Editing Wilhelmus (section)

== Inception ==

=== Origins of melody ===
The melody of "Wilhelmus" was borrowed from a well-known [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] French song titled ''Autre chanson de la ville de Chartres assiégée par le prince de Condé''<ref>{{YouTube|sgECAmtABEM|"O la folle entreprise du Prince de Condé" (Wilhelmus van Nassau), c. 1568}}</ref>{{efn|Translated as "Another Song of the Town of [[Chartres]] Besieged by the Prince of Condé".}} (or ''Chartres'' in short). This song ridiculed the failed [[Siege of Chartres (1568)|Siege of Chartres]] in 1568 by the [[Huguenot]] (Protestant) [[Louis, Prince of Condé (1530–1569)|Prince de Condé]] during the [[French Wars of Religion]]. However, the triumphant contents of "Wilhelmus" differ greatly from the content of the original song, making it subversive at several levels. Thus, the Dutch Protestants had taken over an anti-Protestant song, and adapted it into propaganda for their own agenda. In that way, "Wilhelmus" was typical for its time: it was common practice in the 16th century for warring groups to steal each other's songs in order to [[Contrafactum|rewrite]] them.<ref name="uva.nl" />

Even though the melody stems from 1568, the first known written down version of it comes from 1574; at the time the anthem was sung at a much quicker pace.<ref>{{YouTube|0YgurxOm_e4|"Het Wilhelmus" (reconstruction)}}, in the pace of the 16th century version</ref> Dutch composer [[Adriaen Valerius]] recorded the current melody of "Wilhelmus" in his ''Nederlantsche Gedenck-clanck'' in 1626, slowing down the melody's pace, probably to allow it to be sung in churches.

[[File:Jacob spoel marnix van sint-aldegonde declaiming het wilhelmus to will.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde|Philips of Marnix]] presents "Wilhelmus" to [[William the Silent]], by Jacob Spoel (ca&nbsp;1850).]]

=== Origins of lyrics ===
The origins of the lyrics are uncertain. "Wilhelmus" was first written some time between the start of the [[Eighty Years' War]] in April 1568 and the [[capture of Brielle]] on 1 April 1572.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/167434114|title=Louis Peter Grijp-lezing 10 mei 2016|website=Vimeo|date=20 May 2016 |access-date=2016-08-13}}</ref> Soon after the anthem was finished, it was said that either former [[Antwerp]] mayor [[Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde|Philips of Marnix]] or the politician [[Dirck Coornhert]] wrote the lyrics. However, this is disputed as neither Marnix nor Coornhert ever mentioned that they had written the lyrics, even though the song was immensely popular in their time. "Wilhelmus" also has some odd [[rhyme]]s in it. In some cases the vowels of certain words were altered to allow them to rhyme with other words. Some see this as evidence that neither Marnix or Coornhert wrote the anthem, as they were both experienced poets when "Wilhelmus" was written, and it is said they would not have taken these small liberties. Hence some believe that the lyrics of the Dutch national anthem were the creation of someone who just wrote one poem for the occasion and then disappeared from history. A French translation of "Wilhelmus" appeared around 1582.<ref>J. te Winkel, [http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/wink002ontw02_01/wink002ontw02_01_0028.htm ''De ontwikkelingsgang der Nederlandsche letterkunde. Deel 2: Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche letterkunde van Middeleeuwen en Rederijkerstijd''] (Haarlem 1922), p. 491 n. 1. – via [[Digital Library for Dutch Literature]]</ref>

Recent [[stylometry|stylometric]] research has mentioned [[Pieter Datheen]] as a possible author of the text of the Dutch national anthem.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nu.nl/wetenschap/4259667/vermoedelijke-schrijver-wilhelmus-ontdekt.html|title=Schrijver Wilhelmus is te ontdekken met computeralgoritme|date=10 May 2016|language=nl-NL|access-date=2016-08-13}}</ref> By chance, Dutch and Flemish researchers ([[Meertens Institute]], [[Utrecht University]] and [[University of Antwerp]]) discovered a striking number of similarities between his style and the style of the national anthem.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.neerlandistiek.nl/2016/05/toevallig-op-petrus-datheen-stuiten/|title=Toevallig op Petrus Datheen stuiten|date=2016-05-11|language=nl-NL|access-date=2016-08-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.neerlandistiek.nl/2016/05/louis-peter-grijp-lezing-online/|title=Louis Peter Grijp-lezing online|date=2016-05-22|language=nl-NL|access-date=2016-08-13}}</ref>