Editing Stadtholder

{{Short description|Low Countries governing official from 14th to 18th centuries}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
[[File:Antonio Moro - Willem I van Nassau.jpg|thumb|[[William the Silent]] was a ''stadtholder'' during the [[Dutch Revolt]] against the [[Spanish Empire]].]]
In the [[Low Countries]], a '''''stadtholder''''' ({{langx|nl|stadhouder}} {{IPA|nl|ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər||Nl-stadhouder.ogg}}) was a [[Steward (office)|steward]], first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the [[duke]] or [[count]] of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/stadtholder |title=Stadtholder |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref>

The title was used for the highest executive official of each province performing several duties, such as appointing lower administrators and maintaining peace and order, in the early [[Dutch Republic]]. As multiple provinces appointed the same stadtholder, the stadtholder of the powerful province of Holland at times functioned as  the ''de facto'' [[head of state]] of the Dutch Republic as a whole during the 16th to 18th centuries, in an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary title under Prince [[William IV of Orange]]. His son, Prince [[William V, Prince of Orange|William V]], was the last ''stadtholder'' of all provinces of the Republic, until fleeing French revolutionary troops in 1795. His son, [[William I of the Netherlands]], in 1815 became the first sovereign king of the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]].{{sfn|Ward|1922|p=482}}

The title ''stadtholder'' is roughly comparable to the historical titles of [[Lord Protector]] in England, Statthalter in the Holy Roman Empire and [[Governor-general of Norway]].

== Etymology ==
''Stadtholder'' means "steward". Its component parts literally translate as "place holder," from [[Latin]] ''locum tenens'', or as a direct cognate, "stead holder" (in modern Dutch "stad" means "city", but the older meaning of "stad" – also "stede" – was "place", and it is a cognate of English "stead", as "instead of"); it was a term for a "[[steward (office)|steward]]" or "[[Lord Lieutenant|lieutenant]]".<ref>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/stadhouder |title=Stadhouder |first=M. |last=Philippa |date=2003–2009 |dictionary=Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands |language=nl}}</ref> However, this is not the word for the military rank of lieutenant, which is {{lang|nl|luitenant}} in Dutch. In many English sources, it is translated as "Governor".

== History ==
=== Seventeen Provinces ===
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2019}}
''Stadtholder''s in the [[Middle Ages]] were appointed by [[feudal]] lords to represent them in their absence. If a lord had several dominions (or, being a [[vassal]], [[fief]]s), some of these could be ruled by a permanent ''stadtholder'', to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. A ''stadtholder'' was thus more powerful than a governor, who had only limited authority, but the stadtholder was not a vassal himself, having no title to the land. The local rulers of the independent [[Seventeen Provinces|province]]s of the [[Low Countries]] (which included the present-day [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]]) made extensive use of ''stadtholder''s, e.g. the [[Duke of Guelders]] appointed a ''stadtholder'' to represent him in [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]].

In the 15th century the [[Duke of Burgundy|Dukes of Burgundy]] acquired most of the Low Countries, and the constituent parts (duchies, counties, lordships) of these [[Burgundian Netherlands]] mostly each had their own ''stadtholder'', appointed by the Duke in his capacity of duke, count or lord.

In the 16th century, the [[Habsburg]] [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], also King of Spain, who had inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, completed this process by becoming the sole feudal overlord: Lord of the Netherlands. Only the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] and two smaller territories (the [[Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy|Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy]] and the [[Duke of Bouillon|Duchy of Bouillon]]) remained outside his domains. ''Stadtholder''s continued to be appointed to represent Charles and King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], his son and successor in [[Spain]] and the Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by his brother [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]] and his heirs in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist and [[absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] policies of Philip, the actual power of the ''stadtholder''s strongly diminished, compared to the ''landvoogd (es)'' or governor-general.

=== Dutch Republic ===
When, in 1581, during the [[Dutch Revolt]], seven of the Dutch provinces declared their independence with the [[Act of Abjuration]], the representative function of the ''stadtholder'' became obsolete in the rebellious northern Netherlands – the feudal lord himself having been abolished – but the office nevertheless continued in these provinces who now united themselves into the [[Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]]. The United Provinces were struggling to adapt existing feudal concepts and institutions to the new situation and tended to be conservative in this matter, as they had after all rebelled against the king to defend their ancient rights.<ref>{{cite book|first=J. H. |last=Elliott |title=Europe Divided: 1559-1598 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=London |date=1968 |pages=293–294 |asin=B000X7VPEA}}</ref> The ''stadtholder'' no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, appointed by the States of each province (e.g. the [[States of Holland and West Friesland]] and the [[States of Friesland]]). Although each province could assign its own ''stadtholder'', most ''stadtholder''s held appointments from several provinces at the same time. The highest executive and legislative power was normally exerted by the sovereign States of each province, but the stadtholder had some prerogatives, like appointing lower officials and sometimes having the ancient right to affirm the appointment (by [[co-option]]) of the members of [[Regenten|regent]] councils or choose ''[[burgomaster]]s'' from a shortlist of candidates. As these councils themselves appointed most members of the States, the ''stadtholder'' could very indirectly influence the general policy. In [[Zeeland]], the [[Prince of Orange|Princes of Orange]], who after the Dutch Revolt most often held the office of ''stadtholder'' there, held the dignity of ''First Noble'', and were as such a member of the States of that province, because they held the title of [[Marquis of Veere and Flushing]] as one of their patrimonial titles.

On the Republic's central 'confederal' level, the ''stadtholder'' of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland was normally also appointed [[Captain-General]] of the [[Dutch States Army]] and [[Admiral-General]] of the confederate fleet,{{sfn|Ashley|1966|p=10}} though no ''stadtholder'' ever actually commanded a fleet in battle. In the army, he could appoint officers by himself; in the navy only affirm appointments of the five admiralty councils. Legal powers of the stadtholder were thus rather limited, and by law he was a mere official. His real powers, however, were sometimes greater, especially given the martial law atmosphere of the 'permanent' [[Eighty Years War]]. [[Maurice of Orange]] after 1618 ruled as a military dictator, and [[William II of Orange]] attempted the same.

The leader of the Dutch Revolt was [[William the Silent]] (William I of Orange); he had been appointed ''stadtholder'' in 1572 by the States of the first province to rebel, Holland, as a replacement of the royal stadtholder (He had previously held the post as an appointee of Philip II.). His personal influence and reputation was subsequently associated with the office and transferred to members of his house. After his assassination, however, there was a short-lived move to install [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester]] as governor-general of [[Elizabeth I]] before Maurice in 1590 became stadtholder of five provinces,<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|editor-first=F. |editor-last=Lieber |title=Encyclopaedia americana |volume=11 |date=1854 |pages=555}}</ref> a position he would hold until his death (his cousin [[William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg]] held the post in the remaining two provinces, Friesland and Groningen).

Tensions nonetheless persisted between Orangists and republicans in the United Provinces, sometimes exploding into direct conflict. Maurice in 1618 and [[William III of England|William III of Orange]] from 1672 replaced entire city councils with their partisans to increase their power: the so-called "Changings of the Legislative" (''Wetsverzettingen''). By intimidation, the ''stadtholder''s tried to extend their right of affirmation, while they also attempted to add the remaining stadholderships like Friesland and Groningen to their other holdings.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In reaction, the regents in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, after the death of William II in 1650, appointed no ''stadtholder'',<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Stadtholder |volume=25 |page=750}}</ref> and banned his son William from the stadtholdership by an [[Act of Seclusion]], something overcome by popular feeling during the catastrophic events of 1672, the Dutch Year of Disaster (''[[Rampjaar]]''), when the future [[William III of England]] was swept to power.{{sfn|Ashley|1966|p=10–14}} After the death of William III in 1702 they again abstained from appointing a stadtholder.<ref name=EB1911/> These periods are known as the [[First Stadtholderless Period]] and the [[Second Stadtholderless Period]].

After the French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to accept [[William IV, Prince of Orange]], stadtholder of [[Friesland]] and [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]], as stadtholder in the other provinces. On 22 November 1747, the office of ''stadtholder'' was made hereditary (''erfstadhouder'') everywhere (previously only in Friesland). As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) was ''stadtholder'' in all provinces, his function accordingly was restyled {{lang|nl|Stadhouder-Generaal}}.

After William IV's death in 1751, his infant son was duly appointed ''stadtholder'' under the regency of his mother. The misgovernment of this regency caused much resentment, which issued in 1780 in the [[Patriots (Dutch Republic)|Patriot movement]], seeking to permanently limit the powers of the stadholderate.{{sfn|Ward|1922|p=171–172}} The Patriots first took over many city councils, then the [[States of Holland and West Friesland|States of the province of Holland]], and ultimately raised civil militias to defend their position against Orangist partisans, bringing the country to the [[Patriottentijd| brink of civil war]]. Through [[Prussian invasion of Holland|Prussian military intervention in 1787]], Prince [[William V of Orange]] was able to suppress this opposition, and many leaders of the Patriot movement went into exile in France. The stadtholderate was strengthened with the [[Act of Guarantee]] (1788).

=== Abolition and transition to sovereign kingdom ===
The exiles returned with French armies in the winter of 1795 and overcame the frozen [[Dutch Water Line]]. William V fled to England, and the office of stadtholder was abolished that year,{{sfn|Ward|1922|p=258}} when the [[France|French]] revolutionary forces installed the [[Batavian Republic]]. Similarly, while from 1572 in the [[Southern Netherlands]] the Habsburg lords continued to appoint provincial stadtholders for the region, this ceased when they were annexed by France in 1794. In 1806, [[Napoleon]] established the [[Kingdom of Holland]], putting his younger brother [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis]] on the throne. He abdicated his throne in 1810 in favour of his son [[Napoléon Louis Bonaparte|Louis II]]. He ruled for nine days, until his uncle Napoleon took charge himself, annexing the kingdom to the French Empire, until its fall in 1813.

Soon after the French army withdrew from the Netherlands, [[William I of the Netherlands|William Frederick]], the son of [[William V, Prince of Orange|William V]], was invited by the [[Triumvirate of 1813]] to become the first 'Sovereign Prince'. William had been living in exile in London during the French occupation. On 13 November 1813 he returned to the Netherlands to accept the invitation. On 16 March 1815 he assumed the title of King of the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]].

== As political model ==
The stadtholderate was taken as a political model by the [[Founding Fathers of the United States]] with regard to the executive powers – [[Oliver Ellsworth]] for example arguing that without its influence in the United Provinces, "their machine of government would no more move than a ship without wind".<ref>{{cite book|first=William H. |last=Riker |title=The Development of American Federalism |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |date=1987 |pages=52 |isbn=978-0898382259}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Lord Protector]]
* [[Steward (office)]]
* [[List of stadtholders in the Low Countries]]
* [[List of governors of the Habsburg Netherlands]]
* [[Governor-general of Norway]]
* [[Orangism (Netherlands)|Orangists]]
* [[Dutch monarchy]]
* [[List of monarchs of the Netherlands]]
* [[King's Commissioner]] (modern name)

== References ==
{{Reflist|}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book|last=Ashley |first=M. |title=The Glorious Revolution of 1688 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton Ltd |location=London |date=1966 |isbn=978-0340008966}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Ward |editor-first=A. W. |title=The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy I |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1922}}

=== Other ===
{{Refbegin}}
*''Van Dale Etymologisch Woordenboek'' (Dutch etymology, in Dutch)
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Netherlands.htm WorldStatesmen – the Netherlands]
*[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0006861563 Simon Schama – Patriots and Liberators: : Revolution in the Netherlands, 1780–1813]
*[[:nl:Lijst van stadhouders|Dutch language Wikipedia: List of stadtholders]]

{{Dutch republic institutions}}

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