Page "Orange, Vaucluse" Paragraph 10

When William the Silent, count of Nassau, with estates in the Netherlands, inherited the title Prince of Orange in 1544, the Principality was incorporated into the holdings of what became the House of Orange-Nassau.

This pitched it into the Protestant side in the Wars of Religion, during which the town was badly damaged.

In 1568 the Eighty Years ' War began with William as stadtholder leading the bid for independence from Spain.

William the Silent was assassinated in Delft in 1584.

It was his son, Maurice of Nassau ( Prince of Orange after his elder brother died in 1618 ), with the help of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who solidified the independence of the Dutch republic.

The United Provinces survived to become the Netherlands, which is still ruled by the House of Orange-Nassau.

William, Prince of Orange, ruled England as William III of England.

Orange gave its name to other Dutch-influenced parts of the world, such as the Oranges ( West Orange, South Orange, East Orange, Orange ) in New Jersey, USA, and the Orange Free State in South Africa.