Stadtholder

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (July 2011)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

A stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər]]), literally place holder (holding someone's place; possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Medieval Latin locum tenens), was a term for a "steward" or "lieutenant".[1] In the Low Countries, the stadtholder was a medieval function, which during the 16th, 17th and 18th century, developed into a rare type of de facto hereditary head of state of the thus "crowned" Dutch Republic. It is comparable with the French title Lieutenant and England's 16th century Lord Lieutenant. Additionally, this position was tasked with maintaining peace and provincial order in the early Dutch Republic. The Dutch Monarchy is a descendent of the first Stadtholder of the young Republic, William of Orange. He was the leader of the successful Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire.

Contents

History [edit]

Stadtholders in the Middle Ages were appointed by feudal lords to represent them in their absence. If a lord had several dominions (or, being a vassal, fiefs), some of these could be ruled by a permanent stadtholder, to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A stadtholder was thus more powerful than a mere governor, who had only limited authority, but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land. The local rulers of the independent provinces of the Low Countries (which included the present-day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) made extensive use of stadtholders, e.g. the Duke of Guelders appointed a stadtholder to represent him in Groningen.

In the 15th century the Dukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and these Burgundian Netherlands mostly each had their own stadtholder.

In the 16th century, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, also King of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, completed this process by becoming the sole feudal overlord: Lord of the Netherlands. Only the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories (the Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy and the Duchy of Bouillon) remained outside his domains. Stadtholders continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King Philip II, his son and successor in Spain and the Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by heirs of Charles in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist and absolutist policies of Philip, the actual power of the stadtholders strongly diminished.

When, in 1581, during the Dutch Revolt, most of the Dutch provinces declared their independence with the Act of Abjuration, the representative function of the stadtholder became obsolete in the rebellious northern Netherlands – the feudal Lord himself having been abolished – but the office nevertheless continued in these provinces who now united themselves into the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The United Provinces were struggling to adapt existing feudal concepts and institutions to the new situation and tended to be conservative in this matter, as they had after all rebelled against the king to defend their ancient rights. The stadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, appointed by the States of each province. Although each province could assign its own stadtholder, most stadtholders held appointments from several provinces at the same time. The highest executive power was normally exerted by the sovereign States of each province, but the stadtholder had some prerogatives, like appointing lower officials and sometimes having the ancient right to affirm the appointment (by co-option) of the members of regent councils or choose burgomasters from a shortlist of candidates. As these councils themselves appointed most members of the States, the stadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy. In Zeeland the Princes of Orange, who after the Dutch Revolt most often held the office of stadtholder there, held the dignity of First Noble, and were as such a member of the States of that province, thanks to the fact that they held the title of Marquess of Veere and Vlissingen as one of their patrimonial titles.

William I of Orange was a stadtholder during the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire.

On the Republic's central 'confederal' level, the stadtholder of the provinces of Holland and Zealand was normally also appointed Captain-General of the confederate army and Admiral-General of the confederate fleet, though no stadtholder ever actually commanded a fleet in battle. In the army, he could appoint officers by himself; in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus rather limited, and by law he was a mere official. His real powers, however, were sometimes greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the 'permanent' Eighty Years War. Maurice of Orange after 1618 ruled as a military dictator, and William II of Orange attempted the same.

The leader of the Dutch Revolt was William the Silent (William I of Orange); he had been appointed stadtholder in 1572 by the first province to rebel, Holland. His personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. Maurice in 1618 and William III of Orange from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power: the so-called "Changings of the Legislative" (Wetsverzettingen). By intimidation, the stadtholders tried to extend their right of affirmation. In reaction, the regents in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, after the death of William II in 1650, appointed no stadtholder. They subsequently were forced to appoint one by the catastrophic events of 1672, the Dutch Year of Disaster (Rampjaar). After the death of William III in 1702 they again abstained from appointing one. These periods are known as the First Stadtholderless Period and the Second Stadtholderless Period.

After the French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to accept William IV, Prince of Orange, stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen, as stadtholder in the other provinces. On 22 November 1747, the office of stadtholder was made hereditary (erfstadhouder). As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) was stadtholder in all provinces, his function accordingly was restyled Stadhouder-Generaal (rendered as General Hereditary Stadtholder in English).

After William IV's untimely death in 1751 his infant son was duly appointed stadtholder under the regency of his mother. The misgovernment of this regency caused much resentment, which issued in 1780 in the Patriot movement. The Patriots first took over many city councils, then the States of the province of Holland, and ultimately raised civil militias to defend their position against Orangist partisans, bringing the country to the brink of civil war. Through Prussian military intervention, in 1787 Prince William V of Orange was able to suppress this opposition, and many leaders of the Patriot movement went into exile in France.

Decline in use and transition to kingdom [edit]

The exiles returned with French armies in the winter of 1795 and overcame the frozen Dutch Water Line. William V of Orange-Nassau fled to England, and the office of stadtholder was abolished in 1795 when the French revolutionary forces installed the Batavian Republic. From 1572 in the Southern Netherlands the Habsburg lords continued to appoint provincial stadtholders for the region, until it was annexed by France in 1794. However, William I, the son of the last stadtholder William IV, crowned himself king after the French army retreated in 1815.

Stadtholderate under the House of Orange-Nassau [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
William I
(1533-04-24)24 April 1533 – 10 July 1584(1584-07-10) (aged 51) 1559 1584 Stadtholder[2] Orange-Nassau William, Prince of Orange
Maurice
  • Prince of Orange
 (1567-11-14)14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625(1625-04-23) (aged 57) 1585 1625 Stadtholder,[3] son of William I Orange-Nassau
Frederick Henry
  • Prince of Orange
 (1584-01-29)29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647(1647-03-14) (aged 63) 1625 1647 Stadtholder,[4] son of William I Orange-Nassau
William II
  • Prince of Orange
 (1626-05-27)27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650(1650-11-06) (aged 24) 14 March 1647 6 November 1650 Stadtholder,[5] son of Frederick Henry Orange-Nassau
William III
  • Prince of Orange
 (1650-11-04)4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702(1702-03-08) (aged 51) 4 July 1672 8 March 1702 Stadtholder,[6] son of William II[7] Orange-Nassau
William IV
  • Prince of Orange
 (1711-09-01)1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751(1751-10-22) (aged 40) 1 September 1711 (under the regency of Marie Louise until 1731) 22 October 1751 Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Netherlands,[8] son of John William Friso Orange-Nassau
William V
  • Prince of Orange
 (1748-03-08)8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806(1806-04-09) (aged 58) 22 October 1751 9 April 1806 Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Netherlands, son of William IV, succeeded by his son King William I (-> Principality of the Netherlands (1813 - 1815) Orange-Nassau

Stadtholderate under the House of Nassau[9] [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
John VI
  • Jan de Oude (John the Elder)
 (1536-11-22)22 November 1536 – 8 October 1606(1606-10-08) (aged 69) 1578 1581 Stadtholder,[10] brother of William I Nassau
William Louis
  • Us Heit (Our Father)
 (1560-03-13)13 March 1560 – 31 May 1620(1620-05-31) (aged 60) 1584 1620 Stadtholder,[11] son of John VI Nassau
Ernest Casimir I
(1573-12-22)22 December 1573 – 2 June 1632(1632-06-02) (aged 58) 1620 1632 Stadtholder,[12] son of John VI Nassau
Henry Casimir I
(1612-01-21)21 January 1612 – 13 July 1640(1640-07-13) (aged 28) 1632 1640 Stadtholder,[13] son of Ernest Casimir I Nassau
William Frederick
(1613-08-07)7 August 1613 – 31 October 1664(1664-10-31) (aged 51) 1640 1664 Stadtholder,[14] son of Ernest Casimir I Nassau
Henry Casimir II
(1657-01-18)18 January 1657 – 25 March 1696(1696-03-25) (aged 39) 18 January 1664 25 March 1696 Hereditary Stadtholder,[15] son of William Frederick Nassau
John William Friso
(1687-08-04)4 August 1687 – 14 July 1711(1711-07-14) (aged 23) 25 March 1696 14 July 1711 Hereditary Stadtholder,[16] son of Henry Casimir II, succeeded by his son William IV of Orange-Nassau, Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Netherlands (-> Stadtholderate under the House of Orange-Nassau Nassau, Orange-Nassau

The French-Batavian period (1785–1815) [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
Louis I
(1778-09-02)2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846(1846-07-25) (aged 67) 5 June 1806 1 July 1810 Installed by his brother Napoleon, father of Napoleon III. Bonaparte Louis I of Holland
Louis II
(1804-10-11)11 October 1804 – 17 March 1831(1831-03-17) (aged 26) 1 July 1810 9 July 1810 Son of Louis I Bonaparte Louis II of Holland

Principality of the Netherlands (1813-1815) [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
William I
(1772-08-24)24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843(1843-12-12) (aged 71) 6 December 1813 16 March 1815 Raised Netherlands to status of kingdom in 1815, son of Stadtholder William V Orange-Nassau William I of the Netherlands

United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1839) [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
William I
(1772-08-24)24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843(1843-12-12) (aged 71) 15 March 1815 19 April 1839 Son of the last Stadtholder William V Orange-Nassau William I of the Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands (1839–present) [edit]

Name
 Lifespan
 Reign start
 Reign end
 Notes
 Family
 Image
William I
(1772-08-24)24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843(1843-12-12) (aged 71) 19 April 1839 7 October 1840 Son of the last Stadtholder William V Orange-Nassau William I of the Netherlands
William II
(1792-12-06)6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849(1849-03-17) (aged 56) 7 October 1840 17 March 1849 Son of William I Orange-Nassau William II of the Netherlands
William III
(1817-02-17)17 February 1817 – 23 November 1890(1890-11-23) (aged 73) 17 March 1849 23 November 1890 Son of William II Orange-Nassau William III of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina
(1880-08-31)31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962(1962-11-28) (aged 82) 23 November 1890 4 September 1948 Daughter of William III Orange-Nassau Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Juliana
(1909-04-30)30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004(2004-03-20) (aged 94) 4 September 1948 30 April 1980 Daughter of Wilhelmina Orange-Nassau Juliana of the Netherlands
Beatrix
(1938-01-31) 31 January 1938 (age 75) 30 April 1980 30 April 2013 Daughter of Juliana Orange-Nassau Beatrix of the Netherlands
Willem-Alexander
(1967-04-27) 27 April 1967 (age 46) 30 April 2013 Son of Beatrix, first king since 1890 Orange-Nassau (House of Amsberg) William-Alexander

See also [edit]

Sources and references [edit]

  1. ^ Entry Stadhouder in M. Philippa et al. (2003-2009) Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands. Etymologiebank.nl. (Dutch)
  2. ^ Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht (employed by Philip II: 1559 – 1567, employed by the States-General: 1572 – 1584), Stadtholder of Friesland and Overijssel (1580 – 1584)
  3. ^ Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland (1585 – 1625), Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel (1590 – 1625), Groningen (1620 – 1625)
  4. ^ Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel (1620 – 1625), Groningen and Drenthe (1640 - 1647)
  5. ^ Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel
  6. ^ Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel (1672 - 1702), Guelders (1675 - 1702), Drenthe (1696 - 1702)
  7. ^ William III invaded - on invitation - England and became king of England, Scotland and Ireland
  8. ^ Hereditary Stadtholder of Friesland (1711 – 1747), Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel (April/May 1747 – November 1747), Stadtholder of Groningen (1718 – 1747), Guelders and Drenthe (1722 – 1747), was formally voted the first Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Provinces (1747 - 1751)
  9. ^ Stadtholders of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, became the direct male line ancestor of the Republic's hereditary Stadtholders, and later of the kings of the Netherlands.
  10. ^ Stadtholder of Guelders (under Philip II), architect of the Union of Utrecht
  11. ^ Stadtholder of Friesland (1584 – 1620), Groningen (1594 – 1620) and Drenthe (1596 – 1620)
  12. ^ Stadtholder of Friesland (1620 - 1632), Groningen and Drenthe (1625 - 1632)
  13. ^ Stadtholder of Friesland (1632 - 1640), Groningen and Drenthe (1632 - 1640)
  14. ^ Stadtholder of Friesland (1640 - 1664), Groningen and Drenthe (1650 - 1664)
  15. ^ In 1675 the State of Friesland voted to make the Stadtholdership hereditary in the house of Nassau-Dietz
  16. ^ Hereditary Stadtholder of Friesland (1707 - 1711) and Griningen (1708 - 1711)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stadtholder&oldid=555289053"