In the history of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
, Orangism or ''prinsgezindheid'' ("pro-prince stance") was a political force opposing the
''Staatsgezinde'' (pro-Republic) party. Orangists supported the
Princes of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands.
The title ...
as
Stadtholders (a position held by members of the
House of Orange
The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...
) and military commanders of the Republic, as a check on the power of the ''
regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten (the Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a hered ...
''. The Orangist party drew its adherents largely from
tradition
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
alists – mostly farmers, soldiers,
noblemen
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...
and orthodox Protestant preachers, though its support fluctuated heavily over the course of the Republic's history and there were never clear-cut socioeconomic divisions.
History
The coup of stadtholder Maurice against Oldenbarnevelt
Orangism can be seen as a continuation of the political opposition between the
remonstrants and
counter-remonstrant
Franciscus Gomarus (François Gomaer; 30 January 1563 – 11 January 1641) was a Dutch theologian, a strict Calvinist and an opponent of the teaching of Jacobus Arminius (and his followers), whose theological disputes were addressed at the Synod ...
s during the
Twelve Years' Truce
The Twelve Years' Truce was a ceasefire during the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, agreed in Antwerp on 9 April 1609 and ended on 9 April 1621. While European powers like France began treating the Republic as a soverei ...
(1609-1621). The Remonstrants were tolerant and republican, with a liberal view on biblical interpretation, no belief in
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
and were led by men like
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (), Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613) (14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619) was a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for indepen ...
and
Hugo Grotius.
Stadtholder Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...
relied on the counter-remonstrants to oppose van Oldenbarnevelt and support his own policies, and things got so bad that civil war threatened. Oldenbarnevelt was executed after a sham trial in 1619 and Grotius sentenced to life in prison, and for a number of years the Orangists were in charge under Maurice and later his brother
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...
.
First Stadtholderless Period and Orange Restoration of 1672
Orangists such as the
Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen
Johan Evertsen (1 February 1600 – 5 August 1666) was a Dutch admiral who was born in the 17th century.
Early life
Like his five brothers, Evertsen started his military career as a lieutenant after the death of his father, "Captain Jan". He q ...
backed the appointment of
William III,
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands.
The title ...
, the posthumously-born son of
William II, Prince of Orange
William II (27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650) was sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three year ...
, to the office of stadtholder of the Holland and Zeeland. The office had been vacant since the death of William II in 1650. The pro-Republic
Dutch States Party
The Dutch States Party ( nl, Staatsgezinde partij) was a political faction of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. This republican faction is usually (negatively) defined as the opponents of the Orangist, or faction, who supported the monar ...
was marked by caution (especially in all matters that could harm trade), led by
Grand pensionary Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt (; 24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672), ''lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere'', was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the ...
and had supporters among the ruling class, the ''
regenten
In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the regenten (the Dutch plural for ''regent'') were the rulers of the Dutch Republic, the leaders of the Dutch cities or the heads of organisations (e.g. "regent of an orphanage"). Though not formally a hered ...
'' which included his relative from Amsterdam,
Cornelis de Graeff
Cornelis de Graeff, also Cornelis de Graeff van (Zuid-)Polsbroek (15 October 1599 – 4 May 1664) was the most illustrious member of the De Graeff family. He was a mayor of Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age and a powerful Amsterdam regent after ...
. It was de Witt who, in the
1654 peace with England and its leader
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
, agreed to include the secret
Act of Seclusion
The Act of Seclusion was an Act of the States of Holland, required by a secret annex in the Treaty of Westminster (1654) between the United Provinces and the Commonwealth of England in which William III, Prince of Orange, was excluded from the ...
barring the infant William III from the stadtholderate. De Witt then put pressure on all seven of the Republic's provinces to uphold this ban. The Orangist party was eventually led by the young Prince of Orange himself and by men such as
Cornelis Tromp
Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, ''Count of Sølvesborg'' (3 September 1629 – 29 May 1691) was a Dutch naval officer who served as lieutenant-admiral general in the Dutch Navy, and briefly as a general admiral in the Royal Danish Navy. Tromp ...
. It played an important part in the expulsion of the de Witt brothers (
Cornelis de Witt
Cornelis de Witt (; 15 June 1623 – 20 August 1672) was a Dutch politician and naval commendant of the Golden Age. During the First Stadtholderless Period De Witt was an influential member of the Dutch States Party, and was in opposition to th ...
and Johan de Witt), which culminated during the
Rampjaar
In Dutch history, the year 1672 is referred to as the nl, Rampjaar, label=none (Disaster Year). In May 1672, following the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War and its peripheral conflict the Third Anglo-Dutch War, France, supported by Münster and ...
with William III's appointment as stadtholder on 28 June 1672 followed by an organised
lynching of the brothers at the
Gevangenpoort in the Hague on 20 August.
Second Stadtholderless Period and Orange Restoration of 1747
After the death of William III in 1702 his Dutch ministers decided again to keep the office of stadtholder vacant, mainly because there was no clear successor available (the claim of
John William Friso, Prince of Orange
John William Friso ( nl, Johan Willem Friso; 14 August 1687 – 14 July 1711) became the (titular) Prince of Orange in 1702. He was the Stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen in the Dutch Republic until his death by accidental drowning in the H ...
, a minor at this time, to the title of Prince of Orange was disputed by his cousin
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I (german: Friedrich I.; 11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector of Brandenburg (1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union (Brandenburg-Prussia). The latter function h ...
), though Friso was recognised by the
States of Friesland
The States of Friesland were the sovereign body that governed the province of Friesland under the Dutch Republic. They were formed in 1580 after the former Lordship of Frisia (a part of the Habsburg Netherlands) acceded to the Union of Utrec ...
as their stadtholder. Friso died in 1711, and his son
William IV, Prince of Orange
William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. During his whole ...
also was born posthumously. William IV was appointed stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen, and Gelderland at his majority in 1731, but the other provinces kept the office vacant, until in 1747 a popular revolt by Orangists forced the States of the other four provinces to follow suit and appoint him their stadtholder also. This was the first time that all stadtholder's offices in the Dutch Republic were in the same hand. William IV received almost dictatorial powers under the so-called Government Regulations of 1748. Hopes of democratic political reform were, however, dashed. After his early death, at age 40, in 1751, the stadtholderate (that had been declared hereditary) passed to his infant son
William V, Prince of Orange
William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a prince of Orange and the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death i ...
, but actual power was exercised by
Regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
s, like his mother
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. She was the wife of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first heredi ...
until his majority in 1766.
Patriottentijd
In the second half of the 18th century the anti-Orangist party became known as the
Patriots. These Patriots strongly opposed both the Prince of Orange, and the British connection. Many of their numbers were drawn from those with commercial and maritime interests who saw Britain as a natural rival of the Dutch, and generally supported the French. At various times the Princes of Orange tried to counter this by moving closer or further away from the British alliance. Events came to a head in the period 1785–1787, when most of the dictatorial powers of the stadtholder were taken away by the Patriots. However, Anglo-Prussian military intervention in the
Prussian invasion of Holland
The Prussian invasion of Holland was a Prussian military campaign in September–October 1787 to restore the Orange stadtholderate in the Dutch Republic against the rise of the democratic Patriot movement.
Background
The direct cause was the ...
of 1787 gave the upper hand to the Orangists, who drove their Patriot opponents into exile. The powers of the stadtholder were now enshrined in the so-called
Act of Guarantee of 1788, and guaranteed by Britain and Prussia "in perpetuity." Perpetuity in this case lasted seven years.
Batavian Republic and Exile
Following the French invasion of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
and the
Batavian Revolution in 1795, resulting in the founding of the
Batavian Republic,
William V, Prince of Orange
William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a prince of Orange and the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death i ...
fled to Britain. At the request of the British he wrote the so-called
Kew Letters
The Kew Letters (also known as the Circular Note of Kew) were a number of letters, written by stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange between 30 January and 8 February 1795 from the "Dutch House" at Kew Palace, where he temporarily stayed after hi ...
, intended to hand the Dutch colonies to the British without a fight. At the
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799 the young ''Erfprins''
Willem Frederik made an not-unsuccessful attempt to get the
Batavian Navy
The Batavian navy ( nl, Bataafsche marine) was the navy of the Batavian Republic. A continuation of the ''Staatse vloot'' (Dutch States fleet) of the Dutch Republic. Though thoroughly reorganized after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, the navy em ...
to defect to the British in the
Vlieter Incident. But the invasion itself was unsuccessful, because the hoped-for Orangist insurrection failed to materialize. At the
Peace of Amiens of 1802 William V gave up his claims to the stadtholderate in exchange for the
Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda. This so discouraged his followers in the Batavian Republic that many made their peace with the new regime, and some, like
Carel Hendrik Ver Huell
Carel Hendrik Ver Huell (4 February 1764 – 25 October 1845) was a Dutch naval officer and statesman. He married Maria Johanna de Bruyn on 22 February 1789 at Hummelo, and had three sons with her.
Career
Ver Huell had a checkered career in ...
, went over to the French emperor
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
completely, becoming staunch supporters of his autocratic regime, during the period 1810-1813 during which the Netherlands was annexed to the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
.
Founding of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
In 1813, when the French retreated from the Netherlands, old Orangist partisans, led by
Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp
Gijsbert Karel, Count van Hogendorp (27 October 1762 – 5 August 1834) was a liberal conservativeJan de Jongste: ''Van Hogendorp'', article in th''Cultureel Woordenboek. Nederlandse geschiedenis 1500 – 1813'' "Van Hogendorp werd 'van conserv ...
, managed to put the son of William V on a newly-invented throne, first of a principality, and soon of the newly-founded
Kingdom of the Netherlands
, national_anthem = )
, image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg
, map_width = 250px
, image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png
, map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale
, capital = ...
.
Political theory
The stadtholderate was never a well-defined concept in the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
of the Dutch Republic, instead being a patchwork of responsibilities. Likewise, Orangism never became a consistent political theory.
In particular, the Orangists never formulated a desire for absolute sovereignty in the hands of the princes, even though they "lean
dheavily on the concept of
monarchy
A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...
", since this would have been problematic in the Republic that wrested its independence from the kings of Spain under
William of Orange.
Instead, they stated their views in terms of
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
liberty, sharing the idiom of their States Party opponents.
Attempts to introduce elements of
John Locke's
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...
and
Montesquieu
Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher.
He is the princi ...
's
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
(by
Elie Luzac
Elie Luzac (19 October 1721 in Noordwijk – 11 May 1796 in Leiden) was a Dutch jurist, journalist, writer of philosophical, historical and political literature, and book-seller, who was considered an important ideologue of the "democratic wing" ...
) failed when these same theories were taken over by the opposing
Patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
faction in the 1780s.
See also
*
Politics and government of the Netherlands (1581–1795)
References
Sources
* Davies, Norman; "Europe: a history." Pimlico, 1997.
* (1995), ''The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, hardback, {{ISBN, 0-19-820734-4 paperback
House of Orange-Nassau
Political history of the Dutch Republic
Political theories