Balthasar Gérard

Balthazar Gérard ( – 14 July 1584) was the assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange.

He was one of the first recorded people to assassinate a head of state with a firearm.

Gérard was tortured and then executed for the assassination, in a manner considered brutal even by the standards of the 16th century.

Early life Gérard was born in Vuillafans in the Franche-Comté, shortly after Philip II of Spain's accession, just in time for him to be his subject by birth. His father, Jean Gérard, was somewhat prominent in his community as a landowner and jurist, while his mother, Barbe d'Emskerque (who likely had family roots in the Dutch village of Heemskerk), had 1 sister and 5 brothers, 2 of which went on to become priests, while the other 3 became embroiled in legal battles due to supposed Lutheran sympathies. This family background likely contributed to Balthazar's devout Roman Catholic faith, as well as his decision to study law at the University of Dole.

On 15 March 1580, King Philip had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns, peerage and an inheritable estate to anyone who killed or captured William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch Revolt, to whom he referred in his decree as a "pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race". Gérard, who was already a great admirer of King Philip, was thus incited to action.

Assassination of William the Silent Preparations After the reward offered by Philip was published, Gérard left for Luxembourg, where he learned that Juan de Jáuregui had already been preparing to attempt the assassination, but this attempt did not succeed. In March 1584 he went to Trier, where he put his plan before the regent of the Jesuits, but another Jesuit convinced him to change his original scheme and go to the prince of Parma. In Tournai, after holding counsel with a Franciscan, Father Gery, Gérard wrote a letter, a copy of which was deposited with the guardian of the convent, and the original presented personally to the Prince of Parma. In the letter Gérard wrote, in part, "The vassal ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life." After William the Silent's murder, more than 200 years would pass until another head of state was killed by a firearm, when Gustav III, King of Sweden, was fatally wounded at a midnight masquerade in 1792. and his arms and legs displayed on four gates of the city.

Aftermath

Philip II gave Gérard's family three country estates near Vuillafans, Balthasar's own village, in Lievremont, Hostal, and Dampmartin in the Franche-Comté, and the family was raised to the peerage. The estates were all former properties of the Prince. But the King couldn't pay the promised bounty of 25,000 golden crowns, because the Crown of Spain was on the brink of bankruptcy. However, the estates were in 1595 returned to the Prince's first son, Philip William, who remained a Catholic and could therefore please the Catholic monarchs of Spain and France. The grant served the interests of Philip II, as Phillip William could become a rival to his brothers Maurits and Frederic Henry and a claimant to his properties in the lost United Provinces. As compensation, the family was granted a different estate near Vuillafans instead and 15,000 francs, but the family wasn't able to retain these lands either.

The apostolic vicar Sasbout Vosmeer tried to have Gérard canonized, to which end he removed the dead man's head and showed it to church officials in Rome, but the idea was rejected.

Legacy The village of Vuillafans renamed the street where Gérard was born "Rue Gérard" in his memory.