What is Stadtholder?
A '''stadtholder''' is a political leader or [[governor]] who controls a [[wikt:region|region]] or area of land for someone else.<ref>Troost, Wouter. (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=H0_sYPHETj0C&dq=his+deputy%2C+the+stadholder+or+provincial+governor&pg=PA2 ''William III the Stadholder-king: a political biography,'' p. 2].</ref> The title was used in the northern part of [[Western Europe]] during the [[18th century]]. It was most commonly used in the areas that now are the [[country|countries]] of [[Belgium]] and [[Netherlands|the Netherlands]]. A person who ruled many different areas often could not take control of all of them at the same time. To deal with that problem, a stadtholder of an area would be a appointed. That person would act as the ruler for that area. As a [[viceroy]] the stadtholder had total control of the area. The stadtholder of the [[Dutch Republic]] was in practice a [[hereditary monarchy|hereditary monarch]] from the 16th to the 18th centuries. After the [[Napoleonic Wars]], they became kings. ==Related pages == * [[William the Silent]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{politics-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stadtholder}} [[Category:Heads of state]] [[Category:History of Europe]]