William of Orange 1533-1584

Four hundred years ago this month, western Europe was shocked to learn of the assassination of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, in a house in Delft (Holland). Not that political murders were uncommon at that time: Antony, King of Navarre had been struck down in 1563; Henry Darnley, King of Scotland, was blown up in 1566; somewhat later, both Henry III and Henry IV of France were stabbed to death. William of Orange was not a king; yet his murder caused no less upheaval than the others, for since 1572 he had been leader of the Revolt of the Netherlands against their hereditary sovereign, Philip II of Spain. In the celebrated rhetoric of the nineteenth-century historian J.L. Motley, 'As long as he lived; William 'was the guiding star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets'. Deprived of his leadership, the revolt soon ran out of steam: more towns were lost, disaffection with the rebel government grew, surrender to Spain seemed a distinct possibility. It was primarily to prevent Philip II from restoring his control over the North Sea coast that Elizabeth of England in 1585 in effect declared war on him – dispatching Drake and a fleet to harry the Spanish Caribbean and Leicester with an army to help the rebels in Holland.

Orange in death was thus, indeed, the saviour of his country. But how much had he really achieved in life? Since J.L. Motley published his laudatory Rise of the Dutch Republic in 1856, the contribution of Orange to the success of the Revolt has been hotly disputed. So History Today has asked leading experts to reconsider the Prince's life and work in the light of the latest research. Their assessments will be published in this issue and the next one. Geoffrey Parker, author of the standard work on the subject, The Dutch Revolt, describes the background.