it went on to argue that william the silent was almost elevated to count of holland, maurice of nassau was a scoundrel who had johan van oldenbarnevelt ("barneveld") killed, and thanks to frederick henry a marriage was arranged between william ii and mary stuart, commencing the disastrous relations between the english royal house and the house of orange. william ii tried to commit a coup d'état by attacking amsterdam in 1650. william iii was an autocrat who imposed regeringsreglementen in the provinces of utrecht, guelders and overijssel. william iv and william v continued down this road and were true despots. according to historians jan romein (1893–1962) and annie romein-verschoor (1895–1978), van der capellen's assertion that ever since the marriage of william ii and mary stuart, dynastic interests started to outweigh national interests, and that the orange clan had made efforts to establish a monarchy ever since frederick henry, lies quite close to the conclusions of modern-day scholarship (referring to pieter geyl's "oranje en stuart" (1939)).