Last Tuesday the Netherlands got a new king, from the House of Orange-Nassau.

So how come a Princedom in the Rhone valley and a Countship in Southern Germany become sovereigns in the Netherlands.

It all goes back to the richest man of Europe in the early 14th century, and an obscure one as well.

Willem van Duivenvoorde doesn't even have an English Wikipedia entry, was borne in 1290 as bastard of a nobleman in Holland.

He became a squire of the Count of Holland, and, being very bright, he rose to Chamberlain and Treasurer.

Willem's genius was in modern administration. He ran a large chancellery with clerics for himself who listed all his properties and he carefully analysed every opportunity for profit.
This allowed him to acquire a lot of property in the border area of the County of Holland and the Duchy of Brabant, where he also reclaimed a lot of land in a very efficient way.
Count and Duke both though he acquired these lands in lease from the other, while in reality he just took them for himself.

When the King of England started the 100 Years War against France, Willem lent him as much money as England could deliver wool to him. But when the King needed more money and offered his crown jewels, Willem refused.
Quite rightly so, because when the Florentine bankers accepted this offer, they were never repaid, and they went broke, effectively ending the power of the Florentine monetary power.

Willem had also very good relations with the Duke of Brabant, who knighted him in Brussels in 1328 and made him a Banneret, ending his bastard state, and enabling him to inherit his possessions to his relatives.
When he died he ruled over the city of Breda and large areas in the South of Holland and the North of Brabant, and he was the richest man of his time in Europe.

However, he died without legitimate children, so his brother son inherited his possessions, and through a marriage to the Count of Nassau in 1403.
This made the Counts of Nassau an important player in the internal affairs of Brabant and Holland, that had both come under the House of Burgundy.

So when William of Orange-Nassau inherited the sovereign title Prince of Orange, he was through his high title and large possessions in the Netherlands the most important local noble under Phillips II of Hapsburg, King of Spain and Sovereign of the 17 Burgundy Provinces. (Duke of Brabant, Gelre, Luxembourg, Limburg, Count of Holland, Zeeland, Artois, Hainaut, Namen, Zutphen, Lord of Groningen, Friesland, etc. etc.)

Categorieën: Geschiedenis

From Your Royalty Fashion Reporter

donderdag 2 mei 2013 18:01

Appearance is everything for a modern monarchy, so let me offer you to do to the royals what they are made for. Look at their fashion statements:

If you want to take the overview for yourselves first, you may look at this slide show:

http://springelkamp.nl/Foto/Inhuldiging/capture_002_01052013_201648.jpg.html?slide=1

First we have crown prince Filip and princess Mathilde of Belgium. The prince is wearing a military uniform, the most common costume for kings and princes. A sash is obligatory, bearing a prestiguous Grand Cross. Both Belgians wear the appropriate Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau on their orange sash with white and blue edge:

Quite similarly in style, albeit much more attractive than the thick Belgian guy, are Norwegian crown prince Haakon and princess Sophie: (by the way, there are generally only crown princes and no acting monarchs present, because during the inauguration King Willem Alexander must be the highest ranking person, obviously)

Next in line, Spain, with crown prince Felipe and the former TV presenter princess Letizia, who doesn't wear the Orange-Nassau sash, but rather a blue and white one, probably the Spanish Order of Charles III, as that ribbon is present in her coat of arms. Maybe the Dutch royals haven't had the opportunity to offer her their nice insignes, or she prefers the blue white colours on her dress.

And Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie offer us the same kind of decorations, she probably wearing the Grand Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau.

We now see the non-European crown prince Billah and princess Sarah of Brunei. They wear a different sash, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, a House order of Orange. We will discover that she is the only woman wearing a headscarf.

And here is a prince who has received that Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown already before the previous Dutch inauguration, crown prince Charles. Camilla probably hasn't entered the circle of friends of Orange yet, as she is wearing a Royal Victorian Order (my guess).

First prince in civil dress, now, Prince El Hassan bin Talal and princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan, both with the now familiar Order of Orange-Nassau.

The highest royal guests, crown prince Naruhito en princess Masako of Japan. He has a Order of the Crown, but she wears the Japanese Order of the Precious Crown, specially for female recipients. She must have chosen it for the appropriate colour!

Crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and prinses Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, they wear their own Order of the Royal House of Chakri.

Heredery prince Alois en heredery princess Sophie of Liechtenstein. I couldn't identify their red sash, was hoping it would be a Golden Fleece, that uses a red sash, and, being founded by the Burgundy House, was partially inherited by the Austrian Hapsburgs, but a complete list of members doesn't mention them.

Crown prince Frederik of Denmark has a nice hat, and a nice princess Mary. They wear the light blue Order of the Elephant over their left shoulder.

Swedish crown princess Victoria and prince Daniel have a similarly coloured Royal Order of the Seraphim over the right shoulder. And she has a nice hat.