In theLow Countries, astadtholder (Dutch:stadhouder[ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər]ⓘ) was asteward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. Thestadtholder was the replacement of theduke orcount of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795).[1]
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 earlyDutch Republic. As multiple provinces appointed the same stadtholder, the stadtholder of the powerful province of Holland at times functioned as thede factohead 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 PrinceWilliam IV of Orange. His son, PrinceWilliam V, was the laststadtholder 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 theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands.[2]
The titlestadtholder is roughly comparable to the historical titles ofLord Protector in England, Statthalter in the Holy Roman Empire andGovernor-general of Norway.
Stadtholder means "steward". Its component parts literally translate as "place holder," fromLatinlocum 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" or "lieutenant".[3] However, this is not the word for the military rank of lieutenant, which isluitenant in Dutch.
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Stadtholders in theMiddle Ages were appointed byfeudal lords to represent them in their absence. If a lord had several dominions (or, being avassal,fiefs), some of these could be ruled by a permanentstadtholder, to whom was delegated the full authority of the lord. Astadtholder 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 independentprovinces of theLow Countries (which included the present-dayNetherlands,Belgium andLuxembourg) made extensive use ofstadtholders, e.g. theDuke of Guelders appointed astadtholder to represent him inGroningen.
In the 15th century theDukes of Burgundy acquired most of the Low Countries, and the constituent parts (duchies, counties, lordships) of theseBurgundian Netherlands mostly each had their ownstadtholder, appointed by the Duke in his capacity of duke, count or lord.
In the 16th century, theHabsburgHoly Roman EmperorCharles 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 thePrince-Bishopric of Liège and two smaller territories (theImperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy and theDuchy of Bouillon) remained outside his domains.Stadtholders continued to be appointed to represent Charles and KingPhilip II, his son and successor inSpain and the Low Countries (the electoral Imperial title would be held by his brotherFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and his heirs in the separate Austrian branch of Habsburgs). Due to the centralist andabsolutist policies of Philip, the actual power of thestadtholders strongly diminished, compared to thelandvoogd (es) or governor-general.
When, in 1581, during theDutch Revolt, seven of the Dutch provinces declared their independence with theAct of Abjuration, the representative function of thestadtholder 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 theRepublic 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.[4] Thestadtholder no longer represented the lord but became the highest executive official, appointed by the States of each province (e.g. theStates of Holland and West Friesland and theStates of Friesland). Although each province could assign its ownstadtholder, moststadtholders 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 (byco-option) of the members ofregent councils or chooseburgomasters from a shortlist of candidates. As these councils themselves appointed most members of the States, thestadtholder could very indirectly influence the general policy. InZeeland, thePrinces of Orange, who after the Dutch Revolt most often held the office ofstadtholder there, held the dignity ofFirst Noble, and were as such a member of the States of that province, because they held the title ofMarquis of Veere and Flushing as one of their patrimonial titles.
On the Republic's central 'confederal' level, thestadtholder of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland was normally also appointedCaptain-General of theDutch States Army andAdmiral-General of the confederate fleet,[5] though nostadtholder 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, andWilliam II of Orange attempted the same.
The leader of the Dutch Revolt wasWilliam the Silent (William I of Orange); he had been appointedstadtholder 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 installRobert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester as governor-general ofElizabeth I before Maurice in 1590 became stadtholder of five provinces,[6] a position he would hold until his death (his cousinWilliam 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 andWilliam 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, thestadtholders tried to extend their right of affirmation, while they also attempted to add the remaining stadholderships like Friesland and Groningen to their other holdings.[6] In reaction, the regents in Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel, after the death of William II in 1650, appointed nostadtholder,[7] and banned his son William from the stadtholdership by anAct of Seclusion, something overcome by popular feeling during the catastrophic events of 1672, the Dutch Year of Disaster (Rampjaar), when the futureWilliam III of England was swept to power.[8] After the death of William III in 1702 they again abstained from appointing a stadtholder.[7] These periods are known as theFirst Stadtholderless Period and theSecond Stadtholderless Period.
After the French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to acceptWilliam IV, Prince of Orange, stadtholder ofFriesland andGroningen, as stadtholder in the other provinces. On 22 November 1747, the office ofstadtholder was made hereditary (erfstadhouder) everywhere (previously only in Friesland). As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) wasstadtholder in all provinces, his function accordingly was restyledStadhouder-Generaal.
After William IV's death in 1751, his infant son was duly appointedstadtholder under the regency of his mother. The misgovernment of this regency caused much resentment, which issued in 1780 in thePatriot movement, seeking to permanently limit the powers of the stadholderate.[9] The Patriots first took over many city councils, then theStates of the province of Holland, and ultimately raised civil militias to defend their position against Orangist partisans, bringing the country to the brink of civil war. ThroughPrussian military intervention in 1787, PrinceWilliam 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 theAct of Guarantee (1788).
The exiles returned with French armies in the winter of 1795 and overcame the frozenDutch Water Line. William V fled to England, and the office of stadtholder was abolished that year,[10] when theFrench revolutionary forces installed theBatavian Republic. Similarly, while from 1572 in theSouthern 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 theKingdom of Holland, putting his younger brotherLouis on the throne. He abdicated his throne in 1810 in favour of his sonLouis 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 Frederick, the son ofWilliam V, was invited by theTriumvirate 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 theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The stadtholderate was taken as a political model by theFounding 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".[11]
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