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The Wives of the Stadtholders: an exhibition

The publication in EMLO of the correspondences of the wives of six seventeenth-century stadtholders offers an unprecedented opportunity to analyse female power and influence in the political circles of the Dutch Republic at the Orange and Stuart courts in The Hague and their counterpart at the Frisian court in Leeuwarden. This virtual exhibition sets out biographical information for each of these six women, focusing upon a selection of their letters to demonstrate the different types of correspondence and spheres of activity in which they were involved. In addition, it describes and illustrates the physical centres of power — the palaces in which they lived, worked, and raised their families.

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Amalia von Solms-Braunfels and Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau with their three youngest daughters Albertina Agnes, Henrietta Catharina and Maria

Willem Frederik van Nassau-Dietz

Willem Frederik accidenticaly injured by his own gun<br />
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Huis ter Nieuburch

Palace Huis ter Nieuburch, Rijswijk.

The estate Huis ter Nieuburch was bought in 1630 by Frederik Hendrik van
Oranje-Nassau who rebuilt it in 1634 with the aid of the architect Simon de la Vallée.
Frederik Hendrik’s widow Amalia von Solms-Braunfels inherited the estate, but she…

Map of The Hague (1649)

Map of The Hague (1649)

Map of The Hague (1649) with:

1. Stadtholderly Court at the Binnenhof
2. Palace Noordeinde, the 'Old Court'
3. Frisian court

Map of Leeuwarden (1649)

Map of Leeuwarden (1649)

Map of Leeuwarden (1649) with the Frisian Stadtholderly Court.

Johan de Knuyt to Amalia von Solms-Braunfels

In this letter Johan de Knuyt, close advisor of Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau, reports to Amalia about her husband's army activities.

Detail of a letter from Mary II Stuart (future Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland) to Johan Maurits von Nassau-Siegen

Detail of a letter from Mary II Stuart (future Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland) to Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen

Battle of Malplaquet (1709)

Map of the Battle of Malplaquet, 11 September 1709

Map of the battle at Malplaquet, where the French were defeated by the allied forces, on September 11th, 1709. Illustration in: J. Lamigue, Het leven van Zyne Hoogheit Johan Willem Friso, dl. II, p. 142/143.

Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau

Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau

Huis Ten Bosch

Huis ten Bosch

The estate Huis Ten Bosch was built in 1645 by Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau and his wife Amalia von Solms-Braunfels. Pieter Post was the primary architect. When Frederik Hendrik died in 1647, Amalia turned the estate into a monument in honour…

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