Documents for "Benelux History: Biographies":

• Albert I 1875-1934, king of the Belgians (1909-34), nephew and successor of Leopold II. He married (1900) Elizabeth, a Bavarian princess. In World War I his heroic resistance (1914) to the German invasion of Belgium greatly helped the Allied cause. Albert spent the entire war at the...

• Albert II 1934-, king of the Belgians (1993-), the younger son of Leopold III. He married Donna Paola Ruffo de Calabria in 1959; they have three children. Albert became king when Baudouin , his brother, died...

• Artevelde, Jacob van c.1290-1345, Flemish statesman, of a wealthy family of Ghent. In 1337 the Flemish cloth industry underwent a severe crisis. The pro-French policy of the count of Flanders in the conflict between...

• Artevelde, Philip van 1340-82, Flemish popular leader, captain general of Ghent; son of Jacob van Artevelde. In the struggle between the so-called Goods (the propertied classes supported by the count of Flanders) and the Bads (the workers, led by the weavers), he put himself (1381) at the head of the...

• Asser, Tobias Michael Carel 1838-1913, Dutch jurist. He was a delegate to many international conferences, including the Hague Conference of 1899, and he wrote on international law. A proponent of international arbitration,...

• Barneveldt, Johan van Olden see Oldenbarneveldt, Johan van.

• Baudouin 1930-93, king of the Belgians (1951-93), son of Leopold III. He joined his father in exile (1945-50) in Switzerland. After their return to Belgium his father's unpopularity led to Baudouin's appointment (1950) as regent, and on Leopold's abdication (1951)...

• Beatrix 1938-, queen of the Netherlands. The oldest daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, she received a law degree from the Univ. of Leyden (1961). In 1966 her marriage to German diplomat Claus von Amsberg, once a member of...

• Beauharnais, Hortense de 1783-1837, queen of Holland (1806-10), daughter of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais and wife of Louis Bonaparte. She was the mother of Napoleon III and—by her lover, the comte de Flahaut—of...

• Beernaert, Auguste 1829-1912, Belgian statesman. A member of the liberal wing of the Catholic party, he served in several cabinets and was premier from 1884 to 1894. Beernaert promoted electoral reform and...

• Charlotte 1896-1985, grand duchess of Luxembourg (1919-64). The second daughter of Duke William of Nassau-Weilburg and a Portuguese princess, Marie Anne of Braganza, she succeeded her sister, Marie-Adelaide,...

• Coehoorn, Menno van 1641-1704, Dutch military engineer and nobleman. He invented a portable bronze siege mortar called the coehorn. He was considered in his day a rival of Vauban in the construction of fortresses. He...

• De Jong, Petrus Josef Sietse 1915-, Dutch naval officer and politician. Having entered the royal navy in 1931, he served as a submarine commander in World War II and rose in the navy after the war. He was state secretary for...

• De Witt, Jan see Witt, Jan de.

• Diemen, Anton van 1593-1645, Dutch colonial official. As governor-general for the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies after 1636, he captured Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Malacca from the Portuguese. He sent Abel...

• Egmont, Lamoral, count of 1522-68, Flemish general and statesman, member of one of the noblest families of the Netherlands. In the service of Philip II of Spain he helped defeat the French at Saint-Quentin (1557) and...

• Eyskens, Gaston 1905-88, Belgian political leader. He became a professor at the Univ. of Louvain in 1931. A Christian Socialist member of parliament (1939-73), he headed the ministry of finance (1945, 1947-49,...

• Frederick Henry 1584-1647, prince of Orange; son of William the Silent by Louise de Coligny. He became stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands upon the death (1625) of his brother Maurice of Nassau. As a minor prince heading a federation of oligarchic republics, Frederick allied himself with other minor members and the puritans in order to maintain control during the Netherlands' struggle for...

• Hari, Mata see Mata Hari.

• Hoorn, Philip de Montmorency, count of 1518?-1568, Netherlands nobleman, member of the council of state during the regency of Margaret of Parma. In 1562 he joined with the count of Egmont and William the Silent in opposition to Cardinal Granvelle , who had introduced Spanish troops and the Spanish Inquisition into the Netherlands. When the duke of Alba replaced (1567) Margaret of Parma, he had Egmont and Hoorn arrested and, after an...

• Horn, Philip de Montmorency, count of see Hoorn, Philip de Montmorency, count of.

• Jacqueline 1401-36, countess of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland (1417-33). The daughter and heiress of William IV, duke of Bavaria and count of Hainaut, Holland, and Zeeland, and of Margaret of Burgundy,...

• Jean 1921-, grand duke of Luxembourg (1964-2000); son of Charlotte , grand duchess of Luxembourg, and Felix, prince of Bourbon-Parma. He fought with Great Britain's Irish Guards in World War II. In 1953,...

• John Maurice of Nassau 1604-79, Dutch general and colonial administrator, a prince of the house of Nassau-Siegen; grandnephew of William the Silent. The Dutch West India Company appointed him (1636) governor-general of...

• Jong, Petrus Josef Sietse de see De Jong, Petrus Josef Sietse.

• Juliana 1909-2004, queen of the Netherlands (1948-80). She succeeded on the abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina. A popular monarch, she married (1937) Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1911-2004),...

• Leopold I 1790-1865, king of the Belgians (1831-65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a general of the Russian army,...

• Leopold II 1835-1909, king of the Belgians (1865-1909), son and successor of Leopold I. His reign saw great industrial and colonial expansion. In 1876 he organized, with the help of H. M. Stanley , the International Association for the Exploration and Civilization of the Congo. At a European conference (Berlin, 1884-85), the Congo Free State was established under Leopold's personal rule (see Congo, Democratic Republic of the ). He proceeded to amass a huge personal fortune by exploiting the Congo directly and by leasing concessions. Forced labor was extorted from the natives, frequently by barbarous methods, until...

• Leopold III 1901-83, king of the Belgians (1934-51), son and successor of Albert I. In 1936, Leopold announced a fundamental change in foreign policy; Belgium abandoned its military alliance with France in favor of a return to neutrality. In May, 1940, Germany—which in 1937 had...

• Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von 1580?-1626, military commander in the Thirty Years War. Illegitimate son of a governor for the Hapsburgs in Luxembourg, he rendered distinguished service in the imperial forces in the Netherlands and was legitimized; by 1607 he was styling himself...

• Margaret of Austria 1480-1530, Hapsburg princess, regent of the Netherlands; daughter of Emperor Maximilian I. She was betrothed (1483) to the dauphin of France, later King Charles VIII , and was transferred to the guardianship of Louis XI of France (see Arras, Treaty of , 2 ). After Charles renounced the treaty and married Anne of Brittany , Margaret was returned (1493) to her father. She was married in 1497 to John of Spain (d. 1497), son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and in 1501 to Philibert of Savoy (d. 1504). Made (1507) regent of...

• Margaret of Parma 1522-86, Spanish regent of the Netherlands; illegitimate daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. She was married (1536) to Alessandro de' Medici (d. 1537) and (1538) to Ottavio Farnese, duke of...

• Marnix, Philip van 1540-98, Flemish patriot, lord of Sainte-Aldegonde. He became a Calvinist in his youth and was the chief author of the Compromise of Breda (1566; see Gueux ). A leader in the Dutch and Flemish struggle for independence from Spain, he actively supported William the Silent. He wrote (c.1570) the hymn Wilhelmus van Nassauwe, which was used as the rallying song of the insurgents and which remains the national anthem of the Netherlands. In 1572 he represented William at the estates of Holland, held at Dordrecht, and...

• Martens, Wilfried 1936-, Belgian politician. A lawyer and well-respected negotiator, he was president of the youth wing of the Christian People's Party from 1965 to 1972. In the world of fractious Belgian politics,...

• Mata Hari 1876-1917, Dutch dancer and spy in German service during World War I. Her real name was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle. A dancer in Paris, she joined the German secret service in 1907, and during the...

• Maurice of Nassau 1567-1625, prince of Orange (1618-25); son of William the Silent by Anne of Saxony. He became stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland after the assassination (1584) of his father. He was later appointed (1588) captain general and admiral of the United Netherlands and...

• Oldenbarneveldt, Johan van 1547-1619, Dutch statesman. He aided William the Silent in the struggle for Dutch independence from Spain and opposed the dictatorial policy set by Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester , chosen by the States-General as governor-general in 1586. After Leicester's departure (1587) he helped to concentrate military power in the hands of Maurice of Nassau. Made permanent advocate of Holland in 1586, Oldenbarneveldt controlled the civil affairs of the United Provinces (in which Holland was prominent). He represented the patrician manufacturing and...

• Ruyter, Michiel Adriaanszoon de 1607-76, Dutch admiral. His life was spent in the Dutch mercantile and naval service. He fought under Maarten Tromp in the first (1652-54) of the Dutch Wars and distinguished himself in the second Dutch War (1664-67) by the capture of English holdings on the Gold and Guinea coasts. He saved the Dutch fleet in a brilliant withdrawal after defeat at North Foreland (Aug. 4, 1666) and burned English ships...

• Santer, Jacques (Jean Jacques Santer) , 1937-, Luxembourg political leader and European statesman. A lawyer and economist, he entered politics as a member of the Christian Social party in 1965 and later held several ministerial posts,...

• Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, Prince 1886-1934, son of Robert, last duke of Parma. While serving as an officer in the Belgian army, he was the intermediary for his brother-in-law, Emperor Charles I of Austria-Hungary, in Charles's secret attempt to negotiate peace with the Allies in 1917. The effort came to nothing, but in Apr., 1918, the French government, in retaliation for attacks made by...

• Spaak, Paul Henri 1899-1972, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He held various cabinet posts after 1935 and served almost continually as foreign minister from 1938 to 1949. A moderate Socialist, Spaak was...

• Thorbecke, Jan Rudolf 1798-1872, Dutch statesman. An eminent jurist and the leading liberal politician of his day, he was one of the men appointed in 1848 by King William II to revise the constitution. Thorbecke was...

• Tromp, Cornelis 1629-91, Dutch admiral in the second and third of the Dutch Wars; son of Maarten Tromp. In 1665 he was made commander of the Dutch fleet, but he was replaced by M. A. de Ruyter in the same year. In June, 1666, he commanded the rear squadron of the fleet in the Four Days battle or battle of the Downs, but in Aug., 1666, he lost his command because of de Ruyter's...

• Tromp, Maarten Harpertszoon 1597-1653, Dutch admiral. A sailor from childhood, he joined the navy and rose to the rank of lieutenant admiral in 1637. In 1639, by remarkable tactics, he was able to blockade and crush a...

• Van Zeeland, Paul 1893-1973, Belgian political leader. He was a professor of law and later director of the institute of economic science at the Univ. of Louvain and vice governor of the national bank of Belgium. In...

• Vandervelde, Émile 1866-1938, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He entered parliament in 1894, and served in many cabinets, notably as minister of justice (1918-21), foreign minister (1925-27), and vice...

• Werner, Pierre 1913-2002, political leader in Luxembourg. A lawyer, he held various posts in the ministry of finance after World War II. Secretary to the council of government (1949-53), he was (1953-58)...

• Wilhelmina 1880-1962, queen of the Netherlands (1890-1948), daughter and successor of William III. Her mother, Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, was regent until 1898. Wilhelmina married (1901) Prince Henry of...

• William I 1772-1843, first king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1815-40), son of Prince William V of Orange, last stadtholder of the Netherlands. He commanded (1793-95) the Dutch army in the...

• William I prince of Orange: see William the Silent.

• William II 1792-1849, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1840-49), son and successor of William I. He served with Wellington in the Peninsular War, was wounded at Waterloo, and led the...

• William II 1626-50, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (1647-50), son and successor of Frederick Henry. He married (1641) Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I of England...

• William III 1817-90, king of the Netherlands and grand duke of Luxembourg (1849-90), son and successor of William II. William III ruled as a constitutional monarch, and his long reign was unmarred by friction...

• William of Orange see William the Silent ; William II , prince of Orange; William III , king of England.

• William the Silent or William of Orange (William I, prince of Orange), 1533-84, Dutch statesman, principal founder of Dutch independence.

• Witt, Jan de 1625-72, Dutch statesman. Like his father, Jacob de Witt, burgomaster of Dort, he became a leading opponent of the house of Orange and played a vital role in the three successive Dutch Wars. As leader of the republican party, he was elected (1653) grand pensionary, thus acquiring control of state affairs. He represented the mercantile interests and accordingly encouraged industry and...

• Zeeland, Paul van see Van Zeeland, Paul.