Kingdom of Holland
| Kingdom of Holland | ||||||||||
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Koninkrijk Holland Royaume de Hollande |
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| Client state of the French Empire | ||||||||||
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Motto Eendracht maakt macht "Unity makes strength" |
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 The Kingdom of Holland
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| Capital |
The Hague (1806–1808) Utrecht (1808) Amsterdam (1808–1810) |
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| Languages | Dutch, French | |||||||||
| Religion | Protestant, Roman Catholic | |||||||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | 1806–1810 | Louis I | ||||||||
| • | 1810 | Louis II | ||||||||
| Historical era | Napoleonic Era | |||||||||
| • | Established | 5 June 1806 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 9 July 1810 | ||||||||
| Currency | Dutch guilder | |||||||||
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The Kingdom of Holland (Dutch: Koninkrijk Holland, French: Royaume de Hollande) was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, in order to better control the Netherlands. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country. In 1807 Prussian East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom but in 1809, after a British invasion, Holland had to give over all territories south of the river Rhine to France.
Also in 1809, Dutch forces fighting on the French side participated in defeating the anti-Bonapartist German rebellion led by Ferdinand von Schill, at the Battle of Stralsund.
King Louis did not perform to Napoleon's expectations — he tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's — and the kingdom was dissolved in 1810 after which the Netherlands were annexed by France until 1813. The kingdom of Holland covered the area of present-day Netherlands, with the exception of Limburg, and parts of Zeeland, which were French territory, and with the addition of East Frisia, in present-day Germany.
Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte was installed as King of Holland on 5 June 1806. Originally the arms of the new kingdom were to be like those of the Kingdom of Italy: an eagle bearing a shield, with the arms of the United Netherlands, the lion, now royally crowned. In December 1806, A. Renodi in Paris designed arms quartering the Napoleonic eagle with the lion of the United Netherlands. Around the shield was the French Order of the Grand Aigle. Behind the shield are crossed sceptres, typical for Napoleonic heraldry, and above the shield, Napoleon's star.
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