William I, Prince of Orange

VirginiaHuguenot · Jul 9, 2005

On July 10, 1584, the great Dutch Calvinist statesman, William I, Prince of Orange, was assassinated.

"...Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" (2 Sam. 3.38) :tombstone:

Poimen · Jul 9, 2005

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
On July 10, 1584, the great Dutch Calvinist statesman, William I, Prince of Orange, was assassinated.

"...Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?" (2 Sam. 3.38)

Wilhemus van Oranje is one of my heroes:

Alas my flock! To sever
Is hard on us. Farewell
Your Shepherd wakes, wherever
Dispersed you may dwell.
Pray God that He may ease you;
His Gospel be your cure.
Walk in the steps of Jesu.
This life will not endure.

Unto God and His power
I do confession make
That ne'er at any hour
Ill of the king I spake.
But to the Lord, the greatest
Of majesties, I owe
Obedience, first and latest
For Justice wills it so.

VirginiaHuguenot · Jul 9, 2005

The Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem about Prince William I of Orange, is the oldest national anthem in the world.

As a bit of historical trivia, when Francis Drake prepared to raid the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida in 1586, his men were scouting the area. They heard a song played by a fifer, a man who had survived the massacre of the French Huguenot colony of Fort Caroline near Jacksonville, Florida, in 1565 and been imprisoned by the Spanish for 21 years...

forthwith came a Frenchman, [Nicolas Borgoignon] being a fifer (who had been prisoner with them) in a little boat, playing on his fife the tune of the Prince of Orange his song. And being called unto by the guard, he told them before he put foot out of the boat what he was himself, and how the Spaniards were gone from the fort; offering either to remain in hands there, or else to return to the place with them that would go. [The 'Prince of Orange's Song' was a popular ditty in praise of William Prince of Orange (assassinated 1584), the leader of the Dutch Protestant insurgents.]

Drake and this men had their first clue to the location of St. Augustine when they spied a beacon tower standing tall on four masts on the beach on Anastasia Island. Drake landed with his men and marched along the river that led to the town. Three of his men boarded a small rowing skiff and scouted the area, but could not find any Spaniards. Then they heard something that completely unnerved them, but then gave them great hope: a fifer playing a tune that everyone in those days recognized as a very anti-Spanish tune. If they could find the person playing that fife, they knew they would find a person who might hate the Spanish as much as they did. The fifer turned out to be Nicholas Borgoignon, a Frenchman who had been a prisoner of the Spanish for six years but who had recently escaped. With his help, Drake and his troops found St. Augustine and made plans to sack it.

According to my research, The 'Prince of Orange song' is none other than the 'Wilhelmus.'

Nicholas Borgoignon, a French fifer who had lived in St. Augustine since the capture of Fort Caroline in 1565, rowed across the river playing on his fife "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe," the tune of the Protestant Prince of Orange. He brought the news that the Spanish had abandoned the fort. Drake burned down the town and the fort (San Juan de Pinos) and captured a treasure chest full of pay for the Spanish soldiers.

[Edited on 7-9-2005 by VirginiaHuguenot]