Prince William I of Orange, Count of Nassau, also widely known as William the Silent, was born in the House of Nassau. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau. He was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for William The Silent. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silent
