William I, the Silent 1533-84
Prince of Orange

He became the first of the hereditary stadtholders of the United Provinces of the Netherlands in 1572. He joined the aristocratic protest to the oppressive and anti-heretic policies of Philip II of Spain, and eventually organized an army against the Duke of Alva, Philip's regent in the Netherlands. After initial reverses, he began the recovery of the coastal towns with the help of the Sea-Beggars, and became the leader of the northern provinces, united in the Union of Utrecht (1579) in revolt against Spain in the Eighty Years War. He was a complex character: idealistic but a realist, tolerant, subtle and devious. His Apologie (1580) was a vindication of his aims and actions. He was assassinated in Delft by a Spanish agent. His nickname comes from his ability to keep secret Henri II of France's scheme to massacre all the Protestants of France and the Netherlands, confided to him when he was a French hostage (1559).

Bibliography: C V Wedgwood, William the Silent (1944)