William of Orange survives his assassination

[MrHola]

On July 1584, William of Orange was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard on a staircase at Het Prinsenhof. He was afterwards tried, convicted, and gruesomely executed.

At his trial, Gérard was sentenced to be brutally – even by the standards of that time – killed. The magistrates decreed that the right hand of Gérard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disemboweled alive, his heart torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off.

After William's assassination, the Dutch approached queen Elizabeth. In 1585, the queen send in Robert Dudley and an English army to assist the Dutch. The arrival of Dudley and his men was far from a succes: his incompetence cost the Dutch numerous cities.

The Dutch were fed up and decided to go at it alone. So what if William survived? Would he end up as Count of Holland? Would it lead to a more centralized Seven Provinces?

 

[Jonathan]

The Dutch were fed up and decided to go at it alone. So what if William survived? Would he end up as Count of Holland? Would it lead to a more centralized Seven Provinces?

Well if we say he lives to near the age of 70 (his father lived to 72) then he will reign for another 19 years, taking him to 1603. He would most likely keep on having children, his sixteenth was born five months before, his assassination.

Which son, would William choose to succeed him?

• Philip William, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau, a hostage in Spain, married to Eleonora of Bourbon-Condé.
• Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau, never married and organised the Dutch rebellion against Spain into a coherent, successful revolt and won fame as a military strategist.
• Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau, married to Countess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, father of William II and grandfather of William III, King of England, Scotland, Ireland and Stadtholder of the Netherlands.