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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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Dietz Castle

Dietz Castle

The Frisian stadtholders were endowed with the fiefdom Dietz in present-day Germany. The 'Duke's Castle' (built in the eleventh century) was the main residence of Sophia Hedwig von Braunschweig-Wolfenbütteland and she remained there after the death…

The Frisian Court at The Hague

Frisian court The Hague.

The Frisian stadtholders were obliged to attend the meetings of the States-General at the Binnenhof in The Hague. They spent therefore a large part of the year in The Hague.

They had their own palace, known as the 'Friese Hof' [Frisian Court].…

Amalia von Solms-Braunfels to Constantijn Huygens (detail)

Detail of marriage portrait of Willem II van Oranje-Nassau and Mary Stuart (Princess Royal and Princess of Orange)

Detail of marriage portrait of Willem II van Oranje-Nassau and Mary Stuart (Princess Royal and Princess of Orange), Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Anthony van Dijck, 1641.

Willem II van Oranje-Nassau and Mary Stuart (Princess Royal and Princess of Orange)

Willem II van Oranje-Nassau and Mary Stuart (Princess Royal and Princess of Orange)

Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau

Frederik Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau

Constantijn Huygens

Portrait of Constantijn Huygens

Mary II Stuart (Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland)

Mary II Stuart (Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland), Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Charles Boit, ca. 1689-1727

Constantijn Huygens to Mary II Stuart (future Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland)

Only three letters survive from Constantijn Huygens to Mary Stuart, the daughter of James II and herself the future queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In January 1687, when this particular letter was written, Mary and her husband Willem were…

Hendrik Casimir I van Nassau-Dietz

Hendrik Casimir I van Nassau-Dietz

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