Death of Maurice of Nassau, Frederick Hendrik succeeded
Introduction
Prince Maurice was the son of William the Silent and Princess Anna, from Saxony. He was born in the castle of Dillenburg, in 1567. He studied in Heidelberg, and later in Leiden. When his father was murdered (1584) he got the title stadtholder. He didn’t get whole Holland in one time, but year after year he got all the provinces. He became captain-general in 1587, and made the army better with his strategy and help of William Lodewijk. Because of this he became the best strategists of his age. With the theory of Simon Stevin (A Flemish mathematician and engineer) he took important towns: Breda (1590) Steenwijk (1592) and Geertruidenberg (1593). He set up a Country Advocate, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. But van Oldenbarnevelt signed a Twelve Year Truce, what meant that they would work together. Of course Maurice didn’t like that and fired van Oldenbarnevelt, even though many people protested. Spain got stronger and recaptured Breda in 1525. Soon after that Maurice died, he became 58 years.
After Maurices’ death, Frederick Hendrik (his brother) took the lead and became stadtholder. He was the youngest son of William the Silent. Frederick took over the states Holland, Zeeland, Overijssel, Utrecht and Gelderland. And also the title admiral-general of the Union. He ruled for 22 years, with many triumphs. Many people called it the Period of Frederick Hendrik, and also the golden age of the republic. Also Frederick Hendrik had captured 's Hertogenbosch (1629) Maastricht (1632) Breda (1637) Sas van Gent (1644) Hulst (1645). After the eighty years war, he made a distance peace with Spain. Frederick was married with Amalia von Solms, got one son, William II of Orange and four other daughters. He died in 1647.
[pic] Shireen Baars
Maurice of Nassau Frederick Hendrik History, 2K