Exhibitions at Museum Prinsenhof Delft through January 5, 2025
Announcement from Museum Prinsenhof: Our museum doors will be temporarily closing for a major renovation and renewal, which will last two years. We are counting down the days until Sunday, January 5, 2025. That is, for the time being, the last day we will be open to the public. We have planned a wonderful program full of activities for the final weeks. So be sure to stop by one last time for the Art Parade, William of Orange, Delft Masters, and Delft Blue.
Museum Prinsenhof
Museum Prinsenhof Delft is a museum in the Dutch city of Delft. It is housed in the former St. Agatha Convent, which is included in the Top 100 of the National Service for Monument Preservation from 1990. The museum highlights Delft Blue, great Delft scientists (Hugo de Groot, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek) and Delft Masters, William of Orange, and the House of Orange-Nassau. The museum has a collection of paintings, pottery, and everyday objects from the Golden Age. The museum attracts approximately 63.500 visitors annually.
William of Orange
Willem (Dillenburg, April 24, 1533 – Delft, July 10, 1584), Prince of Orange, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, better known as William of Orange or by his posthumous nickname William the Silent, was a statesman and military commander who played a key role in the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War and the founding of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands that emerged from it. Previously, he was in the service of the ruler against whom this war had begun as a rebellion, the Spanish King Philip II. Orange had begun his career with Philip's father, Emperor Charles V. In the Netherlands, he is known as the Father of the Fatherland. His original name is Wilhelm. Willem is his Dutchified name. The name William of Orange originated because he inherited the title Prince of Orange in 1544.
Part of one of his mottos was Je maintiendrai (French for 'I will maintain'), which was incorporated into the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The national anthem of the later state of the Netherlands has borne his name since 1932: the Wilhelmus. Dutch national sports teams have worn orange since the twentieth century, which can be traced back to his title of Prince of Orange.
Murder
On July 10, 1584, the Frenchman Balthasar Gerards (who posed as the Protestant François Guyon) committed his fatal assassination. Gerards approached Orange as the latter came down the stairs to have lunch. Gerards asked for a passport. That afternoon, Orange was having lunch at the Prinsenhof in Delft with Rombertus van Uylenburgh, Mayor of Leeuwarden, his sister Katharina, his wife, three daughters, and the widow of Günther van Schwarzenburg. After this meal, Orange intended to walk up the stairs to his bedroom/study. In the meantime, Gerards went to his inn to retrieve his pistols. He loaded one with three bullets and the other with two. Around 1:30 PM, the party left the dining room. As he was about to go up the stairs to his study on the first floor, he was shot dead at very close range by Gerards, who had been hiding behind a pillar, albeit hindered by bodyguards. Gerards used a wheel-lock pistol for that.
According to tradition, Orange's alleged last words were "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, ayez pitié de moi et de ce pauvre peuple," which translates as "My God, My God, have mercy on me and on this poor people." Although Herman Pleij argues that this statement must be attributed to Orange, a study presented in March 2012 makes it almost certain that he did not say it at that time. The words were, however, already documented on the day of the assassination. Orange had likely thought of them earlier, knowing that any hour could be his last. They were well chosen; they had been carefully considered.
With the shot fired by Gerards, three bullets were released, attached to a wire; two of these hit their target, and one went through the heart of William of Orange. He was almost certainly killed instantly and was therefore unable to say anything. The researchers based their findings, among other things, on the original Latin autopsy report drawn up by Pieter van Foreest and Cornelis Busennius. According to historians, the translation of the report was done idiosyncratically and does not correspond with the Dutch-language report that the same doctors submitted to the States General. According to witness statements, William of Orange did say something to his stablemaster Jaques de Malderée, but it is unclear what that was. 'His sister is said to have asked him in German whether he 'placed his soul in the hands of Jesus Christ,' to which Orange is said to have answered yes, also in German.'
The murderer was apprehended after a wild chase, interrogated, tortured, and executed on July 14. Two weeks after the assassination of William of Orange, on July 25, 1584, the Te Deum was sung by canons in St. John's Cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch out of gratitude, in joy at the death of the executor of the city's starvation policy, which cost the lives of two-thirds of the population in the Meierij of 's-Hertogenbosch.
Orange was buried on August 3, 1584, in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. According to an earlier will, he had wanted to be buried in the Grote Kerk in Breda, close to his first wife, Anna van Buren, surrounded by his illustrious ancestors. However, Breda was still occupied by the Spaniards. Even after the reconquest in 1590, Orange remained in Delft. Several thousand people came to pay their last respects at the funeral. The grave was simple, in a corner of the church, 'made of rough stones and cement. It barely rose above the ground, with some wooden stakes on top, painted entirely black,' according to the English student Fynes Morrison, who visited the Nieuwe Kerk in the spring of 1593. It was not until the Twelve Years' Truce in 1615 that a proper tomb monument was designed by the famous architect and sculptor Hendrick de Keyser. On April 12, 1588, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was established, a new, sovereign country that would not have existed without Orange.
The Leiden thriller writer Jeroen Windmeijer recently published the book “De wraak van Balthasar”.
The book is about the assassination of William of Orange, and it also discusses the fact that Balthasar was a hero to many and was even nearly canonized. This book is highly recommended.