| Added by |
 Bart Perdieus
|
| General Description : | William I, Prince of Orange (24 April 1533 – 10 July 1584), also widely known as William the Silent (Dutch: Willem de Zwijger), or simply William of Orange (Dutch: Willem van Oranje), 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. He was born in the House of Nassau as Count of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the branch House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. A wealthy nobleman, William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Unhappy with the centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, William joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters. The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared an outlaw by the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard (also written as "Gerardts") in Delft four years later (1584). |
| Face value | 10 Francs |
| Catalog code (Michel) | BE 1876 |
| Catalog code (Scott) | BE 954 |
| Catalog code | Yvert et Tellier BE 1820 Stanley Gibbons BE 2444 AFA number BE 1883 Belgium BE 1824 Unificato BE 1820 |
| Series | 400th anniv. of the pacification of Ghent. |
| Place in series | 1 |
| Stamp colour | green on white |
| Watermark | None |
| Stamp use | Commemorative stamp |
| Print run | 2.500.000 |
| Issue date | 11/09/1976 |
| Designer | Oscar Bonnevalle / Paul Verheyden |
| Print technique | recess |
| Perforation | 11 1/2 |
| Height | 39.00 mm |
| Width | 28.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
