Frederick Henry, or
Frederik Hendrik in
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
(29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647), was the sovereign
Prince of OrangePrince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
and
stadtholderA Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.
Early life
Frederick Henry was born on 29 January 1584 in
DelftDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
,
Holland,
Dutch RepublicThe Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. He was the youngest child of
William the SilentWilliam I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
and
Louise de ColignyLouise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
. His father William was stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, and Friesland. His mother Louise was daughter of the Huguenot leader
Gaspard de ColignyGaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
, and was the fourth wife of his father. He was thus the half brother of his predecessor Maurice of Orange, no issue, deceased in 1625.
Frederick Henry was born six months before his father's
assassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
on 10 July 1584. The boy was trained to arms by his elder brother Maurice, one of the finest generals of his age. After Maurice threatened to legimitize his illegitimate children if he did not marry, Frederick Henry married
Amalia of Solms-BraunfelsAmalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...
in 1625. His illegitimate son by Margaretha Catharina Bruyns (1595–1625), Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein was born in 1624 before his marriage. This son later became the governor of the young
William III of EnglandWilliam III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
for seven years.
Stadtholder
On the death of Maurice in 1625, Frederick Henry succeeded him in his paternal dignities and estates, and also in the
stadtholderA Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
ates of the five provinces of
Holland,
ZeelandZeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
,
UtrechtUtrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
,
OverijsselOverijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...
and
GueldersGuelders or Gueldres is the name of a historical county, later duchy of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.-Geography:...
, and in the important posts of captain and admiral-general of the Union (commander-in-chief of the
Dutch States ArmyThe Dutch States Army was the army of the Dutch Republic. It was usually called this, because it was formally the army of the States-General of the Netherlands, the sovereign power of that federal republic...
and of the
Dutch navyThe history of the Navy of the Netherlands dates back to the 15th century. As overseas trade was a traditional cornerstone of the Dutch economy, naval defence was indispensable for the protection of commercial interests..-Origins:...
).
Frederick Henry proved himself almost as good a general as his brother, and a far more capable statesman and politician. For twenty-two years he remained at the head of government in the United Provinces, and in his time the power of the stadtholderate reached its highest point. The "Period of Frederick Henry," as it is usually styled by Dutch writers, is generally accounted the
golden ageThe Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. The first half is characterised by the Eighty Years' War till 1648...
of the republic. It was marked by great military and naval triumphs, by worldwide maritime and commercial expansion, and by a wonderful outburst of activity in the domains of art and literature.
The chief military exploits of Frederick Henry were the sieges and captures of
GrolGroenlo is a city in the municipality of Oost Gelre, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands on the German border, a region in the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek . Groenlo was a municipality until January 1, 2005, when it merged with Lichtenvoorde. Until May 19 2006 Groenlo...
in 1627,
's-HertogenboschThe Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch was in 1629 an action of the Eighty Years' War in which a Dutch Republican army captured the city of 's-Hertogenbosch which had been loyal to the King of Spain since 1579 and thus part of the Spanish Netherlands.-Background:...
in 1629, of
MaastrichtMaastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
in 1632, of
BredaThe Siege of Breda is the name for two major sieges of the Eighty Years' War and Thirty Years' War. The Dutch fortress city of Breda fell to a Spanish army under Ambrosio Spinola in 1625; it was retaken by Frederick Henry of Orange in the 1637 Siege of Breda.-The Battle:Under Spinola's orders the...
in 1637, of
Sas van Gent in 1644, and of
HulstHulst is a municipality and a city in southwestern Netherlands in the east of Zeelandic Flanders.- History :Hulst received city rights in the 12th century....
in 1645. During the greater part of his administration the alliance with France against Spain had been the pivot of Frederick Henry's foreign policy, but in his last years he sacrificed the French alliance for the sake of concluding a separate peace with Spain, by which the United Provinces obtained from that power all the advantages they had been seeking for eighty years.
Frederick Henry built the country houses
Huis HonselaarsdijkHuis Honselaarsdijk was a palace in Honselersdijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The palace was designed by the Dutch architects Bartholomeus van Bassen, Jacob van Campen and Pieter Post, and was built in the first half of the 17th century as a buitenplaats for stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of...
,
Huis ter NieuwburgHuis ter Nieuwburg or Huis ter Nieuburch was a palace in Rijswijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The symmetrical French Classicist building was probably designed by the French architect Jacques de la Vallée and was built between 1633 and 1636 for stadtholder Prince Frederick Henry.The palace with...
, and for his wife
Huis ten BoschHuis ten Bosch is one of the three official residences of the Dutch Royal Family, located in The Hague in the Netherlands. It has been home to Queen Beatrix since 1981. The other Royal palace in The Hague, Noordeinde Palace, is used for work-related purposes...
, and he renovated the
Noordeinde PalaceNoordeinde Palace is one of the three official palaces of the Dutch royal family. Located in The Hague in the province of South Holland, it has been used as the "working palace" for Queen Beatrix since 1984.-From farmhouse to palace:...
in
The HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. Huis Honselaarsdijk and Huis ter Nieuwburg are now demolished.
Death
Frederick Henry died on 14 March 1647 in
The HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Holland, Dutch Republic. He left a wife, a son
William II, Prince of OrangeWilliam II, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later.-Biography:...
, four daughters, and the illegitimate son Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein.
On Frederick Henry's death, he was buried with great pomp beside his father and brother at Delft. The
treaty of MunsterTreaty of Münster may refer to:* Peace of Münster, a treaty between the Dutch Republic and Spain signed in January 1648 ending the Eighty Years' War...
, ending the long struggle between the Dutch and the Spaniards, was not actually signed until 30 January 1648, the illness and death of the stadtholder having caused a delay in the negotiations. Frederick Henry left an account of his campaigns in his
Mémoires de Frédéric Henri (Amsterdam, 1743). See
Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. iv. chap. 24.
Children
Frederick Henry and his wife Amalia van Solms had nine children:
- William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later.-Biography:...
(1626—50)
- Luise Henriette of Nassau (1627—67)
- Henriëtte Amalia of Nassau (1628)
- Elisabeth of Nassau (1630)
- Isabella Charlotte of Nassau (1632—42)
- Albertine Agnes of Nassau
Albertine Agnes , was a regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. She was the fifth daughter of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels.-Family:...
(1634–96)
- Henriette Catherine of Nassau
Henriette Catherine of Nassau was a daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Henriette was a member of the House of Orange-Nassau .- Family :...
(1637—1708)
- Hendrik Lodewijk of Nassau (1639)
- Maria of Nassau (1642—88)
Arms
Frederick Henry used two sets of arms as shown: before and after he became prince of Orange, Stadholder and Captain-General:
Ancestors
Frederick Henry's ancestors in three generations
| Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange |
Father:
William the SilentWilliam I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
|
Paternal Grandfather:
William I, Count of Nassau-DillenburgWilliam of Nassau was a count of Nassau-Dillenburg from the House of Nassau. He was called William the Rich....
|
Paternal Great-grandfather:
Count John V of Nassau-Dillenburg |
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Landgravine Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg |
Paternal Grandmother:
Juliana of StolbergJuliana, Countess of Stolberg-Wernigerode was the mother of William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish in the 16th century....
|
Paternal Great-grandfather:
Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-WernigerodeCount Bodo VIII of Stolberg-Wernigerode was Count of Stolberg and Hohnstein and Lord of Wernigerode from 1511 until his death.- Life :...
|
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Anna of Eppstein-Königstein |
Mother:
Louise de ColignyLouise de Coligny was the daughter of Gaspard de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval and the fourth and last spouse of William the Silent.-Biography:...
|
Maternal Grandfather:
Gaspard de ColignyGaspard de Coligny , Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman and admiral, best remembered as a disciplined Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion.-Ancestry:...
|
Maternal Great-grandfather:
Gaspard I de ColignyGaspard I de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon , known as the Marshal of Châtillon, was a French soldier. He served in the Italian Wars from 1495 to 1515, and was created Marshal of France in 1516....
|
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Louise de MontmorencyLouise de Montmorency was a French noblewoman from the ancient House of Montmorency. She was the younger sister of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France, and the mother of Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France....
|
Maternal Grandmother:
Charlotte de LavalCharlotte de Laval, Dame de Châtillon , was a French noblewoman from one of the most powerful families in Brittany. She was the first wife of Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon, Admiral of France and a prominent Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. She was the mother of Louise...
|
Maternal Great-grandfather:
Guy XVI de Laval, Comte de Laval |
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Antoinette de Daillon |
External links
Frederik Hendrik. Prins van Oranje. Een biografisch drieluik, a biography by J.J. Poelhekke
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