1-273-825 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

William I of Orange-Nassau, Stadtholder of the Netherlands. Known as William the Silent (1533-1584), he was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that sparked the Eighty Years War and led to the independence of the United Provinces in 1648. In 1580 William was declared an outlaw with a price on his head by Philip II of Spain and was assassinated by Balthasar Gerard, a French Catholic, four years later.