Maria of Nassau-Dillenburg was born in 1539 at Dillenburg Castle in Hessen, Germany. She married Count Willem IV van den Bergh when she was but seventeen years old. Her husband was nineteen. Her husband siding with the enemy got her drawn into the Eighty Years War. Often highly pregnant, she followed her husband everywhere in his battles and experienced many a risky adventure. As exiles, they finally landed at Ulft Castle, which was part of the Bergh possessions. Maria was a protestant, but a very liberal one. In her opinion, the Bergh inhabitants should be free in their religious choices. After the death of her husband she defended the rights of the local population, who were severely afflicted by ongoing military battles. As a widow she lived a life marked by fears and sorrow. A few of her sons died in Spanish service, two daughters drowned when a bridge at Ulft Castle collapsed. It was at Ulft Castle too that Maria died at the age of sixty
For more information on the ‘treason’ of Willem IV van den Bergh, press A For more information on the life of Maria of Nassau, press B