Prince Maurits
Moritz August of Orange was born the 14th November 1567 at Castle Dillenburg in the County Nassau. He was a son out of the second marriage of William of Orange (William the Silent) to Anna of Saksony. His mother left the castle in the summer of 1568. Mautits would never see her again. His father resided mostly in the Netherlands to orchestrate a rising. He was raised mainly by his uncle Jan of Nassau, together with his cousins, amongst who William Lodewijk, the later stadtholder of Friesland. The strict Calvinistic kids graduate together in Heidelberg in the period 1575 - 1577. After graduation, Maurits joined his father in Holland and commenced to study in Leiden.
In 1585 Maurits turned 18 and was by Orangeman and Government Counsellor Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, appointed to Stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland and Admiral of the Dutch fleet. Officially this was under the command of the Count of Leicester, who was appointed as governor-general of the Netherlands by the English queen Elizabeth I. The sovereignty over the revolting districts was offered to her in 1585. In 1590 and 1591 maurits was also appointed as Stadtholder of Gelderland, Utrecht and Overijssel. Much later, in 1618, he received the title 'prince of Orange' when his older brother Philip-Willem died. His life was controlled by the fight against the Spanish in which he had many successes both on land as on sea.
Maurits had a fruitful work relationship with Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, since 1586 high councillor of Holland; Van Oldenbarnevelt played the Staten-Generaal, Maurits acted as warlord. His first great success in this role is the recapture of the city Breda, using a shipload of turf (1590). In the following decennium he recaptured, together with William-Lodewijk, numerous important cities (Nijmegen and Zutphen in 1591; Steenwijk and Coevorden in 1592; Groningen in 1594; Oldenzaal, Enschede en Grol in 1597), which doubled the area covered by the revolting Netherlands . For Siege techniques he relied on ideas of Simon Stevin, who came up with tactics based on ancient history. (The turf-ship was based on the Trojan Horse). As warlord Maurits became famous throughout Europe.
In 1600 the republic of the seven provinces send Maurits to recapture Dunkirk. The Dunkirk pirates cause the republic considerable losses at sea. At Lombardsijde (now called Newport) Maurits encountered the Spanish army Duke Albrecht. The battle started the 2nd of July and was won by Maurits. The Siege of Nieuwpoort was however disasterous and Maurits, who tried before to delay this move, returned infuriated to Holland. This was the start of the split between him and Van Oldenbarnevelt.
Shortly after this Spinola appears with his army in the southern Dutch States, causing a stir in the republic. More and more stadtholders talk of peace with the Spanish, but there are also those in favour of war, like prince Maurits and the Calvinists who were afraid of Roman catholic influence. Van Oldenbarnevelt positioned himself in the middle, he was pro-war but only with foreign alliance. Since that would not be the case Maurits traveled on the 1st of February (against his will), together with his half-brother rederick Hendrick, and some nobles to Rijswijk to meet Spinola Marqus de los Balbases. No peace treaty was signed but 12 year truce was made. The seven districts were allowed keep what they had and were officially declared independent. The connection with Indonesia would be unhindered as will the Africa and other lucrative trades. The generosity of the Spanish had mainly to do with their successes against Admiral Jacob of Heemskerck in 1607 at Gibraltar.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century a new religious thinking developed under influence of Professor Arminius of Leiden. These "Remonstrants" support(ed) a more liberal and support a less dogmatic version of Calvinism. Opposition to this new religion, the contra-Remonstrants are represented by another professor of Leiden; Gommarus. At the start Maurits did not interfere in the quarrel. He was of the opinion that the two professors should sort out their problems. After pressure from his cousin William Lodewijk, he choose in the en for the contra-Remonstrants. Maurits was afraid that the remonstrant beliefs would weaken the (protestant/Calvinist) church and opens the door wide for returning Catholicism and Hapsburg government. Van Oldenbarneveld however chose for the Remonstrants. On the 23rd of July 1617, he openly took sides: in the Hague the contra-Remonstrants came in possession of the old Abbey-church and there he listened to a service from reverend Rosaeus. This completed the rift between him and the high-counsellor
Van Oldenbarneveld noticed the occurring break and dictated an article that will become known as "the sharp resolution", wherein he stated that there will be no national synod will be held and cities can employ "truth keepers" to keep order. At the Dorts'synod, in 1618 called by the Staten-Generaal, the theological dispute was called to an end in favour of the Contra-Remonstrants. Prince Maurits abolishes the "truth-keepers". He started this in Utrecht and found no armed resistance to this. Simultaneously he changed the law in the Dutch cities. Remonstrant stadtholders were replaced those who supported the contra-remonstrant. The Remonstrant church was banned and their leaders prosecuted. The 70 year old Van Oldenbarnevelt, Hugo de Groot, Hoogerbeets en Ledenberg were arrested in 1618. In 1619 Van Oldenbarneveld was decapitated. When Maurits died in 1625, the ban on the remonstrant faith was lifted. It would take, however, till 1795 for the Remonstrants to be acknowledged as an official faith. The remonstrant community has never been huge in numbers. In the second half of the 19th century they reach thier top as being an more open-minded religion, these numbers decline in the second half of the 20th century from 40.000 in 1960 to barely 10.000 in 2000.
At the death of William-Lodewijk in 1620, Maurits became stadtholder of Groningen and Drenthe (Friesland went to Ernst Casimir). In 1621, when the twelve year truce ended, the Spanish recommenced their hostilities. Maurits went back to battle as well, however with little success. Some cities in the south were even lost. His political strenghts were not enough to compensate for the loss of Van Oldenbarnevelt. Lethargic and ill he died on the 23rd of April 1625 in The Hague. Maurits was never married but had a great number of affairs with women amongst whom Margaretha of Mechels with who he had three sons. He also had children with at least five other women. He was succeeded as stadtholder captain-general by his half brother Frederick-Hendrick who accompanied him on his battles since 1597.