which he was forced to undergo, and he died on the 22nd of October, 1751. He married in 1734 the Princess Anne, daughter of George II. of England. His son—
William V., Prince of Orange, was born on the 8th March, 1748. On the death of his father he was placed under the guardianship of his mother. He was invested with the office of stadtholder in 1766, and like his predecessors strove in vain to induce the states to increase the military power of the country. During the war which broke out between France and Britain in 1778, the Dutch formed what was called a treaty of armed neutrality with Russia and other northern powers, which led to a declaration of war on the part of the British government in 1780. The Dutch suffered severely in the contest, both from the capture of an immense number of their merchant vessels, and the loss of the greater part of their colonies. The people became irritated at the insults offered to their coasts, and the damage inflicted upon their commerce by the English fleet, and loudly accused the stadtholder and his court of indifference to their sufferings, and of sympathy with their enemies. Peace was at length purchased in 1784 by the cession of Negapatam, the principal Dutch establishment on the coast of Coromandel. At this period the Emperor Joseph II. threatened to go to war with the republic, unless it consented to the free navigation of the Scheldt. But the Dutch, backed by the French court, stoutly opposed this demand, and made preparations for a vigorous resistance; and Joseph, impressed by the firm attitude of the republic, abandoned his claims on the payment of ten millions of florins. Meanwhile, the aristocratic party had rallied round them a considerable number of the middle classes, and had alienated a large portion of the people, and even of the old partisans of the house of Orange, from William. In 1784 a strenuous effort was made to obtain a revision of the constitution on liberal principles; various sanguinary outbreaks took place; and William, who was naturally kind and affable, but deficient in firmness, was compared in the journals and pamphlets of "the patriots," as they termed themselves, to Nero and Philip II. of Spain. A civil war was on the point of breaking out when Frederick II. of Prussia, whose sister the stadtholder had married, sent an army of twenty thousand men into Holland and restored tranquillity. William, who for some years had lived principally at Nimeguen, returned to the Hague, and was re-established in all his rights and prerogatives. His princess, who was possessed of much greater firmness than her husband, took a prominent part in the management of affairs. Peter van Spiegel, an able man, was appointed grand-pensionary, and concluded, in 1788, a treaty of alliance with Prussia and Britain. The secret support which he gave to Vander Voot and other Belgian refugees, enabled them at this juncture to overturn the Austrian domination in the Netherlands.—J. T.
WILLIAM I. of England, surnamed the Conqueror, was the descendant of Rollo, a renowned sea-king, who flourished at the beginning of the tenth century, and having been expelled from Norway, succeeded by his enterprise and valour in establishing himself in that province of France which in course of time came to bear the name of Normandy. William was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert the Magnificent, the fourth in descent from the redoubtable ancestor of the Normans, by Orlotta, the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. He was born in 1027. Robert was married to the sister of Canute, but had no legitimate children; and when, in 1035, he departed on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he persuaded his barons to swear allegiance to young William as the successor to his dominions. The duke died in the course of the same year while returning from Palestine, and though his son was only eight years of age he was at once placed upon the ducal throne. During his minority the turbulence of the Norman barons, and the aggressions of the French king on the independence and rights of the duchy, reduced Normandy to a perilous state of anarchy and weakness. But as soon as the young prince came to maturity he set himself vigorously to suppress internal disturbances, and to repel foreign invasion; and by his combined courage and sagacity succeeded in making himself respected and feared by all the neighbouring princes, and established a degree of order in his duchy which was unknown at that time in the rest of Europe. The English throne was at this period filled by Edward the Confessor, who was the grandson of one of the dukes of Normandy. He had no children, and William, who was the granduncle of the Confessor's mother, seems at an early stage to have entertained the hope that he might succeed to the English throne. In 1051 he paid a friendly visit to his kinsman, Edward, who received him with great honour, and, as it is alleged, hinted to him before his departure his intention of adopting him as his heir. Harold, the king's brother-in-law, however, the most powerful nobleman in England, had secretly formed the design of securing the crown for himself; but a fortuitous occurrence gave his rival a great advantage over him. In 1065 he had been shipwrecked on the territory of Guy, count of Ponthica, who demanded an exorbitant sum for his ransom. He was rescued, however, by the interposition of William, who conducted him to his court, and having treated him with every demonstration of respect, disclosed to him his pretensions to the English throne, and solicited his assistance. Harold, feeling that he was completely in the power of his rival, feigned compliance with his request, and even took a solemn oath that he would fulfil his promises. On the death of King Edward, however (5th January, 1066), Harold at once ascended the vacant throne, with the apparent hearty consent both of the nobles and the people of England. As soon as William received notice of this event, he sent an embassy to London, demanding from Harold the performance of his promise, and upbraiding him with his breach of faith. On the refusal of that prince, who alleged that the oath which he had taken had been extorted from him by the fear of violence, and that he had no authority to dispose of the English crown, William prepared to assert his claims by the sword. As soon as his design was made known, there flocked to his standard great numbers of daring adventurers from all the neighbouring countries, in search of fortune or renown; and with "the most remarkable and formidable armament which the western nations had witnessed" he put to sea, and landed at Pevensey Bay, on the coast of Sussex, 28th September, 1066. Harold, who three days before had gained a bloody but decisive victory at Stamford bridge over his brother Tosti and the king of Norway, hastened to the south to repel this new invader. The great battle which decided the destiny of England was fought near Hastings on the 14th of October. The combat, which lasted nine hours, was maintained on both sides with desperate valour and with varying success. William had three horses killed under him, and then continued the contest on foot. At length, a little before sunset, Harold, who had displayed equal courage and skill, was killed by an arrow which pierced his brain, and his fall decided the fortune of the day. Making himself master of Dover, in order that he might secure a retreat in case of failure, William marched on the metropolis, laying waste the country with fire and sword. His approach, and the terror caused by these atrocities, put an end to some feeble and irresolute attempts on the part of a few of the great thanes, and the Londoners, to support the rights of Edgar Atheling. The bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries, who were for the most part Normans, and influenced by the papal bull issued in favour of William, were the first to make their submission. Their example was soon followed by the nobility, and on Christmas-day, 1066, William was formally crowned in Westminster abbey. During the performance of the ceremony an alarming tumult broke out, caused by his troops setting fire to the houses and pillaging the city—an omen of the barbarities which for many years these reckless warriors perpetrated on the people of England. It was the interest of William to propitiate the affections of his new subjects, and at first his rule was comparatively mild; but the insolence and oppression of his Norman barons, into whoso hands he had committed the principal strongholds and towns of the kingdom, roused the proud and independent spirit of the Saxons, and during the absence of William in Normandy various local risings took place, especially in Devonshire and Cornwall, against the rapacious soldiery, and were at first attended with partial success. As soon as the tidings of these events were carried across the channel, William hurried back to England, about the close of 1067, and speedily crushed, and severely punished the insurgents. About this period Edgar Atheling quitted the kingdom with his mother and sisters, and found refuge in Scotland. Great numbers of Saxon nobles followed his example, and receiving a cordial welcome at the Scottish court, became the founders of many of the most powerful and distinguished families in North Britain.
William now turned his attention to the northern counties, where a spirit of open resistance to his authority still prevailed, and his garrisons at York and Durham had been defeated and destroyed by the enraged citizens. A powerful Danish armament, too, arrived in the Humber, and was joined by Edgar
