Principality of Orange

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Family coat of arms of the principality

The County of Orange , later the Principality of Orange (German Grafschaft / Fürstentum Oranien ), was a county or principality in the east of what is now southern France .

history

The State of Orange in 1547, with the Comtat Venaissin (papal property until 1791)
Four generations of Princes of Orange: Wilhelm I., Moritz and Friedrich Heinrich, Wilhelm II., Wilhelm III. ( Pieter Nason , 1660-1662, Rijksmuseum )

It was created around 800 when the city of Orange was taken by a Guilhelm (probably William of Aquitaine ). In the 11th century, the county, which had previously belonged to the county and later to the margraviate of Provence , became independent .

The county came partly through inheritance (1182), partly through purchase (1289) to the lords of Les Baux after Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa had granted part of the area the title of prince in 1163.

In 1393, the approximately 300 square kilometer principality passed to the House of Chalon II (a sideline of the House of Burgundy-Ivrea , which after an inheritance had adopted the name and coat of arms of the original House of Chalon ).

The French King Francis I annexed the principality and the last Prince of Orange from the House of Chalon, Philibert de Chalon , was imprisoned from 1524 to 1526. Philibert then took part in the Sacco di Roma as general of Emperor Charles V , later defended Naples against the French and got his principality back as a reward in 1529, but died childless the following year at the age of 28.

His sister Claude de Chalon was with Heinrich III. von Nassau married (the Nassau already owned large parts of the Netherlands), the couple's son, René , inherited the principality. However, before he died in 1544 without any descendants, he named his nephew Wilhelm I as heir, who was thereby allowed to call himself Prince d'Orange (Prince of Orange) - on the condition of Emperor Charles V that he was at his court in Brussels was raised a Catholic . In 1560 he was able to take possession of the principality occupied by France, shortly before he became the leader of the uprising of the Netherlands against Spain.

From 1563 to 1685 the principality proved to be a refuge for around 4,000 persecuted Huguenots from surrounding France. Reformed and Catholic residents lived together peacefully. With the Edict of Fontainebleau and the associated ban on Protestant services, France increased the pressure on the small principality. In 1703 1,400 indomitable Huguenots were expelled, who first found refuge in Geneva and then a new home in Brandenburg .

As Wilhelm's great-grandson Wilhelm III. (together with Maria II. King and Queen of England) died childless in 1702 (France held the country 1672–1697 and 1701–1702 again), the principality was inherited to his cousin Johann Wilhelm Friso von Nassau-Diez († 1711) - and the dispute about the Oran succession, which had been smoldering for 30 years, was nearing its end, although now the King of Prussia Friedrich I as a close male relative of Wilhelm I of Orange (both Friedrich's mother Luise Henriette of Orange and Friedrich's paternal grandmother Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate) were granddaughters of Wilhelm I.) claimed the title.

In 1713, as part of the Peace of Utrecht , the country finally fell to France and thus left the Holy Roman Empire . Title and coat of arms, on the other hand, as well as the Principality of Neuchâtel , the County of Moers , the upper part of the Duchy of Geldern (Obergeldern) and the County of Lingen , which were owned by the Nassauer, went to the Prussian King Friedrich I. In 1733, the Nassauer again acquired the right to titles and Coat of arms of Orange, which is why there are two “Princes of Orange” today, on the one hand the heir to the throne of the House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch royal family), currently (2013) Princess Amalia , on the other hand the head of the House of Hohenzollern , currently (2010) Georg Friedrich Ferdinand . Louis de Mailly-Nesle, Marquis de Nesle (1706) and Louis Armand II de Bourbon-Conti (1712) also received the title of Prince of Orange from the French King Louis XIV .

Count of Orange

  • Renaud I, Count of Orange
  • Bertrand, his son, around 1062
  • Renaud II, his son; † before 1121
  • Tiburtia I., his daughter; † before 1150, ∞
  • Wilhelm I de Montpellier († 1156), Lord of Aumelas ( House of Montpellier )
  • Wilhelm II, their son, Count von ½ Orange 1150–1160,
  • Wilhelm III, his son, Count von ½ Orange 1160–1175
  • Renaud IV, his son, Count von ¼ Orange 1175–1190, donated his property to the Order of St. John
  • Tiburtia III., His sister; † before 1180, donated ¼ orange to the Order of St. John

The Order of St. John sells half of Orange in 1307 to Bertrand III. from orange (see below)

  • Tiburtia II, sister of Guillaume I, Countess of ½ Orange 1173–1182, ∞ Bertrand des Baux († 1181)

Princes of Orange

House Les Baux

  • Wilhelm IV , their son, Count von ½ Orange 1182–1219, calls himself Prince von Orange
  • Wilhelm V , his son, Prince von ¼ Orange 1219–1239
  • William VI. , his son, Prince of ¼ Orange 1239–1248
  • Raimund V , his brother, Prince von ¼ Orange from 1248
  • Bertrand II des Baux , his son, Prince of ¼ Orange before 1288, exchanged ¼ Orange for Courteson in 1289 - descendants: the Dukes of Andria
  • Raimund II , brother Wilhelm V, Prince of ¼ Orange 1219–1282
  • Bertrand III. , whose son, Prince of ¼ Orange 1282-1335, exchanges Courteson for another ¼ Orange 1289, in 1307 buys the second half of Orange
  • Raimund III. , his son, Prince of Orange 1335–1340
  • Raymond IV , his son, Prince of Orange 1340–1393
  • Marie , his daughter, Princess of Orange 1393–1417, ∞ Johann III. de Chalon , Lord of Arlay , Prince of Orange 1393–1418

House Chalon II

House Nassau

Nassau Orange Coat of Arms

Titular prince after French annexation

  • Johann Wilhelm Friso , great-nephew of Wilhelm II, Prince of Orange 1702–1711, governor of Friesland 1702–1711
  • Wilhelm IV , his son, Prince of Orange 1711–1751, heir to the Netherlands 1747–1751
  • Wilhelm V , his son, Prince of Orange 1751–1806, heir to the Netherlands 1751–1795
  • William VI. , his son, Prince of Orange 1806–1815, King Wilhelm I of the Netherlands 1815–1840

As heir to the Dutch throne

Until the change in the corresponding law in 1983, the title of Prins van Oranje was reserved for male heirs to the throne. Since then, it has been the case that the first-born child receives the title regardless of gender.

  • Willem ( Wilhelm II. ) (1815–1840, title given on accession to the throne)
  • Willem ( Wilhelm III ) (1840–1849, title surrendered on accession to the throne)
  • Willem , eldest son of Wilhelm III. from his first marriage (1849–1879)
  • Alexander , second son of Wilhelm III. from his first marriage (1879–1884)
  • Willem-Alexander (1980–2013, title surrendered on accession to the throne)
  • Catharina- Amalia , the eldest daughter of Willem-Alexander, who has been the first royal daughter to bear the title of Prinses van Oranje as heir to the throne since 2013 .

The former Dutch queens Wilhelmina , Juliana and Beatrix did not carry this title during their time as heir apparent. After their abdication they were given the title of Prinses van Oranje-Nassau .

Web links

Commons : Princes of Orange  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred W. Felix: The expulsion of the Protestants from the Principality of Orange 1703 and 1711-13 , Volume 33 of the history sheets of the German Huguenot Society, German Huguenot Society, Volume 6 of Publications de l'Association suisse pour l'histoire du refuge huguenot, Swiss Society for Huguenot History, ISSN 1422-7614, Volume 6 of publications by the Swiss Society for Huguenot History, Droz, 2000, ISBN 978-3-93048-113-2
  2. ↑ Eberhard Gresch: The Huguenots. History, Belief and Impact. 4th, revised edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-374-02260-1 , p. 183
  3. ↑ Amalia first Prinses van Oranje. On nos.nl from April 27, 2013 (Dutch) ; accessed on February 28, 2018