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John William Friso, who also was the Prince of Nassau-Dietz, founded thereby the second House of Orange-Nassau (the suffix name "Dietz" was dropped of the combined name Orange-Nassau-Dietz). The Revolutionary and Napoleonic era was a tumultuous episode of the history of both the Ottonian and Walramian branches of the House of Nassau.
- House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: Huis van Oranje-Nassau,...
- House of Nassau-Weilburg
The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of...
- House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: Huis van Oranje-Nassau, pronounced [ˈɦœys fɑn oːˌrɑɲə ˈnɑsʌu]) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands.A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since William the Silent organised the Dutch Revolt against Spanish ...
- 1544; 479 years ago
- William the Silent
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The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With the fall of the Hohenstaufen in the first half of the 13th century royal power within Franconia evaporated and the former stem duchy fragmented into separate independent states. Nassau emerged as ...
- Overview
- Walramian Nassau.
- Ottonian Nassau.
Nassau, historical region of Germany, and the noble family that provided its hereditary rulers for many centuries. The present-day royal heads of the Netherlands and Luxembourg are descended from this family, called the house of Nassau.
The region of Nassau is located in what is now the western part of the Land (state) of Hesse and the Westerwald Kreis (district) of Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. The Lahn River divides Nassau roughly into two halves: in the south are the Taunus Mountains; in the north lies the Westerwald.
Walram II’s son, Adolf of Nassau, was the German king from 1292 to 1298. Adolf’s descendants, however, partitioned their lands, and by the late 18th century the Walramian inheritance was divided between the Nassau-Weilburg and Nassau-Usingen branches. In 1801 Napoleonic France acquired the Walramians’ lands west of the Rhine; in 1803 the branches o...
Otto I’s descendants also indulged in partitions and subdivisions, and one branch of the family acquired extensive Dutch territories, becoming known as the Nassau-Dillenburg-Breda branch. Upon the death of the last ruler of this branch in 1544, a cousin, William of Nassau (the future William I the Silent, prince of Orange), inherited the branch’s Dutch principality of Orange, and members of this line were henceforth called princes of Orange-Nassau. William the Silent was the founder of the dynasty of hereditary stadholders who were prominent in the Netherlands in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. When William’s direct male line became extinct upon the death of King William III of England in 1702, the Ottonians’ possessions in both the Netherlands and Nassau passed to Count John William Friso of the Ottonian branch of Nassau-Dietz. The Nassau-Dietz branch eventually reunited the Ottonians’ partitioned German territories in the 18th century.
The Ottonian ruler William VI of Orange lost his German possessions to Napoleon in 1806 but was awarded Luxembourg by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 in compensation. William VI also succeeded to the kingdom of the Netherlands as King William I in that year. His descendants (including female descendants) still reign in the Netherlands today with the princely title of Orange-Nassau. When the Ottonian branch became extinct in the male line with the death of William III in 1890, his daughter, Wilhelmina, became queen of the Netherlands while Luxembourg passed to Duke Adolf of Nassau, a member of the Walramian branch of the house of Nassau. The Walramian line is still the ruling house of the grand duchy of Luxembourg.
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- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Germany. Nassau, historical region of Germany, and the noble family that provided its hereditary rulers for many centuries. The present-day royal heads of the Netherlands and Luxembourg are descended from this family, called the house of Nassau. The region of Nassau is located in what is now the western part of the Land (state) of Hesse and the ...
The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806. On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the principalities of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg both joined the ...
The House of Orange-Nassau is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since William the Silent organised the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War led to an independent Dutch state.
