Editing William III of England (section)

==Legacy==
{{See also|Cultural depictions of William III of England}}
{{blockquote|He was a great man, an enemy of France, to which he did a great deal of harm, but we owe him our esteem.| [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]{{sfn|Collot d'Escury|1825|p=306}}}}  
[[File:King William Statue 1.jpg|thumb|Statue of William III formerly located on [[College Green, Dublin]]. Erected in 1701, it was destroyed by the [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|IRA]] in 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Statue of King William III |url=http://www.dublincity.ie/story/statue-king-william-iii |access-date=28 September 2019 |website=Dublin City Council}}</ref>]]

William's primary achievement was to contain France when it was in a position to impose its will across much of Europe. His life's aim was largely to oppose Louis XIV of France. This effort continued after his death during the War of the Spanish Succession. Another important consequence of William's reign in England involved the ending of a bitter conflict between Crown and Parliament that had lasted since the accession of the first English monarch of the House of Stuart, James I, in 1603. The conflict over royal and parliamentary power had led to the [[English Civil War]] during the 1640s and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.<ref name="claydon3">Claydon, pp. 3–4</ref> During William's reign, however, the conflict was settled in Parliament's favour by the Bill of Rights 1689, the [[Triennial Act 1694]] and the Act of Settlement 1701.<ref name=claydon3/>

The historical verdict on William's qualities as an army commander is mixed. Many contemporaries agreed that he was a great field commander. Even his enemies spoke highly of him. The [[Charles Sevin de Quincy|Marquis de Quincy]], for example, wrote that it was due to William's insight and personal courage that the Allies held out at the Battle of Seneffe, while he also praises how William led his troops to safety during the battles of Steenkerque and Landen. Still, William has been blamed by French and British historians for his impatience and recklessness, and for treating lightly his life and the lives of his soldiers. British historian [[John Childs (historian)|John Childs]] acknowledges William's great qualities, but feels that he fell short as a field commander because, by often throwing himself into the fray, he no longer had the complete oversight. William commanded several field battles; [[Battle of Seneffe]] (1674), [[Battle of Cassel (1677)|Battle of Cassel]] (1677), [[Battle of Saint-Denis (1678)|Battle of Saint-Denis]] (1678), [[Battle of the Boyne]] (1690), [[Battle of Steenkerque]] (1692) and the [[Battle of Landen]] (1693). While most of these were defeats, it would be wrong to place the responsibility solely on him. He was up against a strong uniformly organised army with a coalition army. Many of the coalition troops were not as practised and disciplined as the Dutch troops, and it took time to incorporate them into the Dutch system. William did not attach much value to traditional victory signs either. He considered himself a winner if he managed to inflate French losses to the point where French offensive plans had to be abandoned. The battles he fought were almost all ones of attrition. That the Allies also suffered many casualties he took for granted. The Dutch army organisation was prepared for that; and, from 1689, so was England's.{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2020|pp=36–39 & 95}}

[[File:William III at the Battle of Landen.jpg|270px|thumb|left|Victorian reimagining of William III at the Battle of Landen, by [[Ernest Crofts]]]]

William endowed the [[College of William and Mary]] (in present-day [[Williamsburg, Virginia]]) in 1693.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Chronology, pp. 1618–1699 |url=http://www.wm.edu/vitalfacts/seventeenth.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080715225541/http://www.wm.edu/vitalfacts/seventeenth.php |archive-date=15 July 2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |publisher=College of William and Mary}}</ref> [[Nassau County, New York]], a county on [[Long Island]], is a namesake.<ref name="nassaucounty">{{Cite web |title=History of Nassau County |url=http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/3344/History-of-Nassau-County |access-date=10 April 2016 |publisher=Nassau County website}}</ref> Long Island itself was also known as Nassau during early [[New Netherland|Dutch rule]].<ref name=nassaucounty/> Though many alumni of [[Princeton University]] think that the town of [[Princeton, New Jersey]] (and hence the university), were named in his honour, this is probably untrue, although [[Nassau Hall]], the college's first building, is named for him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norris |first=Edwin Mark |url=https://archive.org/details/storyprinceton00norrgoog |title=The Story of Princeton |date=1917 |publisher=Little, Brown |pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyprinceton00norrgoog/page/n23 5]–6}}</ref> [[New York City]] was briefly renamed New Orange for him in 1673 after the Dutch recaptured the city, which had been renamed New York by the British in 1665. His name was applied to the [[Fort Amsterdam|fort]] and administrative centre for the city on two separate occasions reflecting his different sovereign status—first as Fort Willem Hendrick in 1673, and then as Fort William in 1691 when the English evicted Colonists who had seized the fort and city.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Jvy84lE_tHoC&q=%22Willem+Hendrick%22 "The Dutch Under English Rule"] ''The History of North America'' by Guy Carleton Lee Francis and Francis Newton Thorpe. Published 1904 by G. Barrie & Sons, p. 167</ref> [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], the capital of The Bahamas, is named after Fort Nassau, which was renamed in 1695 in his honour.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Craton |first1=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/islandersstreamh00crat |title=Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People |last2=Saunders-Smith |first2=Gail |date=1992 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=0-8203-2122-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islandersstreamh00crat/page/n125 101] |url-access=limited}}</ref> The [[Dutch East India Company]] built a military fort in [[Cape Town]], South Africa, in the 17th century, naming it the [[Castle of Good Hope]]. The five bastions were named after William III's titles: Orange, Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Buuren and Leerdam.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Castle of Good Hope, oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa, is completed |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/castle-good-hope-oldest-surviving-colonial-building-south-africa-completed |access-date=21 December 2018 |publisher=South African History Online}}</ref>