grandson of Willem, who also became known as Willem I van Oranje . (There have been other Willems, including Willem I van Oranje’s father, Willem I of Nassau-Dillenburg). Willem III, became known as William of Orange in England. To be clear, the William of Orange who became sovereign of England, Scotland and Ireland was Willem van Oranje’s great-grandson, and is usually referred to as William III of Orange. William III of Orange was married to Mary II, Queen of Scotland, but they had no children.

Five Brothers and a War

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