The royal aspirations of the Oranges go back further than our first King William I. His ancestor Frederik Hendrik and especially his wife Amalia van Solms did everything they could to compete with the royal houses of their time. Think of luxurious palaces, a court life mirrored to the French court and favorable marriage policy. And that while this stadtholder was only in the service of the Republic.
Frederik Hendrik was the son of William of Orange, our Father of the Fatherland. Willem led the Dutch in their Revolt against the Spaniards, but he was by no means a king. A prince, of the principality of Orange, and therefore the highest nobleman in the Netherlands and the right person to take on the Spanish king.
After the murder of Willem in 1584, his son Maurits was appointed by the young Republic to succeed his father as stadtholder. His most important position was that of Commander-in-Chief of the Army, as the war was still in full swing.
No hereditary succession
Maurits dies in 1625 and his young half-brother Frederik Hendrik, trained militarily by Maurits, is his logical successor as commander in chief. But that does not happen automatically:the States General appoints the commander-in-chief of the army and navy. The stadtholder was originally the representative of the king in the province. Stadtholdership is therefore not a hereditary office, although the Oranges are the first choice as the highest nobles.
Maurits leaves no legal heirs and Frederik Hendrik is the heir of his half-brother. To continue the dynasty, bachelor Frederik Hendrik marries the German Countess Amalia van Solms in 1625 at the insistence of the dying Maurits. Frederik Hendrik had met 18-year-old Amalia, who is also his grandniece, in The Hague. She came to the Netherlands as a lady-in-waiting, with the refugee Elisabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia.
Money is not a status yet
Amalia is used to court life and Frederik Hendrik as a prince also grew up with luxury, but the couple lacks the status that comes with royalty. When Piet Hein conquers a silver fleet from the Spaniards in 1628, the millions pour in. Amalia would therefore be by far the richest woman in the Republic in the seventeenth century.
With all that money she can imitate her great princely example Elizabeth and assume a royal court life. With the new millions they build imposing palaces and country houses that of course also have to be furnished with furniture and works of art. Frederik Hendrik and his wife were major clients of the cultural sector at that time.
Frederik Hendrik is more reserved about this than his wife. He is very much aware that he is in the service of the Republic as a stadtholder and soldier. The administrators should especially not get the feeling that Frederik Hendrik will affect their independence by playing the king. He is therefore invariably depicted in paintings in armor, to emphasize his military function.
Ambitious marriage policy
To further enhance the family's status, Amalia seeks out suitable suitors for her children. She makes the biggest hit with her son Willem II:when he is 14 years old, he marries the English king's daughter Maria Stuart. Her father King Charles I is broke and in exchange for a lot of money he lets his daughter marry under her rank.
The couple's later son, William III, will obtain the royal crown of England, which would give Amalia her way. But we are not there yet. She marries her daughters, willingly or not, to German principalities and the Frisian Nassaus. The princely Oranges are gaining more and more status as a result of these royal weddings.
Brilliant strategist
Frederik Hendrik, meanwhile, fulfilled his function of military leader, and conquered several cities from the Spaniards, such as Den Bosch in 1629 and Breda in 1637. He would later be nicknamed 'City Enforcer'. During that same period, the Republic was prospering economically. They can pay the costs of the war and the Republic rewards the stadtholder generously.
Because of his military successes, Frederik Hendrik convinced the Republic of the importance of the Oranges. The provinces sign the Act of Survivance, . in 1631 with which they agree to William II as the new stadtholder on the death of Frederik Hendrik. The States General then appoints Willem in 1639 as the intended successor of his father as military commander in chief.
Frederik Hendrik would like to see the southern and northern Netherlands united, but at the end of his life he realizes that peace is desired after decades of war. That peace comes in 1648, but the weakened stadtholder no longer lives. In 1647 he died and was buried with his father Willem in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. His wife is inconsolable. It even seems that Amalia cannot travel past Delft without bursting into tears because her beloved is buried there.
Memory Hall for Love
Shortly after Frederik Hendrik's death, Amalia decides to erect a mausoleum for her beloved husband. In the summer residence of Paleis Huis ten Bosch near The Hague, which they built, she had the Oranjezaal designed in honor of Frederik Hendrik. Pieter Post is the architect of the building and Jacob van Campen designed the interior of this reception room. It should be a great praise to her husband and his virtues and exploits. From recent research (see box Resources ) it appears that Amalia is involved in everything:from the composition and the symbolic representations (allegories) to the painters who will elaborate it. The Oranjezaal keeps her husband's memory alive and the trompe l'oeil painting technique helps to create this beautiful imaginary world.
Van Campen makes sketches, which he sends together with canvases to painters in the country to elaborate. One of the most important works in the Oranjezaal is Frederik Hendrik de Triomfator, painted by the Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens. He doesn't quite agree with the designs he receives, and makes other suggestions, whereupon Amalia summons him. Later letters show that she is discussing with Jordaens what exactly will be on his canvas and where. Nothing goes on the walls without Amalia's permission.
In Jordaens' Triumphator, the stadtholder is depicted as a monarch, seated high on a chariot and surrounded by symbols that reinforce his actions and status. He rides through triumphal gates painted on canvas. The painting partly continues on the wooden panelling and gives the impression that the room consists of four large triumphal gates. The intention is that the visitor gets the feeling that he is looking at a scene that is actually taking place.
Van Campen has even adjusted the light accordingly:light through the windows and the dome on the roof amplifies the painted light on the paintings. For example, the light on a painting that is closer to the window is brighter and brighter than on a painting that is further away from the window. The shadows of the figures in the paintings are also adapted to the incidence of light, as if they were real shadows.
The hall is not only a sign of Amalia's love for her husband, but she also wants everyone to realize that the stadtholdership and the Orange are inextricably linked. Her family keeps the Republic together! The Triumphal Tour is completed in 1651, just after the unexpected death of her son Willem. Her grandson Willem III will later have to succeed his father and grandfather, and she will devote herself to this for the rest of her life. The Oranjezaal explains to the unwitting visitor in great detail why the Oranges are particularly suitable for the positions of military commander in chief and stadtholder.
It is not entirely known who visited the Oranjezaal in the Golden Age. According to Elmer Kolfin, one of the scientists who recently researched the Oranjezaal, we do know that tourists can easily take a look at Huis ten Bosch at that time. The Oranjezaal is a kind of 'must see' and diplomats walk in and out, just like the foreign nobility. Visitors from the Republic itself are not recorded in any sources, although regents regularly visit the mighty Amalia. The national and international decision-makers therefore regularly see the glory of the Oranges.
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West wall Oranjezaal
The west wall of the Oranjezaal is dominated by the predestination of Frederik Hendrik. The painting above the door shows Frederik Hendrik as a child. His birth and upbringing is announced as in a classical epic by the muses in the surrounding paintings. The lower paintings of Venus (to the right of the door) and Vulcan (to the left of the door) refer to Aeneas, the founder of Rome, with whom Frederick Henry is compared as a father of the country. In the top painting, Apollo chases Aurora in his chariot; a classic reference to the dawn of the Golden Age.
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North wall Oranjezaal
The north wall of the Oranjezaal is dedicated to Frederik Hendrik's public life as stadtholder:a military function. The central painting shows how Frederik Hendrik, sitting on a white horse, receives the commander-in-chief's staff from a kneeling Hollandia. Behind her are the seven lions of the provinces, putti (little angels) hold up their coats of arms. On the right, the masts and the fires refer to the battle against Spain on the water and on land. (Painted by Theodoor van Thulden)
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East wall Oranjezaal
The east wall of the Oranjezaal shows the culmination of a triumphal procession:in the central painting Frederik Hendrik drives in his triumphal chariot under a triumphal gate and crushes the personified Discord and Envy. Behind Frederik Hendrik the golden Peace pours out its abundance and in front of him flies Fame, who chases away death.
Looseball
In the 4 years that craftsmen and painters have worked hard on the Oranjezaal, a lot has happened in Amalia's life. She considers her son Willem II an unworthy successor to her husband. Frederik Hendrik was, according to Amalia, a genius strategist and statesman, while Willem is just an irresponsible debauchery. She is afraid that her son will destroy the good reputation of the family, which she and Frederik Hendrik have built for 22 years, in no time. Although she was initially for peace, she turned against it after the death of Frederik Hendrik:on the battlefield Willem can still prove himself somewhat as a military leader. Willem II succeeds his father in 1647 as stadtholder, as had already been agreed in 1631, and he is also against peace. Despite their protests, the Republic signs for peace in Münster in 1648.
Willem then often disagrees with the regents who govern the Republic. In 1650 he staged a coup to break their power and had his political opponents locked up in Loevensteyn Castle. When he dies that same year, his opponents again seize power and the provinces usher in a stadtholderless era (except in the northern provinces, where the Frisian Nassaus hold office). On his death, Willem II leaves behind a pregnant widow and eight days later, William III is born. Amalia will not simply be pushed into a corner by the States General. For years she has been committed to having the once adult William III be given the functions of stadtholder and military commander in chief.
Orange finally on the throne
In 1672 Amalia finally gets her way:in this Year of Disaster, when enemies of the Republic attack on all sides, the call for an Orange is great. The States General appoints William III as captain-general in February and his supporters see their chance in these chaotic times. A few months later, several provinces also appointed him as stadtholder.
Willem then dismisses 130 pro-state (ie against Orange) regents and not entirely unfortunate his main opponents, the De Witt brothers, are murdered. (For a long time the Hague 'rabble' was blamed for this, but today scientists are convinced that William III had a hand in this.) The war then goes in the right direction:Willem receives support from Spanish and German side and in 1674 the enemy is defeated.
However, he achieved his greatest triumph abroad. After the death of the childless English King Charles II in 1685, the Catholic James II comes to the throne. He immediately gives more freedoms to his Catholic subjects, which the Protestant English are far from happy about. They offer the throne to James II's Protestant daughter, Mary Stuart, and her husband William III. William and his army land at the English coast in 1688 and without bloodshed (also called the Glorious Revolution) they push on to London. From 1689 Willem can officially call himself King of England, with which the coveted royal crown finally came into the hands of the Oranges.
Amalia does not experience the latter anymore. She dies in 1675, but she must have been proud of her ambitious grandson.
The book The Oranjezaal in Huis ten Bosch. A room out of pure love by Margriet van Eikema Hommes and Elmer Kolfin will be in stores from October 16, 2013.
The underlying interdisciplinary research by Eikema Hommes (TU Delft) and Kolfin (UvA) was made possible by NWO and the book by the RCE.
More information about politics in the Golden Age and the (ambitions of the) Oranjes can be read in:
- Maarten Prak, Golden Age, The Mystery of the Republic (Amsterdam, 2012)
- Wout Troost, Willem III, stadtholder – king ((Hilversum, 2001)