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behalf of the Protestants, and largely undermine the designs of Philip. In 15(54 he brought about the re- moval of Cardinal Granvelle, tlie principal enemy of the Protestants, but could not prevent the introduction of the Inquisition, and the increasingly strong hand of persecution. At length the approach of the bloody duke of Alva, to whom Philip had transferred the re- gency of the Netherlands from Margaret of Parma, was the signal to William of the coming contest. He avoided the tragical fate of Egmont and Horn by retir- ing for a few months to his paternal domains in Nas- sau. Tlie cruelties of Alva to the Protestants of the Netherlands, his own wrongs, and perliaps political more than religious motives aroused William, in 15()8, to an energetic course of opposition to tlie tyranny of Spain, which did not cease until triumph was complete. He published his Justification against the False Blame of his Calumniators, and began, in concert with the Prot- estant princes of German}-, to raise money and troops. His first operations miscarried. He was driven back with his army of 30,000 men into French Flanders ; and in the spring of 1509 he, and his brothers Louis and Henry, with 1200 of his soldiers, joined the Huguenots under Coligni. Then again in 1572, after various suc- cessful engagements, in which he had had command of an army of 24,000 troops, he was compelled to disband it on account of the loss of all hope of assistance from France. lu 1576 William secured the famous Union of Utrecht, which formed the basis of the Dutch republic. This union included the seven Protestant provinces of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Friesland,(ironingen,Overys- sel, and Guelderland. As soon as this measure became known to Philip, he offered a reward of 25,000 crowns and a patent of nobility for his assassination. Once he was dangerously wounded, but the task was finally un- dertaken by Balthazar Gerard, a Burgundian fanatic, who obtained audience with the stadtholder on pre- tence of business, drew a pistol, and shot him through the bod_v, at Delft, .July 10, 1584. See Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic (N. Y. 1856, 3 vols.); Klose, Wilhelm I von Oranien (Leips. 1864) ; Herrmann, Wil- helm von Oranien (Stuttg. 1873) ; Gachard, Correspon- dance de Guillaume le Taciturne (Brussels, 1847-56) ; and Juste, Guillaume le Taciturne d\ipr'es sa Correspon- dance et les Papiers d'Elat.
William of Ramsey, a monk of Croyland, of the time of Kicliard I, is known as a biographer of English saints, particularly in Chroniques Anglo - Normandes, See Wright, Biug. Brit. Lit. (Anglo -Norman Period), p. 424.
William of Kubrugius. See Ruvsbroek.
"William of St. Alban's. flourished about 1170, and is known chiefly for a Latin prose life of St. Albau, said to be a translation from an English life of that saint. The work has never been printed, but a copy of the MS. is in the Cottonian Library, and another in the library of Magdalen College, Oxford. See Wright, Biog. Brit. Lit. (Anglo-Norman Period), p. 213.
William of St. Amoi'r, in Burgundy, doctor of the Sorbonne, and a famous defender of the Paris Univer- sity in the 13th century against the mendicant orders, which claimed the right to occupy regidar chairs of theology in the university without consenting to be governed by its rules. Pope Innocent IV had seen the necessity of putting down the monks before his death, but under Alexander IV they obtained full control of the university. Under these circumstances, St. Amour attacked them, ridiculing their doctrine that manual labor is criminal, and that prayer will reap greater harvests from the soil than labor. He was summoned before the bishop of Paris, but acquitted because his ac- cusers did not appear (1254). Alexander, nevertheless, issued three bulls in behalf of the Dominicans in 1255. In 1256 William published his book Be Periculis No- vissimorum Temporum, which, without specifying the . orders endorsed by the pope, charged monks generally
with being ignorant intruders into the pulpit and the teacher's chair, and also self-seeking proselyters, as well as professional beggars, liars, flatterers, and calumnia- tors. It asserted directly that perfection consists in labor, in the performing of good works, and not at all in begging. St. Amour achieved great popularity in consequence, and found many imitators among the com- mon people in ridiculing the monks, though the book was condemned by the pope, and its author was ban- ished despite the ingenious defence he interposed at Rome. A French version of the work had already been put into circulation, however, and with such effect that men like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventnra felt con- strained to write in defence of mendicancy. The victory achieved over St. Amour enabled the orders to pursue their arbitrary methods without restraint, until the ac- cession of popes Urban IV and Clement IV restored the rules of the university to sOme degree of honor. St. Amour was thereupon permitted to return, and was not again molested by the Dominicans. His death occurred probably* in 1272. See Bultcns, ///s/. Universit. Paris. iii, 260; Dupin, Nouv. Bibl. des Auteurs EccL vol. x; Schriickh, Kirrhengesch. xxvii, 458 sq.; Hist. Lit. de la France, vol. xix ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
William of St. Thierry, a Belgian theologian, was born at Liege about the end of the 11th century. He studied in the abbey of St. Nicaise at Rheims, of which he was made prior in 1112, and eight j'ears after- wards he became abbe of St. Thierry in the same vicini- ty. In 1134 he retired to the monastery of Ligny, and died in 1150. He was a great friend of St. Bernard, and an admirer of Abelard. He wrote a number of doctrinal, practical, and historical discussions, for w^hich see Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, xxii, 665.