Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau‐Dillenburg. William I is regarded as the founding father of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. He was trusted by Emperor Charles V and initially by Philip II of Spain, who made him statholder of Holland, Zeeland, and Utrecht (1559) and then of Franche‐Comté (1561). Nevertheless he emerged in the 1560s as the leader of the aristocratic opposition to Philip’s centralizing absolutism. On Alba’s arrival in the Netherlands (1567) he became the key figure in the first phase of the Dutch Revolts. He was never a great general in the field, but his strengths lay in negotiating financial and military aid from abroad and in providing leadership in a country often torn by rivalries. He was recognized as statholder by the Estates of Holland (1572) and joined the Calvinist church (1573). His dream of a united Netherlands under a national government seemed close to realization with the signature of the Pacification of Ghent (1576); he was powerless to prevent the permanent north–south division of 1579. In 1580 he was outlawed by Philip II and four years later he was assassinated by a Catholic fanatic.