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WILLIAM I- UNION OF SOUTHERN & NORTHERN STATES OF THE NETHERLANDS MICHAUT, Auguste Francois: Netherlands, 1815, Bronze, 72 mm William of Nassau (1772-1844), the son of William V, was a descendant of the House of Orange, the Royal dynasty of the Netherlands. Orange was a principality in southern France, which was inherited by William I (The Silent) in 1544. He and his son, Maurice of Nassau, led the successful Revolt of the Netherlands against Spain in the late 16th century. William III (of Orange) became king of England in 1689. In 1815 William of Nassau, as part of the Treaty of Vienna, became William I of the Netherlands, thereby becoming king of the Low Countries and Belgium, and Grand Duke of Luxemburg. This united the Southern and Northern states of the Netherlands, the event commemorated by this medal.
William I of the Netherlands King William I of the Netherlands was born in 1772 at the Oranjezaal The Hague, acceded in 1813 and died 1843 in Berlin,Germany. William I was also the grand duke of Luxemburg and count of Nassau. His parents were the last stadtholder William V of Orange and his wife Wilhelmina, and until 1814 he was known as Prince William VI of Orange In 1791, William VI married (Frederica Louisa) Wilhelmina, born in Potsdam. She was the daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia. When Wilhelmina died in 1837 ,Wilhelm was remarried to Countess Henriette d'Oultremont de Wegimont (1841 in Berlin) and two years later he died there. William was hereditary stadtholder (you can compare this with crown prince) when the Republic of the Seven United Provinces was invaded by the French Revolutionary armies. He fled with his father to England. Unlike his father William was a strong personality and he tried to regain the Republic. In 1799 he landed in the current North Holland. After some battles he was forced to leave the country. Napoleon gave him some small German principalities as indemnities for the lost territories. These principalities were confiscated when Napoleon invaded Germany (1806). After Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig (October, 1813) French troops retreated to France. A provisional government was formed under the lead of some former Patriots. Strangely enough, they called William to the liberated country, in contrast to what had happened in 1785. On November 30, 1813 William landed at Scheveningen beach, only a few metres from the place where he had left the country with his father eighteen years previously, and on December 6 the provisional government offered him the title of King. William refused and declared that he only wanted the throne if he was sovereign prince (a title somewhere between King and stadtholder) and that the rights of the people were guaranteed by "a wise constitution". The constitution offered William extensive (almost absolute) powers. Ministers were only responsible to him and to nobody else. He was inaugurated as sovereign prince in the New Church in Amsterdam. In 1814 he gained sovereignty over the whole of the Low Countries. On March 16, 1815 William proclaimed himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands because he was threatened by Napoleon, who escaped. His son (the future William II) fought as Dutch commander at the Battle of Waterloo.
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