Royal Game
October 2000
This month's question was:
Can anyone tell how the Oranje-Nassau family got their name 'Oranje' and why they carry 'Je maintiendrai' in their coat of arms.
The answer, as given by the winner, Ana Patricia Wah:
The link between the House of Nassau and the Netherlands date from 1403 when count Engelbrecht I of Nassau married Johanna van Polanen, lady of Breda. The Breda branch of the family soon entered the ranks of the highest nobility and were entrusted with important offices by the Dukes of Burgundy. Count Hendrik III of Nassau (1483-1538) held high civil and military office and was involved in the education of the future Emperor Charles V. His marriage to Claudia de Chalon and Orange (1498-1521), a Burgundian noblewoman, brought him estates in southern and eastern France, including the sovereign principality of Orange. Hendrick's son, René de Chalon (1519-1544), Count of Nassau, Prince of Orange (1538) married in 1540 Anna de Lorraine (1522-1568) and had a daughter, dorn and died in 1544. His estates passed to his eldest German cousin William of Nassau, who thus became William I "the silent" of Orange (1533-1584).This motto originated in the heraldic device of the house of Chalon. William of Nassau inherited the title of Prince of Orange and the principality in 1544 from his cousin René de Chalon (1519-1544). The phrase is supposed to have been uttered by William the Silent, Prince of Orange and Nassau, who was elected William I, Stadholder of the Netherlands (actually, of Holland and several other provinces), in 1572.
When William III first arrived to England he retained the motto, but added to it, "I will maintain the liberties of England and the Protestant religion."