Willem IV van den Bergh
Encyclopedia
's-Heerenberg
s-Heerenberg is a city on the Dutch-German border, in the Province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It is located about 5 km north of the German Emmerich, and about 12 km south of Doetinchem. It received city rights in 1379....
, Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
– 6 November 1586, Ulft
Ulft
Ulft is a town in Oude IJsselstreek in the Achterhoek province in Gelderland, Netherlands.The town has over 10.700 inhabitants and is the biggest town in Oude IJsselstreek. Until 1 January 2005, Ulft was part of the municipality Gendringen...
) was Stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Guelders
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
and Zutphen
Zutphen County
Zutphen county, in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, was formed in the eleventh century as a fief of the Bishop of Utrecht. It has been in personal union with Guelders since the 1130s. Later, it became one of the 4 quarters of Guelders...
from 1581 until his arrest for suspected treason in 1583.
Biography
Willem was the son of count Oswald II van den Bergh and Elisabeth van Dorth. He spent time at the court of the Regent Mary of Austria (1505–1558) of the Habsburg NetherlandsHabsburg Netherlands
The Habsburg Netherlands was a geo-political entity covering the whole of the Low Countries from 1482 to 1556/1581 and solely the Southern Netherlands from 1581 to 1794...
in Brussels at the same time that his contemporary William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
was educated there. He married the elder sister of Orange, Maria of Nassau, on November 11, 1556 at Moers
Moers
Moers is a German city on the left bank of the Rhine. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel...
.
In 1566 he was a prominent member of the League of Nobles (also known as the Compromis) that presented a petition of grievances about the suppression of heresy to the Brussels government of the new Regent Margaret of Parma
Margaret of Parma
Margaret, Duchess of Parma , Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst...
(who acted for her brother Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
). They were derided as Geuzen
Geuzen
Geuzen was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles and other malcontents, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen...
("Beggars") for their trouble by a courtier, which epithet would become a name of honor for the future rebels in the Dutch Revolt
Dutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
. This prominence put him in the crosshairs when Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands , nicknamed "the Iron Duke" in the Low Countries because of his harsh and cruel rule there and his role in the execution of his political opponents and the massacre of several...
succeeded Margaret as governor-general of the Netherlands in 1567 and started a program of repression. Together with a number of other "ringleaders", like Orange, Willem was indicted before the Council of Troubles
Council of Troubles
The Council of Troubles was the special tribunal instituted on September 9, 1567 by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, governor-general of the Habsburg Netherlands on the orders of Philip II of Spain to punish the ringleaders of the recent political and religious "troubles" in the...
, but he escaped with his family to Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
.
In 1572 he commanded one of the little armies of mercenaries, financed by his brother-in-law the Prince of Orange, that invaded the Netherlands. He was successful initially, and conquered in short order Doetinchem
Doetinchem
Doetinchem is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the Oude IJssel river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek . The municipality has 56,700 inhabitants and has an area of 79.66 km²...
, Zutphen, Deventer
Deventer
Deventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
, Zwolle
Zwolle
Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...
, Kampen
Kampen
Campen or Kampen may refer:* Campen, Germany, a village by the Ems estuary, northwestern Germany, home of the Campen Lighthouse* Kampen, Germany, a municipality on the island Sylt, Germany* Kampen, Overijssel, a town in the Netherlands...
, and Steenwijk
Steenwijk
Steenwijk is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality.Steenwijk received city rights in 1327...
. However, he was not able to withstand the onslaught of the Spanish troops under Alba's son Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba
Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba
Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán, 4th Duke of Alba, Grandee of Spain, , , was a commander in the Spanish army during the Eighty Years' War....
. Only after the Pacification of Ghent
Pacification of Ghent
The Pacification of Ghent, signed on November 8, 1576, was an alliance of the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands for the purpose of driving mutinying Spanish mercenary troops from the country, and at the same time a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland.-Background:In...
, of whose amnesty he benefited, was he able to return to the Netherlands and regained his forfeited possessions.
Though he hoped to be appointed stadtholder of Gelderland on behalf of the States-General of the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
, this ambition was initially thwarted when his other brother-in-law got the post. Disaffected by this disappointment he secretly approached the new royal governor-general of the Netherlands, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
Alexander Farnese was Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1586 to 1592, and Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592.-Biography:...
with the object of becoming the royal stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen (which county at the time was still separate from the current province).
However, John resigned the office in 1581 and now Willem was appointed stadtholder for the rebellious States-General after all. He remained in contact with Parma nevertheless, and stealthily sabotaged the military efforts of the Rebels, which may have contributed to the Spanish successes in the eastern provinces of the Netherlands in these years. His treasonous correspondence was discovered and he was arrested by the chancellor of Guelders, Elbertus Leoninus
Elbertus Leoninus
Elbertus Leoninus was the Latinized name of Elbert de Leeuw , Dutch jurist and statesman, who helped negotiate the Pacification of Ghent.-Family life:...
on November 5, 1583. Soon thereafter he was released after he promised to retire to his castle in Ulft and remain neutral in the conflict.
After his release, however, he defected to the royalist forces after all, together with his sons. Four of his sons with his wife Maria of Nassau became officers in the Spanish service, and performed important services for the Spanish cause – count Herman van den Bergh
Herman van den Bergh (stadhouder)
Herman, Count van den Bergh was a Dutch soldier in the Eighty Years' War, knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and stadtholder of Spanish Guelders.-Life:...
(1558–1611), count Frederik (1559–1618), count Oswald III (1561-1586) and count Hendrik van den Berg
Hendrik van den Bergh (count)
Hendrik, count van den Bergh , lord of Stevensweert, was a Dutch soldier in Spanish service during the Eighty Years' War and stadhouder of Spanish Upper Guelders.-Life:...
(1573–1638; he ended up defecting from the Spanish to the States side).
Sources
(1869), "Willem van den Bergh" in: Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden II, eerste stuk, (Haarlem) pp. 386–390External links
Willem IV graaf van den Berghl