William of Orange
William of Orange (William III)
William of Orange held the position of Stadtholder of the Netherlands and was regarded as the de facto leader of the Dutch Republic.
He was the Stadtholder of Utrecht, Zeeland, Holland, Guelders, and Overijssel. Following the Glorious Revolution, William was proclaimed King of England, Ireland, and Scotland, ruling jointly with his wife, Queen Mary II. He also bore the title of Sovereign Prince of Orange. His accession created a dynastic connection between Holland and Britain.
The Dutch Invasion of 1688
William’s intervention in 1688 was undertaken as part of his primary life mission to contain the threatened hegemony of the French monarchy under Louis XIV. This mission was particularly critical due to the threat Louis XIV posed to the Netherlands. William was invited to seize the throne by seven leading politicians in England, later renowned as the Immortal Seven, who expressed profound concern for their liberties, property, and religion.
Prior to sailing, William issued a declaration affirming that his arrival was intended to maintain and preserve the established liberties, customs, and laws of England, and to investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding the birth of Prince James.
William's English and Dutch supporters emphasised that he and Mary had been invited to defend the Church of England and English liberties against King James II's Catholicism and his absolutist vision of the crown.
In November 1688, William led a fleet four times the size of the Spanish Armada across the channel. The force successfully made landfall at Torbay on 5 November AD 1688, aided by the so-called "Protestant wind". The invading army comprised 21,000 strong, well-trained Dutch soldiers, augmented by resources and troops sourced from Scandinavia and Germany.
The entire military campaign was financed by Jewish banker Francisco Suasso, supported by Jewish weapons contractors Moses Machado and Solomon de Medina.
Consolidation of Power and Financial Settlement
Faced with the invasion, King James II inexplicably lost his nerve and retreated to London, precipitating the defection of his army's leadership to William. William subsequently ordered the withdrawal of all remaining English forces to a minimum distance of 20 miles from the capital. Dutch soldiers maintained an occupation of the English capital for the subsequent 18 months.
Within four months of his arrival, a Convention Parliament proclaimed William and his wife Mary, the Protestant daughter of James II, as co-monarchs.
This Parliament subsequently curtailed the authority of the Crown through the 1689 Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights included restrictions that forbade lawmaking, taxation, or maintaining a standing army during peacetime without the express consent of Parliament.
Crucially, the establishment of limits upon Royal finances settled the question of who held the power of the purse. William III was further compelled to accept a strengthened Triennial Act in 1694, which mandated fresh parliamentary elections every three years.
The financial structures of the monarchy were fundamentally reformed during William III’s reign. To repay the financial patrons of his campaign, he established the usurious Bank of England in 1694, whose primary proprietors became Sephardic Jews.
Furthermore, an Amsterdam-style stock exchange was instituted in the City of London in 1698, which Jewish money-men quickly gained dominance over. William and Mary regarded the prominent political figures, Sarah and John Churchill, with suspicion, viewing them as excessively ambitious. Queen Anne succeeded William and Mary to the throne.