Editing House of Orange-Nassau (section)

== Origins ==
{{Further|House of Nassau|House of Chalon-Arlay}}
[[File:Willem van Oranje wapen.svg|thumb|right|155px|1544: "Orange-Nassau" symbolized by adding the "Chalon-Orange" arms in an [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|escutcheon]] to the "Nassau" arms.]]

[[Nassau Castle]] was founded around 1100 by [[Dudo of Laurenburg|Dudo]], Count of [[Laurenburg]], the founder of the [[House of Nassau]]. In 1120, Dudo's sons and successors, Counts [[Rupert I, Count of Laurenburg|Rupert I]] and [[Arnold I, Count of Laurenburg|Arnold I]], established themselves at Nassau Castle, taking for themselves the title "[[County of Nassau|Count of Nassau]]". In 1255 the Nassau possessions were split between [[Walram II, Count of Nassau|Walram]] and [[Otto I, Count of Nassau|Otto]], the sons of Count [[Henry II, Count of Nassau|Henry II]]. The descendants of Walram were known as the Walram Line, and they became [[House of Nassau-Weilburg|Dukes of Nassau]] and, in 1890, [[Grand Dukes of Luxembourg]]. This line also included [[Adolf, King of the Romans|Adolph of Nassau]], who was elected [[King of the Romans]] in 1292. The descendants of Otto became known as the Ottonian Line, and they inherited parts of the [[County of Nassau]], as well as properties in [[France]] and the [[Netherlands]].{{cn|date=October 2022}}

The House of Orange-Nassau stems from the younger Ottonian Line. The first of this line to establish himself in the Netherlands was [[John I, Count of Nassau-Siegen]], who married [[Margaret of the Mark]]. The real founder of the Nassau fortunes in the Netherlands was John's son, [[Engelbert I of Nassau|Engelbert I]]. He became counsellor to the [[Duke of Burgundy|Burgundian]] [[Duke of Brabant|Dukes of Brabant]], first to [[Anton of Burgundy]], and later to his son [[Jan IV of Brabant]]. He also would later serve [[Philip the Good]]. In 1403, he married the Dutch noblewoman [[Johanna van Polanen]] and so inherited lands in the Netherlands, with the [[Baron#The Low Countries|Barony]] of [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] as the core of the Dutch possessions and the family fortune.<ref name="Grew">{{Cite book| last = Grew| first = Marion Ethel| title = The House of Orange| publisher = Methuen & Co. Ltd| year = 1947| location =London}}</ref>{{rp|35}}

A nobleman's power was often based on his ownership of vast tracts of land and lucrative offices. It also helped that much of the lands that the House of Orange-Nassau controlled sat under one of the commercial and mercantile centres of the world (see below under [[#Lands and Titles|Lands and Titles]]). The importance of the family grew throughout the 15th and 16th centuries as they became councilors, generals and stadholders of the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]] (see [[:fr:Armorial des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas|armorial of the great nobles of the Burgundian Netherlands]] and [[list of knights of the Golden Fleece]]). [[Engelbert II of Nassau]] served [[Charles the Bold]] and [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]], who had married Charles's daughter [[Mary of Burgundy]]. In 1496, he was appointed [[stadtholder]] of Flanders and by 1498 he had been named President of the [[Grand Conseil]]. In 1501, Maximilian named him Lieutenant-General of the [[Seventeen Provinces]] of the [[Low Countries|Netherlands]]. From that point forward (until his death in 1504), Engelbert was the principal representative of the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]] to the region. [[Hendrik III of Nassau-Breda]] was appointed [[stadtholder]] of [[Holland]] and [[Zeeland]] by [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles of Ghent]] in the beginning of the 16th century. Hendrik was succeeded by his son [[René of Chalon]] in 1538, who had inherited the title of [[Prince of Orange]] and the [[Principality of Orange|principality of that name]] from his maternal uncle [[Philibert of Chalon]]. In 1544, René died in battle aged 25. His possessions, including the principality and title, passed by his will as [[Prince#Prince as a reigning monarch|sovereign]] [[prince]] to his paternal cousin, [[William I of Orange]]. From then on, the family members called themselves "Orange-Nassau."<ref name=Rowen/>{{rp|8}}<ref name= Grew/>{{rp|37}}<ref name="Blok">{{cite book |title=History of the people of the Netherlands|url=https://archive.org/details/historypeoplene01blokgoog|first=Petrus Johannes |last =Blok|publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons|location=New York|year=1898}}</ref>{{rp|vol3,pp3-4}}<ref name="Israel">{{cite book|title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806 |first= Jonathan I. |last= Israel |publisher= Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn= 0-19-873072-1}} {{ISBN|0-19-820734-4}} paperback.</ref>{{rp|37,107,139}}