The Princes of Orange
The Princes of Orange
£41.00
GBPThis major study provides the first comprehensive assessment of an important European institution, the Stadholderate of the Dutch Republic. Professor Rowen looks at the career of each Prince of Orange in turn, from William I ('The Silent'), to the last and saddest, William V, examining their roles as Stadholder and interweaving their personal lives and characters with the development of the institution. Without engaging in psycho-history, Rowen treats the individual personality of each Stadholder as a significant factor, and shows how the Stadholderate contributed to a distinctive political and constitutional coloration that rendered the United Provinces unique in Europe. The work assesses the contribution of the Stadholderate to the rise and subsequent fall of the Dutch Republic as one of the great powers of early modern Europe, and analyses each prince within his contemporary context, avoiding the highly present-minded approach of many of the Republic's subsequent historians. The Princes of Orange is thus neither a work of hagiography, glorifying the Dutch royal house, nor a piece of destructive iconoclasm, but an authoritative account of a most unusual political, dynastic and diplomatic institution.
Reviews & endorsements
' … a skilful outline history which promises to enable the ordinary reader with little previous knowledge of Dutch history to grasp the essence of the political history of one of the more distinctive, dynamic and creative societies of early modern times.' The Times Literary Supplement
Product details
September 1990Paperback
9780521396530
268 pages
229 × 154 × 18 mm
0.39kg
Available
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Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- Preface
- Prologue
- 1. William I: from courtier to rebel
- 2. Maurice of Nassau: defender of the Republic
- 3. Frederick Henry: firm in moderation
- 4. William II: the challenger
- 5. The first stadholderless period:
- 1 exclusion
- 6. The first stadholderless period:
- 2 return
- 7. William III: Stadholder and king
- 8. The second stadholderless period: doldrums
- 9. William IV: neither revolutionary nor reformer
- 10. William V: the era of Anna and Brunswick
- 11. William V: the Patriot challenge
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index.
