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| Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg |
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In May 1567 William arrived at his boyhood home in
Dillenburg with his family. William’s brother John was now Count in their
father’s stead, but their mother still ruled the household. Anna was furious
finding herself in this provincial backwater, at her loss of prestige, the loss
of her richly appointed homes and having to accept Juliana’s hospitality.
When the King of Denmark offered William sanctuary in his
kingdom Anna was eager that the invitation should be accepted. William refused
the offer; Dillenburg was only three days ride from the Netherlands and Germany
was prime recruiting country. Anna’s response was predictable.
William had expected support from his old friend Maximilian
II[i] and
from the Lutheran princes in Germany. In both hopes he was to be disappointed.
Instead William turned his attention to the Calvinist Huguenots, many
of whom lived along the Flemish-French border. He would have to raise his army
from the French protestants.
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| Maximilian II |
In November Philip decided to give Alba a free hand in
the Low Countries. Catholics and Protestants alike were caught up in Alba’s
indiscriminate net of terror; dissident Catholics and Protestant rebel leaders
had fled, while the population remained passive under the weight of Alba’s
rule. Philip stated that;
‘The worst corner into which princes can be driven is having to make
agreements with rebel subjects.’[ii]
Maurice was born on 13th
November 1567; at the baptism celebrations in mid-January 1568 a message
arrived for William informing him that all his Dutch lands and possessions had
been confiscated on 20th December 1567. On 4th January
1568 eighty four leading Dutch citizens were executed on the scaffold and the heralds
announced that William, Prince of Orange, was summonsed to return to answer
charges of treason.
Crunch Time
In February 1568
William’s eldest son Philip William, who was only 14 and studying at Louven
University, was seized and taken to Spain. He was to be a hostage, but Philip also
wanted the future Prince of Orange to be raised as a good Catholic and loyal
subject of Spain. Philip William was never to see his father again.
On 3rd
March 1,500 prominent Dutch citizens were arrested; the terror was well and
truly begun. An Englishman said of the arrests;
‘Now the very Papists do
perceive that the Duke of Alva doth go about to make them all slaves.’[iii]
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| Elizabeth I |
In England Queen Elizabeth gave a friendly reception to an
emissary from William in the spring. Alba himself was convinced that his policy
of repression would have a salutary effect on the Dutch;
‘So that every individual
has the feeling that one fine night or morning the house will fall in on him.’[iv]
William was
seen as their leader by all Dutch determined to throw off the yoke of Spain,
Protestant and Catholic alike[v]. He was joined at
Dillenburg in the spring by Jacob Wesembeek who took charge of the dark art of
propaganda. The Justification was
written in conjunction with William and printed at Dillenburg in April 1568. It
was circulated in the provinces by William’s agents.
Action Not Words
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| Battle of Heiligerlee |
Forces were
pouring in from France where the second religious war had just ended; William’s brother Louis
was planning an invasion of the Netherlands in conjunction with their brother Adolf. They invaded Groningen and fought the Spanish at the battle
of Heiligerlee[vi] on 23rd May, a battle won
at the cost of Adolf’s life.
Louis’
troops were re-victualled from the sea by the Sea Beggars, who were based at Delfzijl[vii]. Louis’ French allies were defeated
by a French army at St Valéry; their leader Jean de Villars
yielded up all he knew about William’s plans.
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| Count Adolf of Nassau |
On 5th
June 1568 Egmont and Hoorn were beheaded in the public square in Brussels. The
shockwaves were felt throughout Europe. Philip wrote to Alba;
‘I very deeply regret that
the offences of the counts was so serious that they called for the punishment
which has been carried out.’[viii]
The killings continued and over 1,700 people were killed
during Alba’s reign of terror.
In October 1568, William responded to Alba’s
provocations, by leading a large army into Brabant. The
expected French allies did not materialise and Alba avoided a decisive
confrontation, expecting the army to fall apart quickly. He was correct; as
William advanced disorder broke out in his army, and with winter approaching
and money running out, William turned back having lost 2,000 men.
William was now penniless, he’d sold what remained of his
artillery to pay his troops, mercenaries in the main, and his possessions were
left in pawn to the merchants of Strasbourg. He
escaped down the Rhine, his supporters, reputation and credit all lost. Alba,
with great satisfaction wrote;
‘We must regard the Prince of Orange as a dead man.’
But William
was beaten but not broken; he was determined to fight on. Philip’s actions were
isolating Spain; even Granvelle in Rome believed that until the Spanish
captured William the Dutch were still in the game.
Anna’s Affair
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| Aemilia von Neuenahar (right) |
William and
Anna’s last child Emilia was born on 10th April
1569 in Cologne. She was named after Aemilia von Neuenahar[ix] who was in charge of Anna’s
household at the time. Anna had fled the boredom of Dillenburg and had taken
refuge in Cologne, living on credit and spending vast amounts of money.
William
meantime was undergoing a painful awakening, discovering that the best way to
beat narrow fanatics is to use the opposition’s narrow fanatics. In the summer
of 1569 William and Louis offered their support to the Huguenots in France.
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| Admiral Coligny |
At the peace of St Germain in August 1570, ending the third of France’s third religious wars,
William’s principality of Orange was returned to him. At the suggestion of Admiral Coligny[x] the Sea Beggars were now based at La Rochelle; they flew the lion of Nassau. Upon his return to Germany
William sent out begging letters to the German princes, asking for their
support.
Anna refused to meet with William, even writing to Alba to find out on what terms she would be allowed to access William’s forfeited lands. Debts forced her to leave Cologne and take refuge at Siegen with the three children. It was here that Anna began an affair, which was common knowledge, with her lawyer Johannes Rubens[xi] who had a wife and child back in Cologne. One commentator, notably lacking in censoriousness, wrote;
‘If the
Princess of Orange is doing what people say she is doing she is only doing as
any woman would who wishes to use what God has given her.’[xii]
Rumours
abounded and eventually William’s brother John took action. Anna and her lover
were living within her brother-in-law’s demesnes. He arrested the pair of them
and brought them back to Dillenburg.
Anna was now pregnant again, this time the child was not William’s. He accused Anna of adultery; Johannes Rubens admitted the offence and Anna wrote to William begging that he would kill her and Rubens. The divorce was heard in private at Dillenburg on 26th March 1571 where Anna pleaded guilty to adultery[xiii]. Rubens’ wife forced her way in to see William to plead for her husband’s life[xiv].
On 22nd August 1571 Anna's last child, Christine, was born. Christine received the name van Dietz. Anna remained in seclusion in Nassau as her family refused to allow her to return home. On 14th December 1571 Anna had to sign their consent to the final separation from her husband. William had the marriage legally dissolved on the grounds that Anna was insane. William was not willing to pay maintenance for Christine. The three children of the marriage, Anna, Maurice and Emilia, returned to live at Dillenburg.
Bibliography
The Age of
Religious Wars – Richard S Dunn, Weidenfeld & Nicholson 1971
The Revolt
of the Netherlands – Pieter Geyl, Cassell History 1988
The Holy
Roman Empire – Friedrich Heer, Phoenix 1995
The Spanish
Inquisition – Henry Kamen, Phoenix 1998
Philip of
Spain – Henry Kamen, Yale University Press 1998
The Grand
Strategy of Philip II – Geoffrey Parker, Yale University Press 1998
Elizabeth –
Anne Somerset, Phoenix Giant 1999
William the
Silent – CV Wedgewood, Readers Union Ltd 1945
The
Hapsburgs – Andrew Wheatcroft, Folio Society 2004
[i]
Who had succeeded his father three years before; Maximilian had an uneasy
relationship with his cousin Philip who was believed to have sanctioned an
attempt to poison Maximilian in 1552. From henceforth the Austrian and Spanish
Hapsburg interests were to diverge; something their enemies did not always appreciate
[ii]
Philip of Spain - Kamen
[iii]
William the Silent - Wedgewood
[iv]
Philip of Spain - Kamen
[v]
The northern provinces were most in earnest at rebellion, while the southern
provinces were stronger in support of Spanish rule and its perceived stability
[vii]
On the Groningen coast
[viii]
Philip of Spain - Kamen
[ix]
Half-sister of one of William’s nephews, Aemilia was to marry Frederick
III, Elector
Palantine later in the year
[x]
The Huguenots’ leader
[xii]
William the Silent - Wedgewood
[xiii]
Possibly under duress
[xiv]
By law William had the right to demand Rubens’ death
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