Asami
Banned
An Orange Empire
Wilhelmus van Nassouwe
Ben ick van Duytschen bloet,
Den Vaderlant getrouwe
Blyf ick tot in den doet...
The reign of
William III of Orange-Nassau (1689-1702)
Mary II Stuart (1689-1697)
The reign of William III van Oranje-Nassau is well remembered as the beginning of the most successful British dynasty in it's history as a state. The story of the reign of William III 'the Great' of England begins in 1688, when William, as Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, was formally invited by Protestant lords to overthrow James II of Scotland, who had held the crown of England, and was unraveling the Protestant order set in place by previous monarchs.
The invasion marked the beginning of a new Protestant reign, however, it was not without troubles. In the following year of 1689, trouble erupted between William and Parliament as many insisted that he reign only as Consort or until the death of his wife, at which time the crown would pass to an heir.
William outright refused both proposals, as did his wife, Mary -- the condition of continued Dutch-ensured peace and the prevention of Catholicism from returning to plague England remained that William be the sole ruler -- or at least, co-ruler, equal in power to his fair wife.
Parliament finally conceded to their new monarch his terms, only if he signed off on a Bill of Rights. Agreeing to such terms, William III and Mary II were both crowned in Westminster Abbey in April 1689, marking the beginning of the new age for England.
The Scottish and Irish parliaments agreed to allow William III to reign as their monarch for a time, as the Scottish parliamentarians agreed that a Protestant Dutchman was a preferable monarch to a Catholic Scotsman. In order to secure a base of power for the Orange-Nassau family in England, knowing that if his wife died, he would be unable to retain the throne for his progeny.
William III spent no time trying to gain an heir from Mary, even as France turned a lazy eye back toward the situation on the North Sea. James Stuart continued to boil revolt amongst England's ranks by his Jacobite followers. Irish parliamentarians soon broke William III's fealty and declared James the "rightful King of Ireland" in 1690.
Anglo-Dutch armies involved themselves in Ireland, pressing hard to defeat the army that James had gathered from French backing and uppity Catholic lords in Ireland.
While the Stuart Rebellion went on in Ireland, Mary announced to the court she was with child in mid 1690, and was in labor delivering her child by early 1691. The birth was proclaimed with much mirth. William was delighted that a progeny had been secured for the Anglo-Dutch Union. His son, named Henry, was named Prince of Wales to further secure his right of succession.
The Jacobites in the country were miffed at the idea of a Orange Prince succeeding William, to further strengthen the right to the throne, since Prince Henry was indeed the descendant of a Stuart and had right to the throne, technically. A period of revolt erupted in parts of England which had Jacobite sympathies. However, the army made work to suppress the revolts and fight the Irish War.
William's army finally won victory over James Stuart in Ireland in 1691, and James returned to exile in France. The victory over James Stuart was of great relief to William, who then turned to an interior effort to strengthen his reign and the English state.
Scotland was not entirely subdued, however. Through his coronation and after, rebellions smattered the Scottish countryside. William struggled to deal with these problems, numerous times. In 1692, he managed to secure several clans loyalty by promising them no harm would befall them if they agreed to stop rebelling against him and accept his authority. The Parliament was put off by such things, as it meant that these Jacobite sympathizers remained with their lands and power over land, however, they remained tight-lipped as the violence had subsided significantly.
But the Nine Years War should not be discounted as a major part of William's reign. the French King was waging an expensive, expansive war against most of Europe and faring decently against them, and remained unsupportive of William's claim to England's throne. In frustration, William departed England for a period of time in 1692 to lead armies against France. With less stress on his mind now that the rebellions in Britain were suppressed, and he had a son to succeed him upon his death, he marched against France and managed to net several key battles in the Spanish Netherlands against them.
This deteriorated the morale of the French army, as they progressed into 1693 and 1694, the French army began to lose more battles than they previously had, and also began to hemorrhage money to replace the ships and soldiers lost to battle against William III and others.
An unfortunate period of weather in late 1694 caused havoc on the French country, with food shortages and discontent ripping through the state. Several peasant revolts erupted in Southern France, forcing Louis XIV to favor putting them down over continuing his campaigns.
Soon enough, France found itself in the midst of a great famine, forcing Louis XIV to seek terms of peace with the Grand Alliance in March 1695. The terms were not entirely harsh, but weren't favorable either. Alsace and Lorraine were both lost to the aggressive Frenchman, as was all land East of the Rhine River which he had brought to heel before France.
Spain recovered a series of territories from France, which strengthened the beleaguered, once nearly hegemonic empire. France, did, however, recover Pondicherry in India after paying the Netherlands a significant amount of reparation, as well as recognizing William III as King of England. The end of the Nine Years War allowed William III to play his role as a dual monarch, and educate his son.
In 1696, William was struck with personal tragedy as his co-ruler and his wife, Mary, died in childbirth delivering his second child. He became the sole ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland, and was struck with depression for a period of time. The Jacobite movement was marginalized with France now backing William III's claim to the throne. James Stuart became an embittered man, and never gave up his right to the throne, but went into seclusion after the Treaty of Ryswick, dying in 1701.
William III's reign remained modestly popular as he continued to bring the Netherlands and Britain close together. His fears over the Spanish succession were not without some level of truth behind them. However, Spain had been significantly alienated by the French invasion. With no clear successor, Spain's nobility agreed to the succession of Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria to the Spanish throne upon the death of the King. He renounced right to succeed his father in Bavaria, and was named Prince of Asturias in 1698.
Outside of this, the Spanish nobility, under fear of becoming a French vassal state by means of succession of some descendant of Louis XIV, agreed to a Dutch-German proposal of protection in exchange for some territory. Some North Italian land would be given to the HRE, and Flanders to the Netherlands in exchange for protection from French aggression, should they decide to dispute the inheritance of Joseph Ferdinand.
In 1701, Charles II of Spain died. While the Spanish nobility recognized the succession of Joseph Ferdinand (Ferdinand VI of Spain), France contested the succession of Joseph Ferdinand, holding that a descendant of Louis XIV should be King. The crisis nearly escalated into a full fledged war when Louis XIV backed down on the advice of several nobles who were dealing with very riotous peasants who were still suffering knock on effects from the food riots of just a few years prior.
The diplomatic resolution of the events of the Spanish Question won William III and the Holy Roman Emperor recognition as "powerful and diplomatic men" across Europe. However, William III's happiness in this case was short lived --
William III 'the Great' of the House Orange-Nassau passed away on the 8th of March 1702. He was 51 years old at the time, and was the first monarch of the House Orange-Nassau. He was succeeded in England, Scotland and Ireland by his 11 year old son, Henry IX & I of England, Scotland and Ireland. The same son inherited the title Prince of Orange and as well, Stadtholder. His Dutch regency involved several high Dutch nobles and politicians.
((I wanted to do a little TLIAP(?) on William III. I might continue this, but I'm not really good with this part of history, infact, I'm downright trash at it. Like the possibly horribly ahistorical snuffing of the War of Spanish Succession by some quick diplomatic tabulation and increased fears of French aggression. Hope you liked it. I may come back and write the reign of Henry IX, but I don't know what would really work. So, this is all you get... for now.))
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