This is the essay for the 28th week of the 7th Grade Ron Paul Curriculum. It’s about William of Orange.

William of Orange

 

William was born in Germany in 1522. William was the oldest of 12 children. His family was Protestant. But when his cousin, the current prince of Orange died. William became the prince of orange at only 11 years old.

But to be able to become Prince of Orange and the estate that belonged to the title he had to be Catholic. So William of Orange received a Catholic education.  In the Netherlands. Because of William’s young age, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ruled in his place. In 1551 William moved to Brussels and married, Mary II, of England. He was also appointed the captain of the cavalry. William was so good he was soon appointed for one of the emperor’s armies.

William became the governor of 3 provinces in Netherlands, Zeeland, Utrecht and Holland. During the time of William of Orange, the Netherlands was being ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs. William didn’t like the Spanish because he thought they were too controlling and that they were participating in religious persecution. William joined an opposition group that was against the Spanish.

After William had started getting involved in several revolts against the Spanish, a council was called to punish the revolters. William didn’t show up to the council, so the Spanish made him an outlaw and gave somebody who would kill him a reward. The Spanish also took all of William’s belongings away. Because of William’s popularity among the Dutch, he was able to gather an army against the Spanish. This is what started the 80 years War.

Before William of Orange could see the end of the war, he was assassinated in 1584. William was assassinated by Catholic Frenchman, Baltazar Gerards. Even though the revolters leader had been assassinated they continued on and at the end of the war, the Netherlands became independent from Spain.