Abstract
William I of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and his sons Maurice and Frederick Henry were seen in their own time as the protectors of the new Dutch nation. As such, they play a significant role in the formation of a Dutch national identity. This essay addresses the question in what measure this sentiment was returned: did the Nassaus feel Dutch? An analysis of dynastic arguments used in the Apology (1581) will be compared with two genealogies dated 1541 and 1616 respectively, to show that a Dutch framing of the Nassau dynasty occurred only in the Apology, while the other texts present the dynasty mainly as a German family, owing its good fortune to the German emperors.
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