European Kingdoms

Stadhouder Princes of Holland & Zeeland (House of Orange) (Netherlands) (Low Countries)
AD 1581 - 1702

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Within the Low Countries, the Habsburgs took over governance of the county of Holland, replacing less imperial rulers such as those of Burgundy Holland with the new line as part of Habsburg Holland.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Charles II of the Habsburg Netherlands) abdicated in 1556, dividing the empire. His son, Philip II, became king of Spain with its Spanish Empire colonies, and governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. His brother, Ferdinand, received the Holy Roman empire, Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary.

Philip headed what now became the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, and his Netherlands became the Spanish Netherlands. Younger members of the royal house are also confirmed as dukes of Carinthia and counts of Tyrol, both following Ferdinand's death in 1564.

In the northern Netherlands, William I, count of Nassau, prince of Orange (born in Nassau), was officially proclaimed stadhouder of the counties of Holland and Zeeland and the diocese of Utrecht, governing in the name of Phillip II.

(Information by Peter Kessler, Drs Dirk van Duijvenbode, and William Willems, with additional information from External Links: History Extra, and A Short History of Holland, Belgium & Luxembourg (available for download as a PDF from Stanford University), and Encyclopaedia Britannica.)

1463 - 1475

Prince of Orange.

1475 - 1502

Prince of Orange.

1502 - 1515

Dau. m Hendrik III of Nassau (1515).

1515 - 1538

Count of Nassau. Prince of Orange.

1538 - 1544

Son. Count of Nassau. Prince of Orange.

1544 - 1555

Nephew. Count of Nassau. Prince of Orange.

1555

The princes of Orange play no part in Dutch history until this year. William I, count of Nassau, prince of Orange (born in Nassau), is officially proclaimed stadhouder of the counties of Holland and Zeeland and the diocese of Utrecht by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The princes of Orange now rule in the name of the absent Spanish count of Holland, Philip III (King Phillip II of Spain).

Introduced in 1560, the system of imperial states replaced the now-outdated feudal system, with an imperial circle ('reichskreis') being a regional grouping of the imperial states (click or tap on map to view full sized)

1555 - 1584

Led revolt against Spanish Habsburgs. Assassinated 10 July.

1568 - 1648

The War of Liberation (or Eighty Years War) against the Spanish Habsburgs ends with the Münster (Westphalia) peace treaty. Europe recognises the independence of the Netherlands.

1581

In July seven provinces from the northern Netherlands claim independence from the Habsburgs of Spain to become the republic of the United Netherlands, while Spain continues to rule the southern provinces which become known as the Spanish Netherlands. The Habsburgs are thrown out of the Netherlands.

William, who remains stadhouder, now governs Holland along with the Staten Generaal (the representatives of the seven provinces). The Staten-Generaal continues to select members of the House of Orange to govern the Netherlands as stadhouder (even though there is no longer any monarch). They are kings in all but name.

1585 - 1625

Son.

1591

The city of Nijmegen is conquered by the Dutch stadhouder, freeing it from Habsburg control. Its predominantly Catholic churches are immediately converted to Protestantism.

1600

The arrival of a Dutch trading vessel in Japan, the Liefde, greatly unsettles the Portuguese and Spanish merchants there. The vessel's pilot, William Adams, is an Englishman of wit and charm. He is escorted to the powerful warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, where he reveals the lies peddled by Jesuits about religion in Europe.

Ieyasu is no less interested in the Liefde's canon, and it is possible that he uses them in battle later in the year. (William Adams serves as the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel, Shogun, with the role played by Richard Chamberlain in the remarkable tv mini-series of the same name.)

1606

A Dutch admiral, Willem Jansz, discovers a landmass in the southern ocean which is eventually named Australia, but no effort is made to colonise it. Having sailed from the Netherlands in 1603 as skipper of the Duyfken, he is examining the east coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria at the time.

Willem Jansz later served as governor of Fort Henricus on Solor, in 1618-1628, during which time he also served as admiral of the Dutch fleet and then as as governor of Banda in 1623-1627

1609 - 1621

The Spanish Netherlands and their Habsburg masters are exhausted by the war with the northerners. A truce is agreed which all but recognises the legality of the independence of the northern Netherlands.

1614

The Dutch found a commercial trading post on the eastern coast of North America and name it New Amsterdam. Dutch pirates freely operate against the Spanish in the Americas, especially in the vicinity of Hispaniola.

1625 - 1647

Son of William I.

1624 - 1625

The first director-general of the Dutch West India Company's colony of New Netherland in the Americas is appointed in 1624. The following year, Dutch forces under Boudewijn Hendrick attack the capital of Puerto Rico, but are forced back by the governor, although they set fire to the city as they retreat.

1625

The First Genoese-Savoyard War is part of the greater Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Savoyard forces join those of France and the Netherlands to besiege Genoa, the capital of the eponymous republic, while the rest of its lands suffer occupation by the invaders. Spain sends a major naval expedition to relieve Genoa, which it does. The Genoese republic is restored and they and the Spanish turn the tables, invading Piedmont and securing the overland supply route between northern Italy and the Spanish Netherlands, known as the Spanish Road. The war ends in a stalemate with the Treaty of Monçon.

1639

A new director-general arrives at New Amsterdam to take command of the New Netherland settlements - Governor Kieft - who chooses to deal with the neighbouring tribes through intimidation rather than negotiation. One of his first actions is to send an armed sloop to the Tappan villages to demand a tribute of corn and wampum. The Tappan have always been peaceful and have even sold some of their land to the Dutch. They reluctantly pay but cannot believe that the Dutch have treated them this way.

This image of 'Nieuw Amsterdam' is from the map of America by Nicholas Visscher of 1682, close enough to the 1639 arrival of the notorious Governor Kieft for the scene to have looked much the same (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

1641

The Dutch become allied to the African Kongo kingdom as the latter attempt to dislodge the Portuguese slave traders.

1642 - 1644

The Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, leaves Batavia in the Dutch East Indies and reaches the north-western coast of Australia. From there he sails through the Indian Ocean almost as far as Madagascar before returning to reach Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand. His final return to Batavia is by way of the northern coast of New Guinea.

1647 - 1650

1648

The near-constant warfare and rapid change brought about by the Reformation and its Papal response, the Counter Reformation, is finally ended by the Peace of Westphalia. Under its terms, which also wrap up the Thirty Years War, Pomerania is carved up, with Sweden losing Further-Pomerania to Brandenburg-Prussia, while retaining Nearer-Pomerania.

In parallel, the Peace of Münster marks the end of the Eighty Years War and recognition for the independent Dutch republic. In addition, control by the Dutch and its ruling House of Orange over the 'Generality Lands' - southern Catholic lands near the border with the Catholic Habsburg Spanish Netherlands - is now recognised and consolidated.

1650 - 1672

Eerste Stadhouderloze Tijdperk (the First Stadhouderless Era). William III is born eight days after his father's death. As William III is too young to rule, and there is no other Orange to select, the Staten-Generaal do not select a stadhouder at all.

1655

The colony of New Sweden in the Americas has its main settlement at Fort Christina captured by the Dutch in retaliation for a brief Swedish occupation of one of the forts in New Netherland.

1664 - 1667

Under the leadership of the duke of York, the English attack and capture the province of New Netherland in 1664. The act leads to the Second Anglo-Dutch War the following year, which ends with the Netherlands agreeing to the English ownership of the colony in exchange for Suriname.

As one Indian war rumbled on and another started up, Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant was forced to surrender New Amsterdam to the British on 8 September 1664, allowing the colony's new owners to rename it New York City (click or tap on image to view full sized)

1672

Several nations declare war on the Netherlands, and the people plead for a member of the House of Orange to lead them. William III is selected. The Dutch republic finances the wars of Stadthouder William III, primarily by borrowing.

1672 - 1702

Son. William III of England (1689-1702). No heir.

1673 - 1674

The territory of former Dutch New Amsterdam is seized during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but is returned to England as part of the Treaty of Westminster in 1674.

It is during this period, the last quarter of the seventeenth century, that the Netherlands takes control of the islands which form the Dutch West Indies. Mostly discovered and partially settled by Spain in 1493 (the windward isles) and 1499 (the leeward isles), their conquest by the Dutch West India Company secures them as military outposts and trade bases.

1702

This is the start of the Tweede Stadhouderloze Tijdperk (the 'Second Stadhouderless Era'). No stadhouder is elected by the Staten-Generaal until 1747. This is true even during the War of the Quadruple Alliance, when King Philip V of Spain, unhappy with the arrangements set at the end of the War of Succession, occupies Sardinia and Sicily.

The Battle of Glenshiel in 1719 was the second and final defeat of a doomed small-scale Spanish-supported invasion of Scotland, part of the War of the Quadruple Alliance