William III
William III (Willem) was stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, prince of Orange, and king and co-monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland through his wife Mary.
Contents
History
William was born days after his father, William II, died. As a result, he was prince of Orange from birth but denied the stadtholdership. This began the First Stadtholderless Period.
France and England had concluded the Secret Treaty of Dover seeking to convert the Dutch Republic into a puppet state. Charles revealed these plans in the hope that William would be intimidated into a preemptive surrender. William countered with promises to ally with England if the provinces were compelled to appoint him as stadtholder. Ultimately the Third Anglo-Dutch War and Franco-Dutch War would begin in 1672.
A series of early defeats led to the collapse of De Witt's government, while marshaling the defense as captain-general made William popular and powerful.
Reign
Holland and Zeeland appointed William as stadtholder in 1672 in the context of the Third Anglo-Dutch War and Franco-Dutch War. Charles II again offered him terms for surrender that would raise him to prince over a puppet state, which he also refused.
Amid the war, William married Charles' niece Mary. At this time, her father's rights to succeed were challenged through the Exclusion Crisis. Together, and as protestants, William and Mary presented a compelling alternative claimant to the throne.
By 1675 he had reclaimed most of the Netherlands, and been appointed stadtholder by Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel. Peace would finally be agreed through the Treaties of Nijmegen in August 1678.
Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, creating a migrant crisis on the scale of hundreds of thousands. At the same time, France had dramatically expanded to the north (first by seizing much of the Southern Netherlands in the Franco-Dutch War, then by seizing Luxembourg in the Reunion Wars) right up to the Dutch border. So a large portion of the Huguenots diaspora ended up in the Netherlands.
James did succeed the English throne in 1685, but his reign was immediately plagued by unrest. Furthermore, it was believed that James would side with France in the rapidly-escalating conflict on the continent. William landed an army in Devon in November 1688. After failing to rally his own army, James fled to France. This Glorious Revolution crowned William and Mary as co-monarchs over England, Scotland, and Ireland.
William worked with Leopold to establish the League of Augsburg (also known as the Grand Alliance) to counter French expansionism. As part of the exchange, William was committed to supporting Leopold's claim to Spain.
Amid the Nine Years War, Louis sponsored a Jacobite invasion of Ireland. This Williamite War succeeded in diverting attention; William himself and many of his most skilled commanders, such as Churchill, left the continental front to lead this campaign.
Mary died in 1694, leaving Anne as the only feasible heir.
The war quickly reached a military stalemate, and became extremely expensive. The Peace of Rijswijk (also known as Ryswick) was signed in 1697 with minor French concessions (i.e., returning Luxembourg) but leaving more pressing issues unaddressed (i.e., Spanish succession following Charles II). Notably though, the Williamite War was decisively suppressed; future Jacobite threats would emerge from within England and Scotland, but not Ireland.
Charles did die just a few years later in 1700, leaving Philip V to inherit. As a ward of Louis, this threatened to rob the Habsburgs of half their empire and dramatically shift the balance of powers toward France. Concurrently, William's health began to fail.
Leopold recalled the Grand Alliance, now with Churchill representing the English and Heinsius representing the Dutch. In the Treaty of The Hague of 1701, they agreed to support an independent claim to Spain. The treaty was delayed in part because the Tory majority in the British Parliament only objected to the threat of France annexing Sicily, not to the specific succession of Philip. Ultimately this alliance would support the alternate claim of Leopold's younger son, Charles.
This launched the War of Spanish Succession, which William would not survive to see fought out.
Legacy
The Jacobite threat that was constant during William's reign would continue to plague English monarchs for a century more. In the last year of his life, William saw to the Act of Settlement which barred Catholics from succeeding the English throne. This should be seen in the context of his having no children to inherit, and in Anne similarly having no children to inherit. This act is the legal basis for the Hanoverian succession.