The prince’s triumph

A temporary collapse of Spanish power in the Low Countries in 1576 gave the prince a fresh chance. In the absence of a governor-general after the death of Alba’s successor, Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga, and confronted with mutinous Spanish troops, the Council of State ventured to convene the States General. This assembly, pretending to act in the name of the king but in fact usurping viceregal powers, immediately opened negotiations with the rebellious provinces. The Pacification of Ghent (November 8, 1576) was the result. It has been supposed that Orange’s influence and agents were primarily responsible for this achievement. Certainly this peace, supplemented by the first Union of Brussels (January 1577), heralded the realization of his ambitions and ideals: not only were his governorships confirmed and his possessions restored to him, but the union of the so-called 17 Netherlands under a national government seemed about to be accomplished. But the idea of a “common fatherland,” though steadily growing, was not yet strong enough to overcome particularistic or religious divisions. Because of the Perpetual Edict of 1577, the treaty the States General concluded with the new governor-general, Don John of Austria, specified that the Roman Catholic religion was to be maintained all over the country, and because of the absence of provisions for the maintenance of the Pacification, the deputies of Holland and Zeeland left the assembly.

In July 1577, however, Don John attempted to renew hostilities, thus driving more and more people to support the prince. Those towns of Holland and Zeeland that had always opposed Orange or had been recovered by Spanish arms now recognized his authority; the last to accede (February 1578) was Amsterdam. The town and province of Utrecht followed suit, and in Flanders, Brabant, Groningen, and elsewhere, the radical Orangists, mostly Calvinistic burghers and craftsmen, gained the upper hand. In September 1577 the States General, to which the representatives of Holland and Zeeland had now returned, invited Orange to come south to Brussels, where he was triumphantly received. Under his influence a new union came into being, providing for joint action by both Roman Catholics and Protestants against “the common enemy of the fatherland.” Meanwhile, the States General, continuing to act with sovereign power, had formed a government headed by the young archduke Matthias, an Austrian nephew of King Philip. Matthias agreed to conditions laid down by the prince guaranteeing a constitutional system of government. Moreover, in January 1578, Orange was commissioned to act as lieutenant general for Matthias.

The prince’s failure

Orange was now at the zenith of his career, but his triumph proved as short-lived as was the general union of the provinces. His failure to consolidate the newly won unity was primarily due to the excesses of his Calvinist supporters who forcibly introduced popular and intolerant regimes. Thus, the revolutionaries played into the hands of King Philip’s new governor-general, Alessandro Farnese, duke of Parma. He was the son of the former regent Margaret, and on October 1, 1578, he had taken office after the death of Don John.

The Catholic but still anti-Spanish reaction made itself felt first in the southern, French-speaking provinces. Not unnaturally, when seeking for help, their thoughts turned to France, but it was on the prince of Orange’s advice that the States General in August 1578 adopted the Catholic duc d’Anjou, brother of Henry III of France, as “Defender of the Liberty of the Netherlands.” Soon afterward the formation of specific unions by smaller groups of provinces began to compromise the general union, which was irrevocably compromised in May 1579 when the prince gave qualified support to the “Union of Utrecht,” whose main promoter was his brother John, stadtholder of Gelderland and a staunch Calvinist. On March 15 the prince was outlawed by Philip II and a reward offered for his assassination. He answered the charges of treason with a vehement Apologie, written for him by his court chaplain, and he continued to put his trust in France. Against much Protestant opposition, he persuaded the States General in 1580 to give the duc d’Anjou the hereditary sovereignty of the Netherlands, and in 1581 they solemnly renounced their allegiance to the king of Spain. Meanwhile, the provinces of Holland and Zeeland, unwilling to grant the French prince any direct authority, planned to create Orange their hereditary count.

Anjou, however, far from aiding the cause of liberty, added to the prevailing confusion. With great difficulty, Orange effected his reconciliation with the States General. His own continuing reliance on France is shown by his fourth marriage (1583), to Louise de Coligny, a daughter of the murdered Huguenot leader the comte de Coligny.

As a result of the ban pronounced by Philip II, an attempt was made on the prince’s life at Antwerp in March 1582. With Parma advancing from the south, he retired in July 1582 to Holland, where he moved into his old quarters in a former convent at Delft. There, in 1584, he was shot by a fanatical Catholic, the Franc-Comtois Balthasar Gérard. His last words were a prayer for the people he had tried to lead for so long. The family seat of Breda being then in enemy hands, he was buried in the New Church at Delft.