User:JMvanDijk/Sandbox4/Box3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Low Countries, stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər] ⓘ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or earl of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795).[1]
The title was used for the official tasked with maintaining peace and provincial order in the early Dutch Republic and, at times, became de facto head of state of the Dutch Republic during the 16th to 18th centuries, which was an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary role and thus a monarchy (though not a monarchial title) under Prince William IV of Orange. His son, Prince William V of Orange, was the last stadtholder of the republic, whose own son, King William I of the Netherlands, became the first king of the Netherlands.[2] The current Dutch monarchy is only distantly related to the first stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, William I of Orange, the leader of the successful Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire, his line having died out with William III.
The title stadtholder is roughly comparable to England's historic title Lord Protector.