William the Silent in the context of "Pater Patriae"

Maurice of Orange (Dutch: Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was stadtholder of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic—except Friesland—from 1585 until his death. Prior to inheriting the title Prince of Orange from his elder half-brother, Philip William, in 1618, he was known as Maurice of Nassau.

Born in Dillenburg, Nassau, Maurice was educated at the Heidelberg University and the University of Leiden. He succeeded his father, William the Silent, as stadtholder of Holland and Zeeland in 1585, and later assumed the same position in Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel (1590), and Groningen (1620). As Captain-General and Admiral of the Union, Maurice reorganized the Dutch States Army, transforming the Dutch Revolt into a disciplined and effective military campaign.

The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; the roles and duties of the monarch; the formalities of communication between the States General of the Netherlands; and the monarch's role in creating laws. The monarch is head of state and de jure head of government of the Netherlands.

The once-sovereign provinces of the Spanish Netherlands were intermittently ruled by members of the House of Orange-Nassau from 1559, when Philip II of Spain appointed William the Silent (William of Orange) as a stadtholder, until 1795, when the last stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, fled the country. William the Silent became the leader of the Dutch Revolt and of the independent Dutch Republic. Some of his descendants were later appointed as stadtholders by the provinces and, in 1747, the role of stadtholder became a hereditary position in all provinces of the thus "crowned" Dutch Republic.

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːɦɑɱ vɑn ɔldə(m)ˈbɑrnəvɛlt]; 14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619), Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613), was a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.

Van Oldenbarnevelt was born in Amersfoort. He studied law at the universities of Leuven, Bourges, Heidelberg, and Padua, and traveled in France and Italy before settling permanently in The Hague. He favored William the Silent in his revolt against Philip II of Spain, and fought in William's army. In his later years he was a supporter of the Arminians during the religious-political controversy which split the young Dutch Republic. He was the founder of the Dutch East India Company.

The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (c. 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, excessive taxation, and the rights and privileges of the Dutch nobility and cities.

After the initial stages, Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Netherlands, deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebel-held territories. However, widespread mutinies in the Spanish army caused a general uprising. Under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the Catholic and Protestant-dominated provinces sought to establish religious peace while jointly opposing the king's regime with the Pacification of Ghent, but the general rebellion failed to sustain itself.

In the Low Countries, a stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər] , lit. 'stead holder') was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a provincial and later national leader. The stadtholder was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and Habsburg period (1384 – 1581/1795).

The title was used for the highest executive official of each province performing several duties, such as appointing lower administrators and maintaining peace and order, in the early Dutch Republic. As multiple provinces appointed the same stadtholder, the stadtholder of the powerful province of Holland at times functioned as the de facto head of state of the Dutch Republic as a whole during the 16th to 18th centuries, in an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary title under Prince William IV of Orange. His son, Prince William V, was the last stadtholder of all provinces of the Republic, until fleeing French revolutionary troops in 1795. His son, William I of the Netherlands, in 1815 became the first sovereign king of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Frederick V (German: Friedrich V.; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both roles, and the brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive sobriquet "the Winter King" (Czech: Zimní král; German: Winterkönig).

Frederick was born in Deinschwang, Palatinate at the hunting lodge (Jagdschloss), Germany. He was the son of Frederick IV and of Louise Juliana of Orange-Nassau, the daughter of William the Silent and Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier. An intellectual, a mystic, and a Calvinist, he succeeded his father as Prince-Elector of the Rhenish Palatinate in 1610, and at the age of 17 was married to the Protestant princess Elizabeth Stuart.

The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: Huis van Oranje-Nassau, pronounced [ˈɦœys fɑn oːˌrɑɲə ˈnɑsʌu]), also known as the House of Orange or rarely the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Orange, is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since William the Silent organised the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) led to an independent Dutch state. William III of Orange led the resistance of the Netherlands and Europe to Louis XIV of France and orchestrated the Glorious Revolution in England that established parliamentary rule. Similarly, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was instrumental in the Dutch resistance during World War II.

Several members of the house served during the Eighty Years war and after as stadtholder ("governor"; Dutch: stadhouder) during the Dutch Republic. However, in 1815, after a long period as a republic, the Netherlands became a monarchy under the House of Orange-Nassau.

Leiden University (abbreviated as LEI; Dutch: Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest surviving university in the Netherlands.

During the Dutch Golden Age scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic for its climate of intellectual tolerance. Individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Benedictus Spinoza, and later Baron d'Holbach were active in Leiden and environs.