History and Language
motto of his uncle, Je maintiendrai. At his death, which took place at the siege of St. Dizier, his vast lands went to his first cousin, William of Nassau. As this boy Prince—for he was only eleven years of age when he came into his inheritance—was thus a personage of importance, both the Emperor Charles V. and the Church considered it important to secure his good graces. Hence it was that Charles V. gave his authority for the acceptance of the inheritance, on condition that the new Prince should be brought up in Brussels and in the Roman Catholic religion. This is how Prince William came to take up his residence in the Netherlands. In 1701 the principality of Orange reverted to France, but the Dutch Princes retained the escutcheon and the motto.
The history of the Netherlands' struggle against Spain has been told by Motley,
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