View source for William Hyacinth, Prince of Nassau-Siegen

{{Short description|Prince of Nassau-Siegen}}
{{ infobox nobility
| name = William Hyacinth, Prince of Nassau-Siegen
| image = Willem Hyacinth, by Nicolas de Largillière.jpg
| caption = William Hyacinth, Prince of Nassau-Siegen
| noble family = [[House of Nassau]]
| father = [[John Francis Desideratus, Prince of Nassau-Siegen]]
| mother = [[Eleonore Sophie of Baden-Rodemachern]]
| spouse = [[Maria Francisca of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg]]<br/>[[Maria Anna of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst]]<br/>[[Countess Sophia of Starhemberg]]
| birth_date = {{birth_date|1667|4|3|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Brussels]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1743|2|18|1666|4|7|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Hadamar]]
}}
[[File:Hyacinth Sarg.JPG|thumb|267px|Coffin of William Hyacinth in Hadamar]]
[[File:Hadamar Herzenberg Herz1.JPG|thumb|267px|Heart Epitaph of William Hyacinth in the Herzberg Chapel in Hadamar]]
Prince '''William Hyacinth of Nassau-Siegen''' (3 April 1667 in [[Brussels]] &ndash; 18 February 1743 in [[Hadamar]]) was a Prince of [[Nassau-Siegen]].
== Early life ==
Born into the [[Nassau-Siegen|House of Nassau-Siegen]], cadet line of the [[House of Nassau]], William Hyacinth was born as the eldest surviving son of Prince [[John Francis Desideratus of Nassau-Siegen]] and his second wife, [[Margrave|Margravine]] Eleonore Sophie of [[House of Zähringen|Baden-Baden]] (1640-1668).<ref>https://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00016847&tree=LEO</ref> By birth, he also had claims to the [[Principality of Orange]].
== Biography ==
In 1695, he took up his residence in [[Siegen]]. In the same year, the city fell victim to a great fire, which burned 350 buildings, two churches and the Nassau Court, the headquarters of the ruling family. His father began building a new castle in Siegen as the new family home in 1696.
From 17 December 1699 to 2 March 1707, William Hyacinth was the ruler of [[House of Nassau-Siegen|Nassau-Siegen]]. He was hoping to inherit much more than his father's principality of Nassau-Siegen, since he was one of the nearest male relatives of the childless King [[William III of England]], and thus a potential heir to William's extensive lands in Germany and the [[Republic of the Seven United Provinces|Dutch Republic]]. However, William III left his possessions by will to John William Friso of [[Nassau-Dietz]].  William Hyacinth later used the title of Prince of Orange in Brabant.
He did not even inherit all of his father's wealth. His father had remarried with Isabella Clara du Puget de la Serre and had had seven surviving children with her. In his will, he left her a [[bequest]] of 1100 [[Thaler|taler]] per year. Her two sons each received 500 taler per year and her five daughters 200 taler each. William Hyacinth challenged this will before the [[Reichskammergericht|Imperial Supreme Court]], however, he lost his case in 1702.
In the same year William III died in England. William Hyacinth traveled to Paris to secure the support of France with regard to his rights of inheritance. Other claimants were King [[Frederick I of Prussia]] and [[John William Friso, Prince of Orange|John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz]], who was designated as the sole heir in the testament of King William III of [[Kingdom of England|England]].
King [[Louis XIV]], however, showed little interest in supporting a prince without military power base. William Hyacinth then travelled to the [[principality of Orange]] and announced there that he had seized the principality. Louis XIV declared that the Prince [[Henri Jules, Prince of Condé|Henri Jules of Condé]] was the rightful heir to the principality of Orange and occupied it militarily.  Henri Jules transferred the principality to France. In the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] of 1713, the lands of the principality were definitively awarded to France.
His lavish court, with which he wanted to underscore his claim to the inheritance of Orange, his journeys and gifts cost far more than his income from the Duchy of Nassau-Siegen could bear. William Hyacinth was consequently indebted to the bankers De Rhön and Schonemann from Frankfurt,  pledging of the villages [[Wilnsdorf]] and [[Wilgersdorf]] for {{gaps|20|000|talers}}. He increased taxes across the country to intolerable levels. Another source of income were excessive fines, which further damaged his reputation in his country.
His quick temper and ambition were feared in their own family. When his brother (and successor) [[Frederick William Adolf, Prince of Nassau-Siegen|Frederick William Adolf]] expressed his displeasure, William Hyacinth directed the guns of his castle on his brother's castle in order to demonstrate his power. Frederick William Adolf then sued his brother in the assembly of the [[Westphalian Circle]].  When William Hyacinth visited the court in Vienna in 1705, to raise support for his inheritance claim, Siegen was occupied by troops from Nassau and Prussia. The people revolted and plundered and disarmed William Hyacinth's castle.
The number of complaints about his conduct continued to increase. On 15 July 1706, Siegen was again occupied, this time by troops from [[Palatinate-Neuburg|County Palatine of Neuburg]] and Prussia, at the request of the [[Aulic Council]].  William Hyacinth's Chancellor, de Colomba, who had played a major rôle in William Hyacinth's tyranny, was arrested and on 20 December 1710 exiled from the German Empire for life. William Hyacinth himself fled to Hadamar, to his cousin [[Francis Alexander, Prince of Nassau-Hadamar|Prince Francis Alexander]], the last ruler of [[Nassau-Hadamar]].
The revolts against his reign of terror continued.  On 29 March 1707 William Hyacinth had Friedrich Flender von der Hardt, a suspected leader of the insurgents, beheaded without any form of trial. Emperor [[Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph I]] used this occasion to deprive William Hyacinth of his principality.  It was temporarily administered by two imperial councillors and then passed to [[Frederick William Adolf, Prince of Nassau-Siegen|Frederick William Adolf]]. In 1713, France withdrew William Hyacinth's French title of [[Chalon-Arlay|Count of Chalon]].
William Hyacinth was awarded an annual pension of 4000 talers. The remaining assets were used to pay the pensions of his stepmother and her siblings, his creditors and a debt of honor to the family of Friedrich Flender.  William Hyacinth complained to the emperor and to the [[Perpetual Diet|Diet of Regensburg]], however, neither complaint met with success.
== Marriages and issue ==
William Hyacinth was married three times:
His first wife was Princess Maria Franziska of [[Fürstenberg (princely family)|Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg]] (1660-1691), daughter of [[Herman Egon, Prince of Fürstenberg|Herman Egon, Prince of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg]] and his wife Countess Maria Franziska of [[Fürstenberg-Stühlingen]] (1638-1680). They were married on 9 April 1687 in [[Liège]]. She died on 7 June 1691. With her he had three children:
* Joseph Hyacinth (1688-1688)
* Francis Joseph (1689–1703)
* A daughter (1691–1692)
His second wife was Maria Anna of [[Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst]] (1678-1739), daughter of Count Ludwig Gustav of [[Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst]] (1634-1697) and his wife, Baroness Anna Barbara of [[Schönborn family|Schönborn]] (1648-1721). They were married on 22 May 1698 in [[Frankfurt]]. With her he had one daughter:
* Anna Maria Josepha (1704–1723)
His third wife was Countess Sophia Theresia Hedwigis Eva of [[Starhemberg]] (1722-1773), daughter of Imperial envoy, Count Konrad Sigismund of Starhemberg (1689–1727) and his wife, Princess Leopoldine of [[Löwenstein-Wertheim|Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort]] (1689-1763). She was elder sister of [[Georg Adam, Prince of Starhemberg]]. William and Sophia were married on 28 July 1740 in [[Vienna]]. This marriage was childless. After Williams death, Sophia married her first cousin, [[Constantine, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg]] and had further issue.
== Ancestors ==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
| 1= 1. '''William Hyacinth, Prince of Nassau-Siegen'''
| 2= 2. [[John Francis Desideratus of Nassau-Siegen]]
| 3= 3. [[Maria Eleonora Sophia of Baden-Rodemachern]]
| 4= 4. [[John VIII, Count of Nassau-Siegen]]
| 5= 5. Ernestine Yolande de Ligne d'Amblise
| 6= 6. [[Herman Fortunatus, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern]]
| 7= 7. [[Maria Sidonia of Daun-Falkenstein]]
| 8= 8. [[John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen]]
| 9= 9. [[Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen]]
| 10= 10. [[Lamoral, 1st Prince of Ligne]]
| 11= 11. [[Anne-Marie de Melun]]
| 12= 12. [[Edward Fortunatus]]
| 13= 13. [[Maria of Eicken|Maria van Eicken]]
| 14= 14. [[Philip Francis of Daun-Falkenstein]]
| 15= 15. [[Elisabeth of Salm-Reifferscheidt]]
| 16= 16. [[John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg]]
| 17= 17. [[Elisabeth of Leuchtenberg]]
| 18= 18. [[Philip IV, Count of Waldeck]]
| 19= 19. [[Jutta of Isenburg-Neumagen]]
| 20= 20. [[Philippe, Count of Ligne]]
| 21= 21. [[Margarethe de Lalaing]]
| 22= 22. [[Hugues II de Melun]]
| 23= 23. Yolanda de Barbancon-Werchin
| 24= 24. [[Christopher II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern]]
| 25= 25. [[Princess Cecilia of Sweden]]
| 26= 26. [[Joost van Eicken]]
| 27= 27. Barbara van Moll
| 28= 28. [[Sebastian of Daun-Falkenstein]]
| 29= 29. [[Elisabeth of Salm-Dhaun]]
| 30= 30. [[Werner, Altgrave of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck]]
| 31= 31. Anna Maria of [[Limburg-Styrum]]
}}
== Footnotes ==
<references />
== References ==
* Christian Brachthäuser: ''Le Prince Regent d'Orange - Wilhelm Hyazinth Fürst zu Oranien und Nassau-Siegen (1667-1743)'', 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-935910-75-0}}
*Alessandro Cont, ''La Chiesa dei principi. Le relazioni tra ''Reichskirche'', dinastie sovrane tedesche e stati italiani (1688-1763)'', preface of Elisabeth Garms-Cornides, Trento, Provincia autonoma di Trento, 2018, pp. 149-152, https://www.academia.edu/38170694/La_Chiesa_dei_principi._Le_relazioni_tra_Reichskirche_dinastie_sovrane_tedesche_e_stati_italiani_1688-1763_prefazione_di_Elisabeth_Garms-Cornides_Trento_Provincia_autonoma_di_Trento_2018
* E. F. Keller: ''Wilhelm Hyacinth von Nassau-Siegen'', in: ''Annalen des Vereins für Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung'', vol 9, p.&nbsp;49 ff, [https://archive.org/details/annalendesverein09vere Online]
== External links ==
* [http://www2.onb.ac.at/siteseeing/ba/oranien/english/otto09a.html William Hyacinth in the Orange image catalogue]
{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Nassau]]|7 April|1666|18 February|1743}}
{{S-bef|before=[[John Francis Desideratus of Nassau-Siegen|John Francis Desideratus]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[House of Nassau|Prince of Nassau-Siegen]]|years=1699–1707}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Frederick William Adolf, Prince of Nassau-Siegen|Frederick William Adolf]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:William Hyacinth Nassau Siegen}}
[[Category:Princes of Nassau]]
[[Category:1667 births]]
[[Category:1743 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century German people]]
[[Category:18th-century German people]]