Editing Maurice, Prince of Orange (section)

==Maurice and Oldenbarnevelt==
[[File:Het afdanken der waardgelders door prins Maurits op de Neude te Utrecht, 31 juli 1618 (Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot, 1625).jpg|thumb|right|400px|Maurice disbands the ''waardgelders'' (municipal mercenary army) on the Neude (town square) in the city of Utrecht on 31 July 1618, a pivotal event in the [[Twelve Years' Truce#Remonstrants and Counter-Remonstrants|Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions]], by [[Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot]]]]

Maurice started out as the protégé of Landsadvocaat ([[Land's Advocate of Holland|Land's Advocate]], i.e. secretary to the nobility of Holland and legal counsel to the States of Holland, but functioning as de facto chief minister of Holland and the States-General) [[Johan van Oldenbarnevelt]], but gradually tensions rose between these two men. Against Maurice's advice, and despite his protests, Van Oldenbarnevelt decided to sign the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] with Spain, which lasted from 1609 to 1621. The required funds to maintain the army and navy and the general course of the war were other topics of constant struggle.

With the religious troubles between [[Gomarists]] (strict [[Calvinist]]s) and the [[Remonstrants]] ([[Arminians]]), the struggle between Van Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice reached a climax. Van Oldenbarnevelt was arrested, tried and decapitated despite numerous requests for mercy. Important municipal regents such as [[Jacob Dircksz de Graeff]] and [[Cornelis Hooft]] from Amsterdam were temporarily removed from office by Moritz' powerful supporter [[Reynier Pauw]]. From 1618 till his death Maurice now enjoyed uncontested power over the Republic. He expanded the Stadtholder's palace at the [[Binnenhof]] in the Hague. The Maurice Tower is now part of the building complex of the [[Senate of the Netherlands]]. In 1618, he also succeeded his elder half-brother [[Philip William, Prince of Orange|Philip William]] as [[Prince of Orange]], a title he seems rarely to have used.

Maurice urged his cadet half brother [[Frederick Henry, prince of Orange|Frederick Henry]] to marry in order to preserve the [[dynasty]].