STADTHOLDER

STADTHOLDER, (Dut. stadhouder, city-holder.) The name formerly given to the commander-in-chief of the military forces in the republic of the United Netherlands. William I. Prince of Orange had been made governor or stadtholder of the three provinces of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht; and during the war of Independence, he was continued in that office by the goodwill of those provinces. After his death the Earl of Leicester was declared stadtholder by the States General; while some of the separate provinces appointed Prince Maurice, son of their former governor. For a century and a half afterwards the office was conferred and withdrawn by the several provinces at many different times, although always confined to members of the house of Orange. William I V. Prince of Orange, inl747, was the first general hereditary stadtholder; in 1794, the office ceased in the French conquest; in 1814, the present head of the house of Orange (who recently abdicated in favour of his son) was raised to the throne by the title of King William I. The power of the stadtholder varied in diffierent provinces, and at different periods. [s. 1155]