The statue of Willem de Zwijger (“the Silent”) Prince William of Orange (1533 – 1584), as found in the garden of the Prinsenhof, Delft. The Prinsenhof, originally a convent and then home to the Prince, is now a museum. In 1575, in honour of the brave resistance of the people of Leiden during a Spanish seige, Prince William founded the University of Leiden, the oldest university in The Netherlands. Beeckman, Boerhaave, s’ Gravesande, Hortensius, Huygens, Stevin and Swammerdam all had some association with the University of Leiden. Prince William was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard in the Prinsenhof on the 10 July, 1584.
