William I, Count Of Nassau-Siegen

Count William I of Nassau-SiegenIn many sources he is called William I of Nassau(-Dillenburg) and in some sources of Nassau-Katzenelnbogen. He was born with the titles Count of Nassau, Vianden and Diez. Two years before his death, he obtained the right to hold the title Count of Katzenelnbogen, which meant that since then he held the official titles Count of Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden and Diez. It is incorrect to refer to him as the only reigning Count of Nassau, because the County of Nassau was divided into Nassau-Beilstein, Nassau-Siegen, Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Wiesbaden. Furthermore, there was the cadet branch of Nassau-Saarbrücken, which ruled the counties of Saarbrücken and Saarwerden. William ruled the County of Nassau-Siegen, which is erroneously called Nassau-Dillenburg in many sources. See note 2. (10 April 1487 – 6 October 1559), german: Wilhelm I. Graf von Nassau-Siegen, official titles: ''Graf zu Nassau, Katzenelnbogen, Vianden und Diez'', nicknamed ‘the Elder’ (german: ‘der Ältere’) or ‘the Rich’ (german: ‘der Reiche’), was since 1516 Count of Nassau-SiegenThe County of Nassau-Siegen is erroneously called Nassau-Dillenburg in many sources. The county was not named after the small, unimportant city of Dillenburg, which did not even have a church until 1491, but after the, for that time, large city of Siegen, the economic centre of the county and the counts’ main residence. See Lück (1981), ''passim''. Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 123 mentions Siegen as the capital of the county. It is also evident from the numbering of the reigning counts with the given name John. One John without regal number who ruled the County of Nassau-Dillenburg in the period 1303–1328, and eight counts by the name of John who ruled the County of Nassau-Siegen in the period 1362–1638. (a part of the County of Nassau) and of half Diez. He descended from the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau.

During his reign William introduced the Reformation in his countries. But the most important issue during most of his reign was the dispute over the succession in the County of Katzenelnbogen with the Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit).Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 249.

William had a calm, balanced personality, but also a persistent character.Becker (1983), p. 59. He was firm and unwavering in his religious convictions, and steadfast and persistent in fighting for his rights in the ''Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit''.Becker (1983), p. 78. Because of his prudent administration, he was a beloved ruler among his subjects. And his diplomatic strength of persuasion earned him a large number of mediation assignments in the Holy Roman Empire.Lück (1981), p. 44.

William’s reign was one of the most remarkable periods in the history of his house. He managed to significantly expand the territorial possessions of his county several times, and prepare others. The separation of the churches, and in its wake his acceptance and introduction of the Lutheran religion, led to his involvement in the political dealings of his time, the Schmalkaldic League, the religious disputes and the Peace of Passau. Under difficult circumstances, with political wisdom and experience, he managed to protect the interests of his house through courage combined with moderation and thereby laid the foundations for its later flourishing.Kolb (1898), p. 129. In Dutch history however, he is mainly known as being just the father of Prince William ‘the Silent’.

Biography

Early years

William was born in Dillenburg on 10 April 1487Menk (1994), p. 120.Schutte (1979), p. 43.Dek (1970), p. 72.Dek (1968), p. 228.Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 97. as the fourth and youngest son of Count John V of Nassau-SiegenSchutte (1979), p. 42.Dek (1970), p. 70.Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 95. and Landgravine Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg.Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 249, Dek (1970), p. 70 and Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 95 shorten the name of his mother to Elisabeth of Hesse. At William’s baptism his mother’s uncle, Archbishop Herman IV of Cologne, was present.Lück (1981), p. 41. William spent most of his youth in Siegen. He trained himself in the use of weapons, received a bow at the age of six and a pair of spurs two years later. The horse fairs and stallion farms of the County of Nassau were famous, so William and his eldest brother Henry rode horses a lot. William often stayed with his parents in the County of Vianden, which was owned by the Nassaus, where French and German were spoken. The familiarity with both languages that the child learned here, served him well later on. When William was ten years old, he was sent ‘''zu hoff''’ (‘to court’) in Heidelberg, where he learned Latin quickly and well and where he probably established the good relations with the Electorate of the Palatinate that lasted all his life.According to Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 249, William learned Latin in Heidelberg in 1493/94, i.e. when he was only 6/7 years old. In his early youth, William travelled extensively through the German lands, which included a visit at the court of Elector Frederick III ‘the Wise’ in Saxony, where he established important relations for the time to come.Becker (1983), p. 55.

Since 1499, William’s eldest brother Henry stayed at the court of his childless uncle Engelbert II of Nassau in Breda and Brussels.Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 95.Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 120. The latter provided for his further education and bequeathed his possessions in the Netherlands to him upon his death in 1504.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 23.Becker (1983), p. 13.Becker (1983), p. 54.Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219.Lück (1981), p. 27.Jansen (1979), p. 37.Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 95, 96, 98, states that John V inherited the possessions of his brother Engelbert II, as well as that John’s sons divided those possessions after his death in 1516, Henry III acquiring the possessions in the Netherlands and William the possessions in Germany. The latter is also mentioned by Kolb (1898), p. 129. In that same year William’s older brother John died, leaving William the sole heir of his father.

In the War of the Succession of Landshut (1504–1505), William earned his first military laurels as captain of a Nassau cavalry squadron. At the Imperial Diet in Cologne in 1505, he met the aged Emperor Maximilian I. From there, he accompanied Elector Frederick III of Saxony to Arnhem, where he met Walburga of Egmont. In 1506, the marriage was arranged at Siegen with a messenger from Count John III of Egmont, and shortly afterwards the marriage was consummated at Koblenz. The glorious wedding was attended by the archbishops Herman IV of Cologne and John II of Trier and many other guests from the high nobility. Henry, the groom’s brother, had come over from the Netherlands. Shortly before, on 16 February 1506, the ʻ''Beilager''ʼ of William’s sisters Elisabeth and Mary, who married the counts and Jobst I of Holstein-Schauenburg-Pinneberg repectively, was celebrated in Dillenburg with the greatest of festivities. The purchase of gold fabric for 747 guilders and silk fabric for 396 guilders at the trade fair in Mainz for these celebrations, as well as the unusually high total expenditure of 13,505 guilders in the accounts of 1505/1506, show that these weddings must have been splendid events. Soon after the wedding, William set up his own court at Dillenburg Castle. There, he had laid the foundation stone for the tower facing the valley of Dillenburg on 23 March.Becker (1983), p. 36. In August 1506, he had body armours made for himself and five servants in Frankfurt.Becker (1983), p. 31.

Count of Nassau-Siegen and Diez

When his father died in 1516, William inherited his properties. The county covered about 1,600 square kilometres. About 37,500 inhabitants lived in 15 cities and 550 villages. The regular income at that time is estimated at less than 50,000 guilders (from taxes, service fees, tolls, etc.).Lück (1981), p. 58. The county was an agricultural area. Pigs were raised on the Kalteiche, which benefited from the large oak forests. The Westerwald was known for its good horse and cattle breeding, in Herborn wool weaving flourished (28,990 sheep are mentioned for 1544), but the main source of all income came from the mountains, from the iron ore of the Sieg and Dill regions. The Counts of Nassau regularly received the iron ore tithes from the mines and smelting rents from the smelters. The latter was levied in various ways, partly as compensation for the fief of the land on which the smelter stood, partly as a tax on the use of the watercourse, which was on loan from the territorial lord. As probably the most important citizens of the state, the hammer smiths of Siegen were very soon granted exemption from feudal duties and, from about 1539, paid 24 raderguilders a year for this instead of the hitherto usual ʻ''reisigen Pferdes''ʼ. Until 1555, the count himself owned many iron smelters, and in the Dillenburg district he retained his influence even after 1555. Naturally, the counts cared about the welfare of the iron industry, the countryʼs main source of income. They never got tired of discussing with iron workers price regulations, wages and working times as well as trying out new technical processes.Lück (1981), p. 61.

When in 1520 the counts united in associations or ʻ''Korrespondenzen''ʼ divided into two large districts, of the Netherlands and of the Wetterau, William was put in charge of the latter. Knowledge about the economic, political and spiritual consequences of this countsʼ alliance is so limited that it is probably underestimated. The leading position in these ʻ''Grafenkorrespondenz''ʼ was almost always held by members of the House of Nassau. Of particular importance were certain toll agreements by this '' Wetterauer Grafenverein'', which almost foreshadowed a Western toll union. This toll union had already been established in the Wetterau by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and had withstood political and territorial changes. Although in 1354 only half of the County of Nassau belonged to the Wetterau (the Siegerland had been allocated to the district of Westphalia), the entire county benefited from the toll agreements because the count was a member of the ''Wetterauer Grafenverein''. Within this toll union, a simple declaration was enough to transport provisions, fruit, grain, oat, meat, wine, butter, cheese and ''iron'' freely. The designation of iron as the only non-agricultural product shows the importance of this toll union for Nassau, and especially for the iron trade from the Siegerland. In 1515, a new expansion of the toll area led to the abolition of several Rhine tolls and opened the way for iron from the Siegerland to reach Antwerp and other markets where the people of the Siegerland, as subjects of Nassau, could take advantage of the more favourable market conditions. This expansion of the toll area even brought benefits for production, as the import duties for charcoal from the County of Wittgenstein and the ''Freier Grund'', which partly belonged to the County of Sayn, were abolished.Lück (1981), p. 59.

The justice system continued in the forms adopted in the 16th century. Several times a year, the ''Schützen'' (town watchers) had to put offenders in the tower or, for less serious offences, in the ''‘Hundskrapf’'', or have a hand in the torture and execution of criminals. The most common method of execution was probably hanging; the gallows at that time stood not far from Dillenburg on the ''Galgenberg''. The hangings did not always take place in Dillenburg. In 1546, one was held in Ebersbach, as had often been the case in the past, with the participation of ''Schultheißen'' from Dillenburg. On the other hand, ''Schultheißen'' from Herborn were often involved in the hangings in Dillenburg, who were then subsequently entertained by the city.

In 1518, William became ''Rat und Diener'' (counsellor and servant) of the Emperor. In this capacity, he attended Charles Vʼs election as Roman King in Frankfurt. William quickly gained prestige and influence. In Charles Vʼs war against King Francis I of France in 1521–1522, William took part in the Imperial Army. In the summer of 1521, he participated with a cavalry squadron in the Siege of Mézières, led by his brother Henry. When William’s baby daughter Magdalene was baptised in November 1522, guests at included his friend Count Philip II of Hanau-Münzenberg and his young bride Countess Juliane of Stolberg-Wernigerode.

Because of his prudent administration, he was a beloved ruler among his subjects. This was evident, for instance, during the German Peasants’ War of 1524–1525 in which violent excesses occurred in numerous places in Germany, but from which Nassau was largely spared.Becker (1983), p. 64. On 18 May 1525, William wrote to his brother Henry in the Netherlands that the whole of southern Germany was ablaze with peasant revolt and that he was very worried about it: ‘''Meine Bauern sind gottlob noch ruhig und zufrieden, aber das Wetter ist allenthalben um mich her.''’ (‘My peasants are thankfully still calm and content, but the bad weather is all around me.’).Lück (1981), p. 43. One can conclude from this that the treatment and situation of the peasants in Nassau was humane and bearable. William was too much a child of his times and of his social class not to have helped his threatened fellow princes against the peasants by sending some of them a Nassau auxiliary corps ʻ''wider den uffruhr''ʼ (‘against the revolt’). Nevertheless, he enjoyed a certain respect among the peasants as a just territorial lord. The Hessian ''Amtmann'' Balthasar Schrautenbach wrote that the Franconian peasants wanted to expel Landgrave Philip I ‘the Magnanimous’ of Hesse and put William in his place. The peasant writer Sigle is said to have given courage to his people by saying that as soon as the landgrave turned against them, ‘''der reiche Nassau''’ would come into the country. Thus even then William was nicknamed ‘the Rich’.

William himself was a cautious large landowner. Whereas his father had already taken great interest in strengthening his position as territorial lord by acquiring the largest possible amount of his own property in farmsteads, meadows and arable land, William strove to expand and complete his land holdings especially around Dillenburg. Through purchase and barter, he not only significantly expanded the large ''Herrenwiese'' with adjacent other plots of land, but around 1526 he also acquired the land in , which was in private hands of several inhabitants of Dillenburg and Feldbach, in order to build the ‘''zwey Wagen Spur breiten Weg''’ (‘two wagon tracks wide road’) there.Becker (1983), p. 77.

In 1526, Prince John Frederick of Saxony and his father, Elector John ‘the Steadfast’ of Saxony, visited William in Siegen. He was asked to convey for the prince his marriage proposal to Princess Sibylle of Cleves.Sibylle’s father, Duke John III of Cleves, was a first cousin of William.

In 1528, William was concerned about his local industry. He regulated the working hours of iron smelters and banned hammer smiths from working at night. He also ordered iron to be marked before it was sold, creating one of the earliest (if not the earliest) hallmarks for steel. On 9 October 1528, the Emperor approved his appointment as governor of Luxembourg, but William refused to accept the office.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 31.

In 1529, William’s wife Walburga died and was buried in Siegen. His brother Henry suggested the widower to look for a new life companion in the highest princely houses and suggested a princess of Lorraine, ʻ''die ein gut heiratgut mitbrächte''ʼ (‘who brought in a rich marital estate’). In the same year, William’s friend Philip II of Hanau-Münzenberg died. The latter left behind underage children, over whom Willem took custody. There were regular exchanges between William, the widower in Siegen, and Juliane, the widow in Hanau. Matters of faith were also discussed, as Hanau had embraced Martin Lutherʼs teachings early on.

On 20 September 1531, the marriage of William and Juliane took place in the hallThe ''Festsaal'' (Festive Hall) today is named ''Oraniersaal'' (Orange Hall) and is part of the Siegerland Museum in Siegen Castle. See: Aßmann & Menk (1996). of Siegen Castle. The marriage was conducted according to the Catholic ritual.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 33. The baptism of their eldest son, William, on 4 May 1533 also took place according to Catholic tradition, a full mass with Latin formulas, with the use of salt, which symbolised the doctrine of faith, and with a real exorcism of the devil.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 21. Through this marriage, William acquired ¼ of the County of Diez (of which he already owned half) in 1535,Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 98. which had been in the possession of the Eppstein family. Lord Eberhard IV of Eppstein-Königstein, the brother of William’s mother-in-law, died childless in 1535. His family had acquired this property in 1420 through the marriage of Lord Godfrey VII of Eppstein-Münzenberg to Countess Jutta of Nassau-Siegen.Countess Jutta of Nassau-Siegen was the only child of Count Adolf I of Nassau-Siegen and Countess Jutta of Diez, by which marriage the County of Diez had come into Adolf’s possession. After Adolf’s death in 1420, the County of Diez was divided, one half came to his daughter Jutta, the other half to his brothers. See: Huberty, et al. (1981), p. 219.

In these years of great spiritual decisions, when Luther’s translation of the Bible was first published, when Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, when Thomas More was beheaded in England, in short, in the years when politics and religion became intertwined, William was engaged in a large number of mediation assignments. To remain completely free in his decisions, he refused the highest honours offered to him, for instance the position of commander in the Imperial Army and the position of Imperial ''Statthalter'' in the Duchy of Württemberg in 1532, and even the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1533.Kolb (1898), p. 130 mentions the years 1531 and 1536 respectively. He refused in this order, which Charles V wanted to grant him, because its statutes demanded the Catholic religion of its members.Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 250.

On 10 January 1531, the Schmalkaldic League had been founded by the Protestant Elector John of Saxony, Duke Ernest I of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Landgrave Philip I of Hesse, Fürst Wolfgang of Anhalt-Köthen, the counts of Mansfeld and several minor Imperial Estates. The threat to Vienna and the imperial homelands by the Turks initially prevented Charles V from acting against the league, and the league forced him to conclude the in 1532. After Duke Ulrich of Württemberg, supported by Philip of Hesse, recaptured his lands in 1534, most members of the ''Wetterauer Grafenverein'' joined the league, including William. On 10 January 1536,Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 250, Dek (1970), p. 72 and Vorsterman van Oyen (1882), p. 98 state that William joined the Schmalkaldic League in 1535. he committed to contribute to and cooperate with everything the league would decide (because of the ''Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit'', Philip of Hesse protested against William’s admission).Kolb (1898), p. 130.

William issued several decrees for the economical, social and ethical benefit and advancement of his subjects. Despite his country being beset by threats of war throughout his reign, he instructed his officials by various mandates to ensure that the land peace renewed by the Emperor on various Imperial Diets was maintained in his county and that all troublemakers, vagrants and beggars were taken into the strictest custody. The wool purchasing ordinance promulgated by William on 19 May 1536 served to revive domestic wool weaving by strictly prohibiting the sale of sheep wool to foreign buyers and regulating in detail the countryʼs trade by weight and price. And the ordinance promulgated on 10 December 1538 for artisans, wagoners and day labourers regulated in detail wages and working hours in summer and winter; working hours were set from four o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock in the evening in summer and from five o’clock in the morning to six o’clock in the evening in winter.Becker (1983), p. 76. In the spring, the wagoners were only allowed to use their horses and wagons for arable farming. William was also already thinking about a more generous meat supply for his country. Pig breeding lagged especially in times of poor acorn harvest. In such years, he bought fat pigs from abroad. In 1538, for example, he sent the ' and an attendant to Lippe to buy pigs.

Due to the ''Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit'', however, the county became increasingly entangled in debt. The shortage of timber and charcoal led to an economic downturn that hit the iron industry particularly hard. William issued wise decrees demonstrating his thorough knowledge of the industrial situation. In October 1538, he himself became a shareholder in the ''Gewerkschaft'' of the famous at near Hilchenbach in Siegerland. He bought the share from Kilian Theis of for 25 Raderguilders. Eleven years later, when two other shareholders filed suit against William, he did not rule as sovereign, but let the ordinary mountain court judge. When the court ruled in his favour, the plaintiffs appealed. In the new proceedings, in which William again did not intervene, a judgement was passed against him.

Despite the debts, the many baptisms and weddings were celebrated extensively. Probably the most splendid of these baptisms, the ecclesiastical and secular course of which has been preserved for almost all of William’s children, was that of his third son Louis, born on 10 January 1538, who was baptised by Count palatine Louis V in the presence of Archbishop Herman V of Cologne. The number of guests at this feast was so large that Dillenburg Castle could not accommodate them all.Becker (1983), p. 56.

Times forced William to carefully build up an armament industry. As early as around 1540, he had research conducted in Siegen into whether the iron from Wissenbach could be hammered into sheet iron (for body armours and the like) and planned the construction of new ''Plattenhämmer'', i.e. sheet metal factories, for which he employed sheet metal smiths from the Olpe disctrict on 25 March 1540. The fire of the small border fortress and the village of Freudenberg in July 1540 probably boosted these plans. William had the houses hastily rebuilt, while the damaged castle was repaired more slowly.

His diplomatic strength of persuasion earned William another mediating role in 1540 in the succession dispute in the Duchy of Guelders between Emperor Charles V as Duke of Burgundy and Duke Antoine of Lorraine. As Antoine completely disregarded William’s advice, he then permanently lost the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. For the aid granted at the Imperial Diet of Speyer in 1542 against the Turks, William had provided a military contingent. That contingent under ''Junker'' Johann von Selbach-Crottorf arrived in Raab in 1542, but did not have to get involved in the fighting. For the same purpose William paid a larger sum in 1544.

During the Siege of Saint-Dizier in Champagne in July 1544, René of Chalon, the only son of William’s eldest brother Henry, was hit in the right shoulder by a musket bullet.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 42.Van Ditzhuyzen (2004), p. 232.Lück (1981), p. 49. He died the next day in the arms of Charles V. In the holographic will drawn up by René, he had stipulated that the eldest son of his uncle William became universal heir to all his properties,Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 43. unusually bypassing his uncle, most probably because of his Lutheran sympathies. The counsellors of Charles V did object to this succession on the grounds that William had Protestant tendencies. But the Emperor decided to honour René’s will, albeit on condition that the young heir would be removed from his parental authority and brought up as a Catholic in the Netherlands. William did not hesitate to accept this arrangement, since, like his son in his later career, he was more inclined to consider his dynastic interests than his religious beliefs.Lück (1981), p. 49, on the other hand, writes: “Since only a young daughter had resulted from a marriage concluded four years earlier, and an illegitimate son, Palamedes, was not entitled to inherit, according to the Nassau House Treaty of 1472, his extensive inheritance was to fall to his closest male relative, namely his uncle William. But the Emperor’s councillors did not want that such an extensive inheritance would fall into the hands of a ʻ''Ketzer''ʼ. However, since they could not cancel existing agreements, they found a way out by naming the Count of Nassauʼs son, William, born in 1533 and only 11 years old, as heir, on the express condition that he would be raised at the Imperial Court and in a Catholic environment. For the sake of the greatness and future of their House, the parents made the sacrifice of having their 11-year-old son William moved to the Imperial Court.”. On 13 February 1545, Charles V formalised the arrangements.Van Stipriaan (2021), p. 47.

William did not take part in the war of the Schmalkaldic League against Duke Henry V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. The growing power of his opponent Philip of Hesse in the league forced William to be wary of violence and was one of the reasons why he did not take part in the Schmalkaldic War against the Emperor, which broke out in 1546. William was clever enough to execute the recruitment of 600 horsemen for the Imperial Army entrusted to him. He thus escaped the punishment inflicted on his cousins from the Walramian Line and the other members of the ''Wetterauer Grafenverein''. And although he had by now clearly placed himself on the Protestant side, he nevertheless still had such an influence with the Catholic Emperor that time and again many tried to win favour with Charles V through him. William attended the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1548.

William was concerned about the developing relationship between the German princes and King Henry II of France. Henry II invited William to Butzbach in March 1551 to take sides. But William remained steadfast and neutral. As the senior of the House of Nassau, he had to consider both the German possessions and the threatened areas of his son the Prince of Orange located in France, the Principality of Orange itself and in the Franche-Comté. If in a coming dispute the German princes were to prevail with the King of France, Philip of Hesse would seize the County of Katzenelnbogen and Henry II would seize the Principality of Orange and its possessions in the Dauphiné and the Provence, totalling more than 800 cities, villages, castles and farmhouses, which yielded around 57,000 livres a year in annuities. This did not even include the Principality of Orange itself. On 3 October 1551, the German princes united in Lochau against the Emperor. They demanded and got a declaration of neutrality from the ''Wetterauer Grafenverein''. The only member ''not'' to sign this declaration was William. He stayed in the mighty fortress of Dillenburg with among others troops from Breda, preparing for a Hessian-Saxon attack. Also in Siegen, the city walls were checked and the towers re-equipped. The guilds had to enrol and train the able-bodied men. In short: Nassau was in highest state of alert. Messengers went from Dillenburg and Siegen to Breda with secret messages and coded letters. In these days of highest activity, it was significant that Magister Wilhelm Knüttel acted simultaneously as secretary to Count William of Nassau and to his eldest son Prince William of Orange, i.e. all the threads of Nassau politics were in one hand.Lück (1981), p. 47. Some historiansSee, for example, Becker (1983), p. 61 and Kolb (1898), p. 130. claim that William, because of his knowledge of the French language, was the spokesman for the German princes at Fontainebleau, who, in exchange for his help against the Emperor, assured the French king of sovereign rights as imperial vicar over the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, Verdun and Cambrai, thus relinquishing these cities to France. Such a course of action would have been nonsensical in his situation, and no contemporary chronicler mentions Williamʼs participation. This claim is based solely on the dubious memoirs of the French marshal de Vieilville, Sire de Scépaux. These were not written until after 1584 and not printed in Paris until 1756–1763, i.e. long after the death of Prince William of Orange, to whom and whose house they undoubtedly wished to do harm. Count William of Nassau would thus have given up his neutrality, which he had sought to maintain for so long. And why else did he have himself represented at the following yearʼs ''Fürstentag'' in Passau by his brother-in-law Count Louis of Stolberg-Königstein? In addition, he also stayed at home when almost all members of the ''Wetterauer Grafenverein'' rushed to the Imperial Army to recapture Metz.

The renewed shepherding ordinance for Dillenburg promulgated by William on 1 February 1552 was, like his fatherʼs ordinance, intended to protect the fields and forests during communal grazing and limited the maximum number of sheep for anyone ‘''der im Thal Dillenburg Schafe halten will''’ (‘who wants to keep sheep in the valley of Dillenburgʼ) to 25, instead of the earlier 50. On 12 September 1555, William sold to the citizens of the city and the subjects of the district of Siegen the iron trade of the countʼs iron smelters, with the exception of the iron smelter at Freudenberg, where he reserved for himself an annual iron smelting period of 12 weeks. This was the beginning of a monopoly on the iron trade, almost independent of the territorial lord. The citizens never used the freedoms granted to them to the detriment of the count, nor did the latter use his rights to the detriment of his subjects.Lück (1981), p. 60.

William issued a large number of decrees aimed at the moral uplift of his subjects who, despite all previous measures, continued to return to their old vices. Since excessive spending on family celebrations provided particular opportunity for this, William tried to put an end to intemperance at child baptisms, weddings, funerals and guild meetings through strict regulations. To prevent revels and Sunday desecration, residents were obliged to close pubs at a surprisingly early hour, eight oʼclock in summer and seven oʼclock in winter. The countʼs ordinance of 19 December 1555 stipulated ‘''daß über die bestimmte Zeit, wenn abends die Weinglock geläutet ist, kein Wirt länger weder über die Schwell hinaus oder auch sunsten seinen Gästen im Hause Wein reichen oder zapfen soll''’ (‘that after the stipulated time, when in the evening the wine bell is rung, no innkeeper shall serve or tap wine to his guests in the house, nor over the threshold, nor otherwiseʼ), because otherwise ‘''viel Unrats, Mord, Totschlag, Unzucht und alle Untugend gemehret und überhand nimmt, wie neulich ein schrecklich Exempel und Totschlag sich derhalber zugetragen''’ (‘much mischief, murder, manslaughter, fornication and all immorality will increase and prevail, as recently a terrible example and manslaughter took place therebyʼ). A particularly strict order issued by William on 7 July 1556 was against dancing. Dancing was generally forbidden in the county on Sundays and holidays. For weddings, permission was given only if the mayors and bailiffs gave permission and the dance took place in the presence of elders, a councillor, the town clerk or the court clerk at the town hall. Dancing was allowed only ‘''mit Geigen und Lauten, nicht auf der Gasse mit Trommeln, Schalmeien und Sackpfeien''’ (‘with violins and lutes, not on the street with drums, shawms and bagpipes’), no longer than two hours in the afternoon and one hour after supper, and ‘''alle Unordnung ungeschickt und unzüchtig springen, verdrehen, herumbwerffen, zanken und schreyen''’ (‘all disorderly and immoral jumping, twisting, overturning, arguing and shouting’) was to be avoided. One ordinance of William that characterised him as a profound and far-sighted sovereign was his ban on marriages between relatives: ‘''Dieweil es etzo unter unseren Untertanen gemein wird, dass die Eltern ihr Kind in Verwandt-, Blutfreundschaft und Schwagerschaft im vierten Glied vermählen, daß doch im Rechte verboten''’ (‘Because it is now customary among our subjects for parents to marry off their child in kinship, blood relationship and consanguinity in the fourth degree, which is forbidden by law’), the friends of both parties, when agreeing on a marriage, ‘''sich erstlich der Sippschaft halben gründlich erkundigen, ob und wie nahe die Personen einander verwandt, und so die Verwandtnis zwischen ihnen im dritten oder vierten Glied bestände, alsdann soll dieselbig Ehe ohn unser Wissen und Willen nicht beteidingt, geschlossen noch zugelassen werden''’ (‘first of all thoroughly inquire into the kinship, whether and how closely the persons are related to each other, and if the kinship between them is in the third or fourth degree, this marriage shall not be concluded or allowed without our knowledge and will’).

Introduction of the Reformation

Shortly after the beginning of Williamʼs reign, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther initiated the movement of minds from which the Protestant Church emerged with his Ninety-five Theses in 1517. After Elector Frederick III ‘the Wise’ of Saxony, Lutherʼs patron, it was especially Landgrave Philip I ‘the Magnanimous’ of Hesse who had introduced the new doctrine to his country. The Reformation would soon take hold in Nassau too. William, through his repeated stays at the court of the Elector of Saxony and his friendship with the young prince and later Elector John Frederick I, had made an early acquaintance with the professor from Wittenberg. As early as 1518, under the influence of Lutherʼs theses, William had tried to control the sale of indulgences in his country by having Archbishop Albert of Mainz order his subcommissioner Johann Breydenbach to stop the sale of indulgences, which had begun in Nassau, especially in the Siegerland.Lück (1981), p. 41 states that William banned the sale of indulgences in his territory in 1518. Kolb (1898), p. 129 states that William opposed the sale of indulgences as early as 1517.

At the Imperial Diet of Worms in 1521, William was an eyewitness to Lutherʼs appearance before Emperor Charles V and the Empire. It is not known whether he spoke to the reformer, but he was – like everyone at the time – intensely engaged with Lutherʼs ideas. However, he did not yet show any overt adherence to Lutherʼs teachings, which is understandable given the great influence exerted on him by his brother Henry, a staunch supporter of the Emperor and the Catholic Church.

Shortly after his visit to William in 1526, John Frederick I of Saxony, in a letter dated 16 May from Torgau, sent William some of Luther’s writings, to make of him, as he wrote, ‘''mit göttlicher Hilfe einen guten Christen''’ (‘with divine help a good Christian’). Only then did he give the new doctrine more space; tightened regulations on church discipline and the prohibition of individual practices of the Catholic Church marked the beginning of a kind of reformation, which, however, left all essential points untouched for the time being. Henry considered it his duty to repeatedly remind his brother of the dangers he was exposing himself and his house to by abandoning the old faith (‘''und sult nu zweilei glauben in einem haus sein, so kan E.L. wol ermessen, wie sich das zusammen schicken wurde, das mich besser vermieden dunkt''’ (‘and now if there were two faiths in one house, E.L. can properly judge how such a thing would be put together, which I think is better to avoid’)). These warnings, in view of the already three-decade-long ''Katzenelnbogische Erbfolgestreit'', in which the Emperor was Nassau’s most powerful and almost sole supporter, did not fail to have an effect on William, but neither were they able to dissuade him from his increasingly strong inclination towards Luther’s doctrine. William had a calm, balanced personality, but also a persistent character. Once he had convinced himself of the truth of the new faith, he embraced it wholeheartedly.

In 1530, William attended the Imperial Diet of Augsburg, where the Protestant princes presented the Emperor their ''Bekenntnis'' (the ''Confessio Augustana''). Also present in the Emperor’s entourage was William’s brother Henry. The latter’s secretary Alexander Schweis received the protest note for the Emperor. Immediately after William’s return, were ‘''die religion und kirchengebräuch zue Dillenbergk … geendert und die meß abgestellt''’ (‘the religion and church customs in Dillenburg … changed and the mass ended’).Becker (1983), p. 60. That is, he formally introduced the Augsburg Confession and abolished celibacy and mass. Rather than rushing, William set to work cautiously and gradually, forced to do so not only by the necessary consideration with the Emperor and his brother Henry, but also by the ecclesiastical relations in his own county. Although at that time the Siegerland had hardly more than 20,000 inhabitants and the number of parishes did not exceed 30, the relatively low level of education, not only among the broad masses, but especially among the clergy themselves, made rapid progress impossible. He therefore initially initiated religious renewal only in the county’s two main cities, Dillenburg and Siegen, by replacing, in October 1530, the two previous parish priests, who had voluntarily retired in exchange for a mercy salary, with two representatives of the new doctrine. These were Heilman Bruchhausen from Krombach (usually called Heilman Krombach) and Leonhard Wagner from Kreuznach. Heilman Krombach, who had already been in William’s service as court chaplain since March 1529, became the first minister of the city of Dillenburg. For himself and his family however, William still found it more beneficial to keep the old faith outwardly, all his sons were still baptised according to Catholic tradition, and he himself obtained a papal dispensation from Lent as late as 1531. William patiently allowed almost all the county’s clergy to remain in their posts, although quite a few of them, due to their incompetence and reprehensible lifestyles, others also due to their contrary attitude to Lutheran doctrine, proved to be no useful helpers in the new work. During this time of transition, the lack of suitable clergy in his own county became especially noticeable, and William was forced to look for the necessary replacements elsewhere, in which the old relations with Saxony worked out favourably. It was mainly through the mediation of Philipp Melanchthon, who maintained a lively correspondence with William’s counsellor Wilhelm Knüttel, that a pupil of the two great reformers from Wittenberg, from Annaberg in Saxony, came to the county as a helper. Sarcerius became not only the actual completionist of the Reformation, but also the new creator of the county’s school system. With the church orders of 1532 (after the example in Brandenburg-Ansbach) and 1536 (after the church order of Nuremberg), and the church agenda of 1537, Lutheranism was organised in Nassau-Siegen. In 1536, William appointed Sarcerius as rector of the Latin school in Siegen, in 1537 as court preacher and superintendent,Kolb (1898), p. 130 mentions the year 1538. and in 1541 as spiritual inspector of the entire county. During regular synods and church visits, this eminent scholar and skilled organiser reorganised the entire church system of the county on a Protestant basis.

In 1543, Melanchton stayed in Siegen. Archbishop Herman V of Cologne, whose brother had married William’s sister Elisabeth, sought William’s advice. The archbishop had tried in vain to bring the Archbishopric of Cologne to the Reformation, had then been deposed by papal bull, and now William, as a friend of the Emperor, was asked to put in a good word for him. With the Wied Family, the archbishop spent several weeks in Siegen.

In 1548, William had to let Sarcerius go because the Augsburg Interim no longer allowed him to do his so successful work in the spirit of Luther. With the Interim (an imperial decree), the Emperor ruled that the Catholic doctrine was to be upheld until a general council was held and that the Lutheran Imperial Estates were to restore their former religious status within six months. William had to introduce the Interim in his county, which was again subordinated to the Archbishopric of Trier

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases