PACIFICATION OF IRELAND HAUTSCH, George: England, 1691, Silver, 41 mm William III (1650-1702) Prince of Orange, was also
William III, King of England, and William II, King of Scotland from 1689 to
1702. He was the posthumous son and successor of William II, Prince of
Orange. He was raised by his mother, Mary, the eldest daughter of Charles I,
King of England, until she died of smallpox in 1660. William than came under
the care of his paternal grandmother, Amalia, countess of Solms-Braunsfeld,
and his uncle by marriage, Frederick William, the Great Elector of
Brandenburg. Although royal authority was limited by Jan de Witt (see The
Netherlands) during William's minority, the crisis engendered by a combined
French and English assault on the United Provinces of The Netherlands led to
his appointment as stadtholder and captain general in 1672. With aid from
Emperor Leopold I, William expelled the French. In 1677 he married Mary
(later Mary II), daughter of James II of England. Following the Glorious
Revolution he and Mary, strong Protestants, replaced the Catholic James,
finally defeating him in Ireland at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 (see
Schomberg in chapter on Germany). William and Mary ruled England jointly until her
death in 1694. In 1699 William organized the alliance that was to defeat
Louis XIV of France in the War of the Spanish Succession.(Enc. World Hist.). |
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