Awful End Of Price William The Silent

by Lisa Jardine (Artist)

A brilliantly detailed and gripping account of the assassination in 1584 of Prince William of Orange, and the shockwaves it sent through an age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, Biography, Politics, True Crime, 16th Century

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2005

About the author

Lisa Anne Bronowski (Jardine) was a British historian of the early modern period. From 1990 to 2011 she was Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London. Since 2008 she was Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)] She was a Member of Council of the Royal Institution, but resigned from that post in September 2009. On 1 September 2012, She relocated with her research centre and its staff to University College London (UCL) to become the first director of its Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Humanities.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gun arrives as a tool of assassination...and the world is changed forever. With the current state of gun fatalities in America this book should be read; it will (perhaps) stimulate a conversation on how/why we need to come to a plan when dealing with gun ownership and the limits that we can all agree on. I don't claim to have the answer: but I know there has to be a solution out there.

[Theo Logos · Rating 2 out of 5]

In retrospect, the book’s title should have tipped me off. The Awful End of Prince William the Silent: The First Assassination of a Head of State with a Handgun telegraphs that sensational but peripheral issues (such as the murder weapon) would be a larger focus than the complex political and religious context of the ongoing conflict in which William’s assassination was but one part. Of course, delving deeper into the religious wars that rent Europe as a result of the Reformation and Counter Reformation which were the motives for Williams murder would have require a much longer and more substantial book.

As it is, this book fails both as compelling history and as a brief, sensational gloss on that history. It is poorly organized, and fails to grab the reader into the drama of the events. It does not give enough context for anyone not already familiar with the period to grasp the import of the events described. If, like me, you already know the gist of the story and were hoping to further detail your knowledge, this book is barely adequate. If you are not yet familiar with the history of this event and were attracted by the gimmicky title, you will likely be even more disappointed than I was.

[Skallagrimsen]

Looking back from a vantage of four centuries, it seems hard to overstate the historical importance of the Dutch rebellion against the Spanish empire. It wasn't just a war between republican and monarchical forms of government, as momentous as even that would have been for the era. It was, even more fundamentally, a conflict between modes of production and ways of life. Medievalism against modernity, Catholicism against capitalism, a waning Mediterranean world against the burgeoning Atlantic North, a stubborn past clinging to life against the ravages of a relentless future--all these were embodied by the titanic, 80-year war between the Netherlands and Spain, with nothing less than the shape and direction of the world to come at stake.

Seen in this light, Prince William "the Silent," who instigated the Dutch revolt, and sanctified it with his martyrdom, must be seen as one of the most consequential individuals in all of European history. If the "great man" theory has any validity, a world in which Prince William had not existed might look quite different from the one we know today. A worse or a better one, perhaps, depending on your disposition, but a different world all the same.

Given William's situation at the crossroads of history, it seems grimly appropriate that he was also the first head of state to ever to be assassinated with that quintessentially modern weapon, the handgun. That fact, I thought, provided brilliant angle to explore his life and achievement. But unfortunately, inspired premise aside, I did not find The Awful End of Prince William the Silent, by Lisa Jardine, to be a brilliant book. While readable and informative enough, to my mind it failed to fully exploit the potential its theme. Perhaps a better job conveying the world historical significance of the Dutch rebellion might have elevated it above mediocrity. As it stands, my favorite short biography of the subject remains William the Silent: William of Nassau, Prince of Orange 1533-1584 by the great C.V. Wedgwood.

[Emily Dalske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jardine's account of Prince William of Orange's assassination has a surprisingly good narrative quality for a historical text. Her investigative research in wheel-lock pistols and premodern politics provide great insight into the Elizabethan era. Portraiture, technical diagrams, and epistolary text are well balanced in this book, and it makes for an engaging read.

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prince William of the House of Orange was a man with a price on his head, thanks to Philip II's public proclamation and reward bounty. It was inevitable that he would not live to be an old man, but the way he was killed is the main focus of this very short book on the protagonist who miffed off both the Catholics of Spain and the squabbling Protestants of the Netherlands.

William was actually raised in the Habsburg family of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and received a Catholic upbringing. Yet he turned against them when he felt the Dutch Protestants (William himself was born a German) were going to be obliterated by the increasingly violent Spanish. Long story short, the Prince became the leading Protestant figure and his assassination began the eventual road to independence for the Dutch.

The lead-up to his murder is very compelling, but I felt the book began to drop off a bit when the dissection of the murder weapon came into play. The author makes an interesting point when she states that the sudden end of knights in armor was actually the result of the invention and successful use of the wheel-lock pistol, which allowed light cavalry to replace heavy cavalry fairly quickly. She also lines up William's death with the future deaths of Lincoln and Archduke Ferdinand, citing the sudden terror for political leaders who would then have to face a hidden weapon that could be carried on one's body.

As the title makes clear, this is not a full bio of William of Orange but I still wanted a bit more. Elizabeth I plays a prominent role here although the most fascinating part was the murder of the French Duke of Guise whose murder by handgun led to the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. Really the overall message is that religion has played a deadly part in world affairs, up to and including the Twin Towers. Oh, and she also slips in a reference to Tupac Shakur, which makes for a rather different read.

Book Season = Autumn (there's something in the air)

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slight, one might say 'incidental', book is part of a series of short histories about supposedly pivotal events in world history. The assassination of William of Orange 1n 1584 was plausibly such, given his importance in the relations between the Low Countries and the Spanish, English and French states at the time. Thus there's a brief history of the relations of 'Holland' with the Hapsburgs, a brief biography of William, a brief history of handguns to that date and a somewhat longer account of related affairs in Elizabeth's England--longer, presumably, because of the book's projected market.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice short (136 pages) book that looks at the first assassination of a head of state using a pistol. Jardine does a nice job relating the assassination of William the Silent, but also explaining the rise and role of the pistol in the 16th century, the rise and importance of William the Silent, and how the Netherlands was involved in Spanish, English, and French foreign affairs in the 16th century, leading to William's assassination.
This is a short, interesting book that looks at this first instance and its impact as a historic event.

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a cute little book about an interesting topic, and with a number of striking details. Good reading for history-minded train or airplane passengers.

[Zucchi]

If you are looking for an unbiased scholarly treatment of the subject, this is not the book for you.

Despite having accumulated a heap of scholarly accolades (University of London professor, Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, etc.), Ms. Jardine appears to have slapped this together in the evenings after her bedtime reading while listening to the evening news. This book may have had more merit had the author stipulated it was an editorial "from the English perspective".

Inspired by her daughter's college paper on the wheellock pistol used to assassinate William of Orange, Ms. Jardine relies (by her own admission) almost exclusively on secondary English language sources. She cites one very good Dutch-language source (Van Deursen & Schepper's "Willem van Oranje"), but it is unclear whether she actually relied upon it for anything but a single quote. Relying almost entirely on secondary sources is illustrative of scholarly laziness. Using, in this case, sources originating in England and/or English translations is illustrative of bias, ignorance, and ineptitude. In regards to translations, the author obviously did not consider the implication of relying on translated works as pointed out by Nina Lamal, “Translated and Often Printed in Most Languages of Europe: Movement and Translations of Italian Histories on the Dutch Revolt across Europe” in International Exchange in the Early Modern Book World, June 26, 2016, pp. 124 sqq.; in short, translator bias favoring a particular agenda.

Ms. Jardine’s over reliance on select secondary sources (and imperfectly so) negatively impacts her narrative of William of Orange's life and times. Her portrayal (to cite one example) of the relationship between William of Orange and Philip II suggests a deep-seated animosity from their youth onward. But in fact there was more than a passing involvement between the two men prior to their split (something she might better have learned by reading up on some of the latest scholarship on Philip II). She also fails to weave in the nuances of the religious cross currents between Anabaptists, Lutherans, and Calvinists - preferring to paint the backdrop as a Catholic/Protestant struggle. Since Catholics then - and today - are the largest single denomination in the Kingdom of the Netherlands this is a somewhat outdated stance. Most frustrating of all is her tendency to include quotes or insert uncommon facts and not cite their sources (e.g., pp. 52, 53, 59, 60, 65, etc.).

As casual reading material the book comes off a little better. Ms. Jardine's prose is smooth and uncomplicated. She enjoys telling the story's salacious points. But her inclusion of obscure references without explanation are likely to drive the non-historian to fury. Take this sentence (on p. 45) as an example: "Although William was warned by Duplessis-Mornay that Anjou was making treacherous plans to subvert his careful arrangements for the assumption of power, he chose to ignore him." All well and good but in the three appearances of "Duplessis-Mornay" in the entire book (even the Index does not include his full name) we not only never learn his importance but his first name. Besides the puzzling vagueness (for the record: Philippe du Plessis-Mornay was a French Huguenot leader and wrote the Apology of William of Orange in 1580), Ms. Jardine applies her own spelling conventions (generally written: du Plessis-Mornay). Furthermore, Ms. Jardine makes a frustratingly elementary mistake of repeatedly referring to all inhabitants of the Low Countries at this time (1560s-1580s) as "Dutch". An appellation none of the inhabitants at that time would have claimed.

The chapter devoted to the wheellock pistol is loaded with inaccurate nomenclature and technical details regarding the mechanism itself. Ms. Jardine’s anti-pistol diatribe goes on ad nauseam for the last two-thirds of this chapter. It’s clear even to the likes of Helen Keller that Ms. Jardine is biased. She obsesses over the assassin’s instrument of choice, imparting upon it almost mystical powers, rather than exploring the man who was the assassin. Fact is, poison was the preferred method to dispatch one’s foes.

Finally, the sequence of the book's focus strikes one as erratic. Ms. Jardine hops around topics in a seemingly random fashion (a detailed discussion of the first attempt on the Prince in 1582 follows the successful assassination which is then followed by a technical digression on the wheellock pistol and military tactics - the subject of her daughter's paper). This book, then, is really more a series of essays. Dare I go so far as to claim that this book really does nothing more than merely add to the "black legend"?

On the plus side, Ms. Jardine's failure to produce a noteworthy contribution to this history of the period leaves the doors open for competent young scholars with a better grasp of the subject matter to do it justice.

[Adleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So goodreads wants me to note what I learned from this book. I'll get back to you on that, but for the moment all I can think of it:

1.) William the Silent--quiet guy or political genius--you decide
2.) pistols! the aristocratic phallic replacement since 1598
3.) the narrative of pistol assassination remains the same as it was in the Renaissance

Note: the only part of this lil tome which I met with serious doubt was the authorial assertion that Philip Sidney was a 'favourite' of Elizabeth's. Not on your life.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last book for my west and the world class. I really enjoyed this one (perhaps the most out of all the ones we read, although the Parthenon was quite good as well). Such an interesting topic and it's always fascinating to see how one act can completely change everything. I would definitely recommend this. An EXTREMELY accessible history book.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how short this book was, it made for a fast read and it kept my interest. It was interesting learning more about Prince William the Silent, since I really didn't know much about him before this, and can see myself wanting to read more about him now.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book, but it could have been shorter. The Elizabethan excursion seems tacked on.

Instead, it would make better sense to compare the handgun assassination of William the Silent with the later dagger assassination of Henri IV.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book some years ago, excellent short study on Prince Williams life and help me understand the foundations of the Netherlands.

[Dr. Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really an interesting story filled with facts unknown to the general public, on the life and Death of William of Orange.
Some of the more interesting parts of the work are the discussions of court intrigue during this tumultuous period and the important role that the Wheel-lock-pistol would play in international relations, altering the historical face of Europe for centuries to follow.

Additionally, the author skilfully links the assassination of William to the modern threats of Islamist terrorism. One link that the author seems to have neglected is that of new technology on the battlefield during the 16th century and the advent of robotic drones warfare. There are very close analogies which may be drawn-- both were new technologies and changed the face of warfare during that period for the foreseeable future. Additionally, both the wheel-lock-pistol (the crossbow before it and other military technologies following it) and the drone were considered a rather cowardly way to conduct warfare at their outset (certainly by those lacking such technology).

An interesting biographical sketch is drawn of that rather ignoble Noble Elizabeth the Ist. At least the author's portrayal (which appears accurate) paints the Iron lady of her time as a dark tempest and shrew of the worst sort.

There was an extensive chapter concerning the actual construction and workings of the wheel-lock-pistol, which were less interesting, at least to me personally. It was noteworthy that the pistols of the period were pieces of artwork and their mechanical composition mirrored those of watches and locks.

There is a comprehensive index with some of the original edicts and proclamations that also clarify the story.

What was missing that might have contributed to a better accounting, would have been a more comprehensive coverage of the various battles between Philip II and the Low Countries. The beheading of the Counts Egmont and Horne (sometimes transcribed as (Hoorn, or Hoorne) in the Grand Place in Brussels (1568) under the cruel and vindictive Inquisition of Philip II under auspices of the ruthless Duke of Alva. This would have helped to set the stage for later events.

See for instance: http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/06/...

Still, for a small volume, this was an interesting read and the topic was well treated.

Recommended

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/960271.html[return][return]Got a battered second-hand copy of this cheap off the internets after reading Veronica Wedgwood's biography of William (which is not cited even once by Jardine). I think this is much the better book; it's also about a third the length. Where Wedgwood breathlessly tells of the exploits of her hero, Jardine analyses how events were reported and used in the wider geopolitical context. She makes much of the use of the new pistol technology for William's assassination, though I'm not totally convinced by her stress on the novelty of the murder method: in fact it was the second such attempt on William's life in just over two years, and it was more than two decades since the Duc de Guise had been shot by a pistol-wielding assassin.[return][return]What surely is unusual is the economic aspect to the crime - the fact that Philip II of Spain had put a massive price on William's head, and indeed paid out to the family of the assassin (who was himself put to death in a gruesome public execution in Delft lasting several days). Even then, a policy of decapitation of unfriendly regimes by physical attack on their leaders was regarded as particularly controversial, and the murder clearly damaged Philip II's already poor reputation still further. (The more modern parallels are obvious.)[return][return]Jardine concentrates a lot more than Wedgwood on the English aspects of the killing, though she goes in circles a bit (especially about the death of Sir Philip Sidney) and pulls in contemporary references in a way that will make this book feel rather dated before many years have passed. On the whole, though, I found her presentation of the historical details more lucid and interesting than Wedgwood's.[return][return]Anyway, a good quick read about an interesting part of European history.

[John Mccullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

The is a short, straight-forward history of a very confusing period of European history, the principal countries involved being Holland (not yet a country but a series of small duchies and kingdoms), Spain, France and England. Philip II, King of Spain, has put a price on the head of a German Prince, William the Silent, who was made head of a coalition of that Philip thought was a Roman Catholic entity loyal to Spain, but turned out to be Protestant. Treason, in Philip's mind. The reward was 25,000 gold crowns, forgiveness of any past illegal activities and a hereditary title of nobility. A first crack at getting the reward in 1582 resulted in a neck and head wound to William which was painful, but not fatal, except for the perpetrator who was immediately cut down. The second try succeeded in William's death, with the perpetrator caught, tortured and slowly and painfully executed over a period of 4 days. The reason for the success was the recent invention of a handgun that could be preloaded with up to four balls in one charge, hidden in the clothing and fired almost immediately at will. The book reviews the horror inspired in heads of state who could be similarly dispatched by this weapon. Laws were generated regulating the purchase, presence and firing of these weapons (called "days"). In this, the book echoes the horror of today's semi-automatic and occasionally automatic weapons for the general populace as well as heads of state. The book includes 5 appendices containing the specific documents mentioned in the text, a detailed set of notes and a very useable index. The book is well-illustrated with contemporary portraits and a diagram of the pistol mechanism. It is very readable and can be read in less than a day.

[SB · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️ Really well researched but not well presented.

This book jumps all over the place temporally and geographically. It focuses far more on contemporary English and modern American politics than I expected, an expectation which is my fault for not reading the table of contents more closely, but still a strange choice considering the topic of the book was William the Silent's assassination.
This felt like reading a Master's thesis, rather than a published book, and I'm still not sure what the thesis was beyond handguns are a good/popular method for assassinations.
The portions on art and theatre seemed largely shoehorned in and the conclusion with a personal anecdote seemed unnecessary, along with the equating of modern celebrities to historical politicians.
The reprint is also badly done. Jardine discusses a handgun in text that is 'on the cover', which it is not for this edition. There is also a foreword about this book being part of a series and no further information anywhere about this series. The title likewise seems largely unrelated since very little attention is paid to William's actual death. It would have been more honest to title the book 'The Awful end of Prince William the Silent's Assassin', though it has little to do with the larger thesis.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting piece covering the basics of William's assassination, but that is all, the basics. Very little is given to Gerard's past, motives, and execution. Jardine mentions only one prior attempt on William's life (there were more) and possibly up to two more active agents attempting to kill him at time of death. Jardine promises to expound on how the assassination "changed history," but ultimately fails to deliver.

Jardine does provide some exposition on advent of the "dag" or the hand pistol. Interesting study with central focus on pistol as symbol of masculinity. Concept not fully developed.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many of Lisa Jardine's book, she packs an awful lot into a rather short book. In this case it is a look at the ramification of William the Silent's assassination by pistol--the first killing of a Head of State with a hand gun. Not only did that assassination cause political problems in the young Republic of Netherlands(the killer was a rabid Catholic the Prince a moderate Protestant), it also caused a series of concerns to ripple outward to other sovereigns as the real threat of hand-guns was understood. A fear that is alive today. This is a short tasty read of a few hours.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Jardine is a briiliant historian and this short and provocative books gives tremendous insight into politics, religion, fanaticism and the invention of true terror. The idea that a gun changed the equation of security and safety is truly inspired and the mixing of so many strands of history with the issues of today is deftly handled.

[David Vanness]

I found it a short history lesson. However, "...in 1532 the Nuremberg city council complained that although law-abiding citizens were not allowed to own...handguns, highwaymen and robbers all carried them..." Unfortunately, history repeats itself.

[Raully · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very accessible, thought-provoking history of the death of William of Orange. Great tidbits about the birth of a handgun culture. An assignment for my class this fall.

[Jorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://joriesreads.wordpress.com/2011...

[Jorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://joriesreads.wordpress.com/2011...

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine overview of Dutch Revolt, in addition to good account of the assassination and use of handgun.

[Jessica Solomon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Jardine recreates the last moments surrounding the assassination of Prince William of Orange in 1584 through her book, The Awful End of Prince William the Silent. This book is part of a series called “Making History,” where she and her colleague, Amanda Foreman, write about pivotal points and events in history. Inspired by her daughter’s research on the Belchamp pistol, Jardine began to reflect on the historical impact the handgun had on history. Through the National Archives, Lisa Jardine compiled letters written by William Herle and his account of William the Silent's assassination attempts. Prince William of Orange, who initially held the title William of Nassau, made history the first assassination of a political figure with a handgun. Lisa Jardine places the story of William the Silent's assassination in context to the relationship between Spain, Low Countries, France, and England during the height of the Protestant and Catholic clash of the sixteenth century.
The Awful End of Prince William the Silent begins with a reflection of Dutch history and how William of Orange made his lasting mark. Born in Nassau, Germany, in 1533, William quickly rose to power by the young age of eleven years old when he became Prince of Orange after the death of his paternal cousin, René of Chalôn died in battle. Prince William moved to the Low Countries, sat on Charles V’s Council of State in Antwerp, and grew the reputation of “a man of considered actions and a steady temperament.” After Charles V resigned in 1555, his son Philip II rose to the position and appointed William the stadholder of Holland and Zeeland. However, as a Protestant, William did not uphold the Catholic Habsburgs’ support. Philip II and Prince William soon became enemies after William’s marriage to Anna of Saxony in 1561, whose marriage aired an anti-Catholic presence in the northern Netherlands. Around this time, the Dutch Revolt started, and the fight between Protestantism and Catholicism heightened the tension between the Low Countries and Spain. In 1572, after a series of sieges, like Mons on the French-Low Countries border and Naarden, William with French Huguenots, Protestant supporters, and the backing of England’s Queen Elizabeth I continued to fight against the Spanish army. After exhausting most of his funds to combat William the Silent, Philip II called upon loyal followers of the Catholic faith through a proclamation placing a bounty on his political opponent by offering land and titles to whomever successfully assassinates the hero of the Protestant cause.
Developed in Europe in the early sixteenth century, the wheel-lock pistol played a crucial role in the assassination of William the Silent. This technological advancement allowed for guns to be easier concealed and accessible as it can be fired using one hand. William the Silent nearly escaped with his life in the Spring of 1582. On March 18, 1582, after morning worship in Antwerp and a birthday celebration for his controversial ally, Duke of Anjou, William made his way to an alcove near the dining room. A young man named Jean Jauregay pulled out a pistol and fired it at the prince. The pistol, which had too much gunpowder in the powder pan led to the assailant’s gun to explode in his hand, but not before the prince was struck by a bullet in the neck and passed through his cheek. Jauregay and other co-conspirators were publicly executed while Prince William made a complete recovery the following May. On July 10, 1584, William had succumbed to the injuries of his second assassination attempt as he was shot in the chest point-blank with a wheel-lock pistol by Balthasar Gérard, a newly-recruited agent, in his home in Delft two days prior. Gérard attempted to flee the scene, but was apprehended at subjected to torture to find the motive of this attack. His motive was “to fulfil Philip II’s request for a volunteer assassin to infiltrate the Orange court and rid him of his prime political adversary.” This shot from the pocket-sized gun affected the Netherlands and had a ripple effect on European foreign affairs. Queen Elizabeth I reluctantly took over the Dutch Protestant cause and continued the fight against the Spanish Armada. Her ministers and close allies grew fearful that she, too, would face the same outcome, and this fear led to the tightening of security through “internal surveillance, sudden arrests and interrogations.”
In a relatively short book, Lisa Jardine capitulates the life and legacy of Prince William the Silent and the profound impact a small handgun caused for centuries afterward. A strength of this book is that she finds parallels in contemporary history that closely align with the historical relevancy of William the Silent’s assassination. Jardine shows the influence William had on Dutch history as he is celebrated in the national anthem and the symbolic meaning behind the Netherlands’ national color: orange. She makes the connection to Abraham lincoln’s fatal assassination in Ford Theater, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and other prominent political figures who died at gunpoint. Jardine leaves no stone unturned as she discusses the background to how the bounty was placed on the Prince of Orange’s head, the innovation of the handgun used in the assassination, to the lingering effects and political consequences that rattled the late-sixteenth century. Following the conclusion of the book, she had five appendices that help conceptualize the historical narrative. It includes the proclamation made by Philip II against William the Silent, William’s “apology,” the press report on the fatal assassination of William and the confession by Balthasar Gérard, Sir Neville’s account of the plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I by Dr. Harry, and the proclamation made by Queen Elizabeth condemning the use of handguns.
This book’s weakness is the aftermath of the assassination, and its impact on neighboring countries gets lost or is not articulated well. This is due to how the narrative is sequentially configured, as some instances feel like an afterthought. In the first chapter, the author briefly discussed how Prince William earned his titles, the spiraling relationship between him and the King of Spain, Philip II, and the proclamation that led to the assassination. The second chapter jumps to Prince William’s death in 1584 after succumbing to the injuries of the second assassination attempt against the renowned Protestant hero. Following this chapter, it reverts a couple of years to the first attempt to murder William the Silent that he miraculously recovered from in a short amount of time. Both of these assassins had a concealed wheel-lock pistol to make their kill. After explaining the murders, the author explains the handgun’s creation in the fourth chapter, how it developed a culture around the gun’s intricate designs, and weaponry ownership circumstances. This felt out of place in the book, and it would have made more sense in the introduction. Though an exciting read, Jardine does not fully assert how this assassination truly changed European history but instead discusses an aspect of the narrative not widely researched.
Lisa Jardine encapsulates the narrative behind the assassination of Prince William of Silent through the religious strife between the dualing countries. She marks this assassination as a pivotal turning point in history where England, Spain, and France were at each other’s throats. Through prior class readings, this confrontation of major powers in Europe happened way before the fatal 1584 shooting and the handgun’s advancement. Most of the political strife is built upon years of rivalries, dynastic alliances, and schisms that further escalated. In this course, the reign of Charles V and Philip II during the Reformation period has been studied through the religious segregation of countries wavering either towards Protestantism or Catholicism in sixteenth-century Europe. Charles V fought against the rising tensions between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire as he feared that Christendom's sanctity was weakening. Proclaimed “guardian of Christendom,” Charles V continually fought for upholding the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire against the Protestant Reformation. Philip II inherited many of the grudges, like the lingering feud with France and England, and being a devout Catholic who sought out to protect the religion against heretics from his father. This book shows how far Philip II of Spain would end any quarrel against his reign and religion. The assassination of William the Silent and the accessibility of the wheel-lock handgun led to political calamity in European history, but not in a way that Jardine sets it out to be in her thesis.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim book about a moment in history that directly impacted more well known moments in history. Well researched and includes primary sources in the appendix like the decree sent out by Phillip II offering a reward for the death of William the Silent. My only desire would have been more biographical history on the subject and the history of the Netherlands leading up to the assassination.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty okay, claims about the altered course of European history are not supported, nor does the author go beyond England to support her claim that the assassination of William of Orange caused consternation and panic across the continent. However, should be good for casuals.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at an arena of history that I didn’t know well! Very well researched, but I found it a little disjointed, jumping in time and place a lot. Plus VERY England-centric for a book supposedly about a German prince in the Low Countries.