Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/621

WILLIAM I. 529 WILLIAM I. the Prince commanded the Seventh Corps, which included Austrian and Kussian refjinients. in the early |iart of 1S14, distinf^uishinjj liiinsclf at La kothit're. Bar-siir-Auljc, Arcis-sMr-Auhi', and La Fftre-Champenoise. At Montereau (Febru- ary IS. 1814) he was defeated by Napoleon. In the campaign of 1815 he commanded the Third C'orp.s in Alsace. U|)on the death of his father, in ISlCi, he succeeded to the throne. William ■va.s a practical man of liberal tendencies, and soon succeeded in bringing onlcr out of the con- fused conditions existing in Wiirttcndicrg as a re- sult of the Napoleonic wars. In 181!), by the promulgation of a constitution, he further ad- vanced the prospects of his country, which ])asscd through the troublous year 1848 undisturbed. William married in 1808 the Princess Charlotte of Bavaria (divorced 1814) ; in 1810, the Grand Duchess Catherine, widow of Prince George of Holstein-Oldcnburg (d.lSl'J) ; in 1820, his cousin Pauline of Wurttemberg (1800-73). His daughter Sophie (1818-77) became the consort of William III., King of the Netherlands, and his son Charles (182:5-01) succeeded to the throne in 18G4. WILLIAM (commonly called the Lion) (1143-1214). King of Scotland from 1105 to 1214. He succeeded his brother, Malcolm IV. He attended Henry II. of England in his Continental wars, and is supposed, while doing so, to have pressed for a portion at least of the long dis- puted districts of Northumberland, ami other territories of what is now the north of ICuglaml. In 1108 he made an alliance with P^rance. This is the first recorded alliance between Scotland and that kingdom. In 1173 he conspired with the sons of Henry II. against their father, and in- vaded Northumberland. On .July 13, 1174, he fell almost by accident into the hands of an Eng- lish party. For security, he was conveyed to Normandy, and there he consented, as the price of his liberation, to perform that homage for his kingdom, whieli the English kings had so long in vain attempted to extract from the Goernment of Scotland. The treaty of Falaise, as the transac- tion was termed, from the place where it was ad- justed, was revoked in the year 1189 by Ri<-hard I. of England, in consideration of a payment of 10,000 marks, which he wanted for his expedition to Palestine. William secured the freedom of the Scottish Church, was one of the early benefac- tors of the regular ecclesiastics, and founded in 1178 the great Alibey of Arbroath, which he dedi- cated to Saint Thomas a Becket. He founded many burghs, and extended the boundaries of the kingdnm, especially in the north. He died De- cember 4, 1214. 'Consult Robertson, Scotland Under the Early Kings (2 vols., Edinburgh, 18G2). WILLIAM I. (the Silent). Prince of Orange. Count of Nassau (1533-84). Leader of the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. He was the eldest son of William, Count of Nassau- Dillenburg, and was born at Dillenbin-g. April 16, 1533. In 1544 he inherited from his cousin, Reng of Nassau, the Principality of Orange. On his succession to the family estates in the Low Countries, he was sent to the Queen Regent's court at Brussels and brought up in the Catholic faith. At the age of fifteen he became page to the Emperor Charles V.. who in 1555 promoted him to the command of the Imperial army on the French frontier. Charles V. on his abdication recommended William to his son, Philip If., who employed him in the negotiation of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambr<?sis with France (1559). On returning to the Low Countries, he became the leader of the party which de- voted itself to the assertion of the liberties of the country, agitated for the recall of the Spanish troops, and finally entered into open op- position to Cardinal (iranvella (q.v.), the presi- dent of the council, and the willing agent of Philip's tyranny. The King, nevertheless, pro- ceeded to more extreme measures, the etlicts against lieretics being made still more stringent. William steadily refused lo allow these enact- ments to take cll'ect in his provinces of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, of which he had been made Stadtholder. Up to Alva's arrival as {gov- ernor (1507) William had labored conjointly with Hoorn and Egmont. but, failing to convince his two associates of the duplicity of the King, of which he himself was assured by means of the spies in his pay at the Spanish Court, he was compelled to leave them to their fate, and retired to his tierman estates. Cited as a rebel, he re- fused to appear, on the ground of being a Knight of the Golden Fleece and a sovereign prince, and was outlawed. William now became convinced that the only means of resisting the Spanish tyranny was by force. An array under his brother Louis of Nas- sau gained some success, but was finally driven from the country. William in person invaded Brabant, but failed to efi'ect anything of impor- tance, for lack of means. In 1509 he went to France to aid the Huguenots, and later (1572) made an unsuccessful attempt to relieve his brother Louis, who was besieged by Alva in Jlons. In the same year the provinces of Holland, Zea- land, Gelderland, Overyssel, and LHrecht pro- claimed him as their Stadtholder for the King, whose authority lie and they still ac- knowledged. The fortune of the Spaniards on land, however, was in thp ascendant., fortress after fortress fell into their hands despite William's utmost efforts to relieve them, and though Hol- land and Zealand still remained faithful he found it impossible to raise an army which could fairly cope with the enemy. In April, 1574, Louis and Henry of Nassaii were defeated and slain in the battle of JIooker-Heide. William succeeded, how- ever', in rescuing Leyden from the terrible fate which had befallen Haarlem. It was at this period that William openl}' professed himself a Cal- vinist, though he disclaimed the fanaticism which characterized his co-religionists and con- tinually urged Calvinists and Lutherans to har- monize their differences. In October, 1575, the provinces of Holland and Zealand pronounced Philip's deposition, and gave power to William to choose the country under wh6se protectorate they were to be placed. ^Meantime, the rapacity of the Spanish soldiery had roused the fifteen jirov- inees which still remained loyal to Philip, and the league known as the Pacification of Ghent (October. 1570), the object of which was to drive out the Spanish troops, and establish, at least for a time, toleration in religion, was the con- sequence. This was a brilliant success for Wil- liam, and Don John of Austria, the new Gov- ernor, was compelled to ratify the Pacification by the Perpetual Edict (February 12, 1577).