WILLIAM OF ORANGE IN BRUSSELS
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Palace of Nassau, also called the Court of Nassau, is the former city palace of the Counts of Nassau located on the Koudenberg in Brussels. The palace was built on a strategic location on one of the higher parts of Brussels, not far from the residence of the Dukes of Brabant, the Palace on the Koudenberg.
Construction began in the 1440s by the wealthy nobleman Willem van Duivenvoorde, when he settled in Brussels. Because Willem van Duivenvoorde left behind twelve illegitimate children but no legitimate ones, his possessions, including his Brussels residence, came into the possession of the Van Polanen family.
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It was then known as the Lek inn. Through the marriage in 1403 of the last descendant of this family, Johanna van Polanen, with Engelbrecht I van Nassau-Siegen, the palace came into the possession of the Counts of Nassau. In the market place in Brussels there is a very old house for the bourgeoisie, built at great expense, with walls inside that are artistically painted and adorned with a high tower of natural stone. Here are seven magnificent churches, of which the Sainte Gudule is the largest.
The royal palace, which is situated on a hill with a chapel and was built by Emperor Charles V, is a not insignificant decoration of the city. There the lords of the Golden Fleece and members of the councils with the most important governors meet to deliberate on matters of common interest.
For the very beginning of William of Orange's castle in Brussels, we have to go back to the fourteenth century. Willem van Duvenvoorde, an illegitimate descendant of the Dutch noble family Wassenaer, had become very wealthy through his clever financial manipulations. Between 1342 and 1345, he had a magnificent house built for himself on a hill above the old city of Brussels. After his death, his nephew Jan van Polanen inherited this house and it came to Engelbrecht I of Nassau with the estate of the Polanen family at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
Engelbrecht II had the old house demolished and started new construction in 1480, which was not yet completed at the time of his death in 1504. Count Hendrik III continued the construction and had several extensions added between 1509 and 1525. After the death of René of Chalon, his widow, Anna of Lotharingen, was given the building to live in. Orange lived in this castle since 1555 and soon bought it from the aforementioned widow.
Of the palace of the Nassaus, only the chapel and some wall remains have been preserved to this day, which were built into the building complex of the Academy of Fine Arts. In the 16th century, the city castle, located near the seigniorial palace, was considered the most beautiful building in Brussels for a long time. It was built in the style of the Flemish Renaissance, with steeply rising roofs and towers crowned with tin.
The interior spaces were decorated with rich wood carvings, artistic panelling and works by famous painters; for example, the famous triptych Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus (Jeroen) Bosch hung here, which was confiscated after the flight of Orange in 1567 and came into the possession of Habsburg. Today it is one of the art treasures of the Escorial.
In the courtyards there were artistically constructed fountains, from which wine bubbled up on festive occasions. There was hardly an educated visitor to Brussels who failed to visit the palace of the Nassaus and many wrote down their impressions in a diary, which was kept during the journey.
In the year 1520 Albrecht Dürer undertook a journey through the Netherlands and during this he arrived in Brussels on the afternoon of 27 August, coming from Antwerp via Mechelen. In his notes about his stay in this city, which made a great impression on him, we can read: 'I have also been to the palace of the Nassaus, which is so preciously built and also beautifully decorated.
Albrecht Dürer
'There I saw the beautiful painting in the chapel that master Hugo (van der Goes) made. I also saw the two beautiful large halls and the valuables everywhere in the palace, also the large bed in which 50 people can lie. And I also saw the large stone (meteorite) that hit the field next to the lord of Nassau during a thunderstorm. The palace is situated high up, one has an astonishingly beautiful view. And I do not believe that anything like it can be found in the German Empire.
The Swiss Thomas Platter made a study trip through Western and Southern Europe between 1595 and 1600, which brought him to the southern Netherlands in August 1599. After an extensive description of the palace of the lord of the land, he noted in his daily notes of the trip:
'In addition to the above-mentioned royal palace, the palace of the counts of Nassau must be mentioned, which is also large and impressively built; it also has a large inner courtyard and it has very many rooms as well as a very high tower".
In addition to the palace mentioned, Orange owned a smaller palace in both Brussels and Mechelen. When the young Prince of Orange arrived in the Netherlands to accept his inheritance, probably in the spring of 1545 - he was accompanied by two young noblemen of about the same age, sons of the counts of Isenburg and Westerburg residing near Nassau, who were not only companions, but would also be educated with him.
William initially went to live in the castle in Breda and he was given his own small court, which was led by the educators appointed by Charles V. - First of all, Claude de Bouton bore this responsibility, from 1549 until Orange came of age, Jerôme Perrenot, lord of Champigney, a younger brother of the very influential Granville, bishop of Arras, who later became a cardinal and the most important representative of the interests of Philip II would be in the Netherlands.
Besides the sons of the German counts mentioned, his court consisted of eight persons: a nobleman, a chamberlain, a footman, a page for the two young German counts, a teacher, a groom, a groom and a stable boy. Nine horses were kept in the stable. Certainly there was also staff for the kitchen and the gardens etc. in Breda, but the sources do not provide any information about this. It is only known that the small court cost 3500 guilders per year.
At the end of the year 1548, the young Orange came to the court of the governor Mary of Hungary, a sister of Charles V, to be raised 'courtly' in the most distinguished surroundings. He stayed in Brussels repeatedly for quite long periods and took part, in the entourage of the governor, in numerous inspection trips through the Dutch provinces. In March 1549, Philip II arrived in the Netherlands from Spain to be inaugurated as his father's successor.
Maria rode to meet her cousin on 30 March to Tervuren. On 1 April William of Orange witnessed the glorious entry of Philip into Brussels. For weeks afterwards, one homage ceremony followed another in the individual provinces, with much display of pomp at the entries into the cities and with magnificent tournaments - Orange, as has been proven, took part in the tournament in Antwerp - and festive meals that usually ended in wild revelries.
On 21 September 1549, the only sixteen-year-old William himself received the Spanish heir to the throne in Breda and the next day he gave a large festive meal. The court of the governor continued the etiquette introduced by the Burgundian dukes, which had been a model for European courts since the middle of the fifteenth century, just as the etiquette at the court of Louis XIV of France was 200 years later.
The growing William of Orange was greatly impressed by the pomp displayed in Brussels, the magnificent court festivities and tournaments, as well as the wild hunting parties in the Brabant forests. Perhaps he had already noticed that at court people were not only occupied with revelry, but that in addition to eating and drinking pleasures, spicy love affairs and hunting parties, serious conversations on political matters were also always held, and that life at court proved to be particularly suitable for making important political and personal contacts.
Having come of age, William of Orange's ambition was to show a court and to have a court life that hardly lagged behind those of kings and that put the courts of most princes in the German Empire in the shade. An example for him to follow was the court of the Burgundian dukes and that of their Habsburg successors, whom he had met in Brussels.
At the beginning of the 1550s, the court of Orange consisted of approximately 160 people, including 24 noble lords and 18 pages, who were also always, without exception, sons of noblemen. The court, headed by two intendants, was divided into four departments according to their functions: the department for the personal care of the prince, his wife and his children, the kitchen, the cellar (responsible for the supply of drinks) and the stable.
According to ranks, there was a division into three: the noble members of the court (gentilshommes de la chambre et gentilshommes de la maison, in other words the noble servants), the higher officials (officers or civil servants) such as the chaplain, secretaries, hunt masters etc., and lower staff such as chamberlains, cooks, grooms, washerwomen.
Orange soon acquired the reputation that his parties and receptions were more princely than those of the court of the lord of the land in Brussels. But such a court devoured enormous sums of money, and despite his high income, his debts had already increased so much in 1552 that, as he himself complained, he could no longer obtain credit from the bankers in Antwerp. Orange ordered his advisers to conduct a detailed investigation into his financial situation and to draw up proposals for savings.
In its report drawn up in 1554, the council of advisors calculated the annual court expenses for the household at 52,000 guilders. A restriction was recommended, so that the annual expenses would amount to only 24,000 guilders. This left 12,000 guilders for travel, clothing, repairs and legal proceedings. The council freely expressed its opinion that these sums of money would be sufficient if Orange would bring more order to his lifestyle and personal expenses.
At first it seemed that Orange would follow the recommendations: he dismissed 28 men from the kitchen staff alone at once, which allowed them to draw conclusions that are indicative of the size of the kitchen. But he soon forgot all good intentions and strove for even more splendor and pleasure. Around 1560 his court already required 90,000 guilders annually, his total debt burden amounted to 900,000 guilders - an almost unimaginably high sum for that time.
At the beginning of the sixties the court had grown to 256 persons, among them 23 noblemen, 26 pages, 26 members of the kitchen staff, 17 stable servants, 8 falconers, 7 hunters, 3 goldsmiths, 18 halberdiers as bodyguards, some tailors, gold embroiderers, etc. With a dash of self-mockery William of Orange wrote in 1564 to his younger brother Louis of Nassau:
'It seems to me that we are of a kind that is somewhat bad with money in youth, but when we are old we will do better, just like our father.
DELIGHTFUL RELATIONSHIPS
Himself a servant of Charles V and Philip II, William of Orange tried to create such a relationship with his subjects that it would benefit his interests. On August 26, 1551, Count William of Nassau wrote to his eighteen-year-old son William of Orange:
'The strict and venerable, my good patrons, Sir Conrad von Bemelberg, knight etc., and Wolf von Velperg, brothers-in-law, have written to me that the aforementioned Velperg has a son, who is 13 years old, whom he wants to send away from home and whom he would like to have raised by honest people and they both want to see the said son with no one more than with you, they have therefore requested me to ask you to accept this boy. Because such people who are very well disposed towards you and me... who can both be of great service to us, I have not refused or denied this request. And I kindly request you to take this boy into your service and dismiss or not hire another in his place.
This letter is instructive in more than one respect. On the one hand, it clarifies that the court of the young Orange had already been attractive to German noble families shortly after its inception. It also shows that the relations between William of Orange and his family were not broken, despite the years of separation at a local level, the forced conversion of faith and the upbringing and education of the young man in the social, political and Definition of the lordly system intellectual milieu of the high Dutch nobility.
Finally, the letter provides indications of how the lordly relations functioned in the feudal system and what considerable significance they had for the formation of parties and political discussions within the ruling feudal class.
- By the lordly system in the narrower sense we understand the purposeful awarding of profitable functions in the government, at court, in the army or in the ecclesiastical hierarchy by authorized feudal rulers to their obedient favorites.
- In a broader sense, the term lordly system indicates all personal relations between those higher and lower in rank, whereby the former hoped for political support and the latter for financial reward or a career.
As a vassal of Charles V and Philip II respectively, William of Orange was himself a servant, was protected by higher-ranking officials and thus ended up in the seigniorial system. In this respect, both the emperor and his son continued the tradition of the Burgundian dukes, who had tried to form 'proud and combative feudal barons... into a tractable and compliant court nobility that could be used in the permanent service of the monarch.
This was done by awarding honourable and highly profitable offices and high military functions, by promotion to a higher position, by awarding worldly and spiritual sources of income, so-called benefices, by the closest possible bond with the monarch, but also by pure donations of money.
In this way, in order to awaken the ambition of the nobility and to make them enthusiastic about serving the monarch, favourites were distinguished by the granting of high noble titles. In this way a separate group emerged, the 'greats', the lords, who formed the high Dutch nobility, to which William of Orange also belonged. A particularly high honour for the nobles was admission to the Order of the Golden Fleece.
As a vassal of Charles V and Philip II respectively, William of Orange was himself a servant, was protected by higher-ranking officials and thus ended up in the seigniorial system. In this respect, both the emperor and his son continued the tradition of the Burgundian dukes, who had tried to form 'proud and combative feudal barons... into a tractable and compliant court nobility that could be used in the permanent service of the monarch.
This was done by awarding honourable and highly profitable offices and high military functions, by promotion to a higher position, by awarding worldly and spiritual sources of income, so-called benefices, by the closest possible bond with the monarch, but also by pure donations of money.
In this way, in order to awaken the ambition of the nobility and to make them enthusiastic about serving the monarch, favourites were distinguished by the granting of high noble titles. In this way a separate group emerged, the 'greats', the lords, who formed the high Dutch nobility, to which William of Orange also belonged. A particularly high honour for the nobles was admission to the Order of the Golden Fleece.
The Order of the Golden Fleece, Duke Philip founded this order in 1430 on the occasion of his marriage to Isabella of Portugal and dedicated it to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of the Burgundian House. Originally, 24, later 30 knights belonged to the order. The head of the order was the reigning Duke of Burgundy at one point. Members of the most important noble families from the Burgundian Empire, sometimes also from neighbouring countries, were admitted as members.
The order had to bind the leading noble families from the provinces that were only united in a personal union to the common prince and thus gradually arouse a sense of solidarity among the high nobility, as if they lived in one Burgundian state, which served the striving for centralisation. The Habsburgs also used the order for this purpose after accepting the Burgundian inheritance.
The knights of the order were obliged to show unconditional loyalty. They had to be brave in battle and uphold their honour as knights. For this they enjoyed a series of special privileges. They were allowed to give the head of the order advice, whether asked or not, in both personal matters and in government affairs.
They had a preferential right in the appointment of stadtholders, of members of the councils that supported the prince and of the highest commanders in the army. In the event of violations of the law, the knights of the order were only subject to the verdict of the order and they were not allowed to be brought before another court.
Both Emperor Charles V and his governor in the Orange and the Netherlands, Mary of Hungary, had involved their servant William of Orange in the seigniorial system from his earliest youth. The great interest of Charles and his sister in the personal development of the prince was certainly also motivated by the traditional ties of the Dutch Nassau branch with the Habsburgs - Charles V already cherished friendly feelings towards Henry III and René of Chalon. But above all, the growing young man had to become a loyal follower. Once of age, William of Orange was one of the emperor's privileged favourites.
When Charles V began his fifth war against France in the spring of 1552, commander of a particularly distinguished army, Orange, who had just turned 19, was charged with the command of a foot regiment by Charles V's people consisting of 10 companies. Without participating as Orange in the campaigns undertaken with varying success from 1552 to 1555.
Consequently, it was apparently protection by the emperor that led to his appointment on 22 July 1555 - passing over more capable and experienced generals such as Count Egmond, Count Lalaing and Count Aremberg - as commander-in-chief of the recently formed army on the Meuse. Only a few months later, Orange was again given a high honour.
On 25 October 1555, Charles V transferred the government of the Netherlands to his son Philip during a solemn ceremony in the great hall of the palace of the Dukes of Brabant in Brussels. The emperor, suffering from gout, appeared, leaning on the shoulder of William of Orange, in a joint meeting of the States-General and of the highest dignitaries, and in this way demonstrated the special relationship of trust with his protégé.
Philip II also conferred high honours on Orange. In November 1555 he became a member of the Council of State, in March 1556 he was admitted to the Order of the Golden Fleece and in 1559 appointed stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht. With great zeal and ambition Orange first of all devoted himself to the tasks assigned to him and he was happy when he received appreciation for this. For example, on 10 June 1552, after the governor had expressed her appreciation to him for the successful recruitment of troops, he proudly wrote to his first wife:
'Yesterday I received letters from the queen of as pleasant a content as she, but possibly anyone in her life has ever written. She has expressed her great satisfaction to me with my diligence and requested me to continue in this way. I ask the Creator to be merciful to me so that I may maintain this good reputation.
The motivation for this willingness to dedicate himself certainly arose on the one hand from his desire to distinguish himself before the governor and the emperor and thus to recommend himself for high and the highest offices. In this, the chance of a favorable income was undoubtedly a tempting goal, because leading a luxurious life, the noisy parties and the beautiful palaces devoured enormous sums.
On the other hand, idealistic motives also played a role. Orange saw as a personal life task to fulfill his obligations as a vassal, but it was equally self-evident to him that his sovereign should protect his possessions and privileges. In this respect, being a servant of Charles V and Philip II, Orange on the other hand tried to group the servants dependent on him around him and to bind them to him by awarding them functions.
As long as Orange could get along well with the sovereign, he wanted to use his servants to increase his prestige and to promote his career in the service of the sovereign. In the year 1559, however, open arguments arose between Philip II and the high Dutch nobles because of the violation of their privileges, which led to the formation of an opposition from the high nobility.
From this time on, Orange saw to it that by awarding offices he secured a group of political supporters who would also follow him in the armed struggle against Philip II in case of need. To this end, various paths were open to him: via his function as military commander and as stadtholder, via his rights as feudal lord and via his court. William of Orange's military career had begun in July 1551, when he was ordered to recruit and form a company of 200 horsemen. Charles V prepared the war against France that began in 1552 and put together an army of mercenaries for this purpose.
In addition to the mercenaries, who were recruited only for a campaign and were dismissed again after its end, there was also a standing army, which consisted of troops in permanent service. The core of this small army in the Netherlands was formed by the so-called bands of ordinance. In the year 1555 there were 15 such bands of ordinance, five of 50 lances, five of 40 lances and five of 30 lances.
A lance consisted of a heavily armed horseman (homme d'armes), his squires and pages as well as two lightly armed horsemen who were archers. Almost all hommes d'armes and many archers came from the nobility. The captains of the bands came from the high nobility. The size of the band was an indication of the prestige of the commander.
The bands of ordinance thus formed a kind of 'national' Dutch army. It was forbidden to employ other than 'natural', that is to say, subjects and vassals of the prince living in the Netherlands. The members of a band usually came from the same province, which promoted the cohesion of the troop. After the end of campaigns and in the winter, the troops were allowed to go home, but they remained formally in service and were paid.
In 1553, Orange was appointed captain of a band of ordinance of 30 lances. He was also allowed to bring his unit to the strength of 50 lances. In the meantime, regiments had been formed from mounted mercenaries and bands of ordinance. In the year 1554, Orange was promoted to commander of such a regiment, which consisted of his band of ordinance, that of Hendrik van Brederode and three mounted troops of mercenaries under German leaders.
As is already known, Orange was given supreme command of the entire army of the Meuse in 1555. In 1558 he rose to supreme commander of all bands of ordinance. After the peace of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559, the bands of ordinance were no longer active until the suppression of the iconoclasm in 1566.
Along with his other high offices, Orange also resigned from command of his band of ordinance in protest against the absolutist policy of Philip II. It is very likely that the special character of these military units within the bands of ordinance created a more than just businesslike military relationship between the captains and their horsemen. Belonging to the nobility, coming from the same region, the joint successes and defeats experienced, the fatigues suffered and the festivities celebrated within the circle of the band created a sense of solidarity, sometimes also attachment to the commander and personal friendships.
The captains were indeed forbidden to take servants and retainers from their court into their band, but this did not apply to nobles who were at their court. As has been proven, the greater part of Orange's court nobility was indeed with him when he was in the field, so it is certainly possible that at least some of them served in his band. Also, the fact that the captains could largely select and appoint their lieutenants and hommes d'armes themselves offered opportunities for the creation of lordly relationships.
From all this one could conclude that a gang of ordinances was a kind of clan, showed solidarity under all circumstances and proved unconditional loyalty to its captain. However, this assessment is not in accordance with the historical facts, as the example of Orange shows. He and his brother and loyal party supporter Lodewijk van Nassau certainly did their best to make the gangs of ordinances a military backbone in connection with the increasingly sharp quarrels with Philip II, but when Orange had to go into exile in the spring of 1567, his gang remained in the Netherlands.
Only a few of its members are known to have continued to work for their lord after Orange's flight, such as the lieutenants Jan van Hoorne, Baron van Boxtel and also Godard van Bockolt. Most of them remained in the service of Philip II and later fought against their former lord. As stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, Orange was the direct deputy of Philip II in these provinces. Originally, the stadtholders had very far-reaching powers. Together with the highest court in each province, they appointed all civil servants, including the military governors, and they granted benefices. These powers were systematically limited by the centralisation policy that Charles V had been pursuing, especially since the beginning of the 1830s.
The stadtholders only retained the right to grant some lower offices and benefices, so that Orange could hardly build up a lordly system through the office of stadtholder. On the other hand, appointing service men proved to be more effective than the possibilities that resulted from the feudal lordly rights of Orange. In and around Breda there was a whole circle of families of lower nobility, who for generations held positions in the administration of the lordship or in the court. The basis of existence of these nobles consisted of loyalty to the House of Nassau and most of them supported Orange in providing leadership to the nobility that opposed absolutism.
These included the families Renesse van Elderen, Oyenbrugge, Assendelft, De Mol and Masscherel. These families were often related by blood or marriage. The relationships in the other lordships of Orange were similar. Some court nobles remained loyal to Orange even in the most difficult times. Since they could hardly count on material gain in the years after 1567, we must assume that personal ties could also arise from the relationship between lord and servant.
This certainly applies to Karel van der Noot, the lord of Risoir, who was in the service of Orange. In 1566, Van der Noot joined the 'Compromise', the anti-Spanish alliance of the lower nobility. The dominant role of Holland led to the Grand Pensionary of this region becoming the most important official in the Republic, influential especially in the field of foreign policy. See also Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Johan de Witt.
Council of Troubles Special blood court, established by Alvain in 1567 for the punishment of all those who had participated in the protest actions and disturbances ('troubles') in 1566 or were held responsible for them ('Blood Council'), abolished in 1576. See also Beeldenstorm, Geuzen and Eighty Years' War.
Council of State 1. In 1531, during the reorganization of the central government under Charles V, formed as an advisory body to the lord of the land or his deputy (governor or governoress) consisting of members of the high nobility, later supplemented by a few jurists. 2. During the Republic, an administrative body of 12 members, appointed by the States General on the recommendation of the provinces, with tasks in the field of the army and finance.
Disaster Year Name for the events in 1672, when the Republic was attacked by France, England, Münster and Cologne, large parts of the country were occupied by enemy troops and Holland only escaped by inundations (Water Line). See the chronology Kroniek der Nederlanden
Willem III, who had been kept out of power, was appointed stadtholder and captain-general under pressure from Orange-'Spieringen. See also the reversal of the law and Johan and Dirk de Witt. He was convicted by the 'Council of Troubles' established by Alva in September 1567, he fled, took part in an attempt on Alva's life in 1568 that failed and in 1570 commanded a company of infantry in the service of Orange. François de Virieu, the equerry of Orange, followed him on all his campaigns from 1572 onwards.
Jerôme Tseraerts was already in the service of Orange in 1553. His father Jacob Tseraerts had already served the Nassaus as bailiff of Breda. Jerôme rose to the position of equerry, went into exile with Orange to Dillenburg and was later given several important political and military assignments. But even among the court nobles, loyalty to the lord until death could not always be the case without exception. For some, loyalty to the lord or to the Catholic faith was of higher importance and for this reason they turned away from Orange.
Among them was Jacob Tseraerts, who disinherited his son because of his loyalty to Orange. Others, such as Karel van Gavere, Lord of Fresin and Count of Beauvien, left Orange when they feared that they would suffer personal damage if they continued to be loyal. Van Gavere belonged to the court of Orange in 1565, joined the 'Compromise', but then changed sides and later fought with arms against Orange.
The example of Orange shows that the lordly relationships could play a role in the political life of the 16th century, but were not a reliable support for the lord in extreme crisis situations. The loyalty of the servant Orange to his lord Philip II turned into bitter hostility when he wanted to revoke fundamental privileges of the Dutch high nobility. Lord William of Orange had to experience that most of his servants abandoned him for personal gain.
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