The Majestic Singular in

William of Orange's Letter

– J.W. Richter -
–

Fig. 1: Kingfisher

William of Orange loved the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis),

which is carrying the same orange-blanc and blue colour1
combination as is to be found in the Dutch tricolour.
The kingfisher is also found on a medal created 1572 in honour
for the city of Delft's transition to the Geuzen and carrying the
inscription:
Een held in ijs en baren
Wien God weet te bewaren
The Dutch legend "Een held in ijs en baren, wien God weet te
bewaren" describes “A hero in ice and waves, who is to be
guarded by God”.
1
Oranje-Blanje-Bleu is the Dutch version of the tricolour Red-White-Blue.
Introduction
Capitalization custom varies with language. The full rules of
capitalization for English are complicated. The rules have also
changed over time, generally to capitalize fewer terms.
Many European languages capitalize nouns and pronouns used
to refer to God (reverential capitals) and this idea may lead us
to the concept of an early religion, which may have applied
capitalization for all religious and governmental symbols.
In English, the nominative form of the singular first-person
pronoun, "I" is almost always capitalized. In Dutch there ia at
least one letter, written by William of Orange, demonstrating
the usage of capitalized first-person pronouns (Ic, Ick) and
second person singular (U or rather V) respectively similar
plural pronouns.
Capitalization has been preferred for the second person
singular or plural pronouns in many languages such as German
Sie and Du, in Dutch U, in Spanish2 Ud or Vd, in Russian Вы,
and in Slovenian Vi, though most of these may may often
formally only be required when referring to a deity and/or may
be considered archaic by now.
A third form of capitalization is to be identified in majestic
plural, which combines reverential capitals and majestic plural
for reverence. For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of
Oman opens thus: On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State
We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman…

2
abbreviations for Usted

2
According to the fundamental word-list for the PIE- (Proto-
Indo-European) language as developed by Morris Swadesh 3.
the singular first-person pronoun (I) and the second person
pronouns (You) are the most important words in any European
language, to be followed by the the plural first-person pronoun
(We). This statement also suggests a reference to religious
symbolism for pronouns and capitalization for the most
important words (pronouns) in language.
The usages of capitalization cannot be considered as a mere
sign for respect or politeness as this would normally avoid to
capitalize the first-person pronouns. Instead capitalization of
first-person pronouns (I), the second person singular (U) or
plural pronouns (U) and the plural pronoun (UUI = We) may be
explained as religious symbols, saving and uncovering some
hidden messages from past eras. The principle may correlate to
reverential capitals and refer to a deity as well. In fact the basic
symbols U and I must be considered as the basic religious
fundamentals for a great number of religions. These ideas have
been documented in the book The Sky-God Dyaeus .
In a singular, rare case both the capitalization of the singular
first-person pronoun, "I" and the second-person pronouns, "U"
may be found in a document, written in the 16th century by
William of Orange. The correspondence of the Prince may be
analyzed at the ING-database in the web. The letters have been
listed in a separate website. Unfortunately – except this
singular letter - most letters are very difficult to read in original
handwriting and normally only professional readers will be
able to decipher the capitalization of these manuscripts.

3
from: C. Renfrew 1988

3
Capitalization and Majestic Plural may be considered as an
attempt to express reverence to a common idea of sacred
symbolism in the pronouns U, I and We. William of Orange
may have applied capitalization in his letter #10317 in a
subconscious thought of expressing reverence to the people or
the country, which generalizes the capitalization of the pronoun
for the first person (“Ic”) to Majestic Singular.
Of course the royals may also have considered themselves as
preferred by divine powers or even as deities respectively
descendants from deities. Consequently majestic plural and
capitalization must be considered as just another common
symbol for the ruling classes. The symbols themselves (the
pronouns U, I and We) however reveal their religious
fundamentals in any writing style – as majuscules or as
minuscules.

4
Etymology4
Further information: Proto-Indo-European pronouns

Wikipedia:
English I originates from Old English (OE) ic. This
transformation from ic to i had happened by about 1137
in Northern England. Capitalization of the word began
around 1250 to clarify the single letter as constituting a
full word: writers and copyists began to use a capital I
because the lower-case letter was hard to read, and
sometimes mistaken for part of the previous or
succeeding word. This practice was already established
by the introduction of movable type in the mid-15th
century, and was also still considered to improve
readability.
Its predecessor ic had in turn originated from the
continuation of Proto-Germanic ik, and ek; ek was
attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions (in some cases
notably showing the variant eka; see also ek erilaz).
Linguists assume ik to have developed from the
unstressed variant of ek.
There are however some pronouns similar to the word “I”, e.g.
the southern German word “Ih” and the French “Je”, which
may be shortened to “j” in “j'aime”.

4
Info from I (pronoun) - (Wikipedia)

5
The majestic plural
Wikipedia:

The majestic plural (pluralis maiestatis in Latin) is the

use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person
holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, pope,
or university rector. It is also called the royal pronoun,
the royal "we" or the Victorian "we". The more general
word for the use of we to refer to oneself is nosism,
from the Latin nos.[1] It is most commonly used to
denote the excellence, power, and dignity of the person
that speaks or writes.

As an example the Wikipedia documents a second example:

In his abdication statement, Nicholas II of Russia uses

the pluralis maiestatis liberally, as in "In agreement with
the Imperial Duma, We have thought it well to renounce
the Throne of the Russian Empire and to lay down the
supreme power."

The majestic plural is distinct from the plural of

modesty (pluralis modestiae) and the author's plural
(pluralis auctoris) or the inclusion of readers or
listeners, respectively, the latter often used in
mathematics. For instance:
Let us calculate! — Leibniz

See also: Elohim, a plural name of the Hebrew deity

Yahweh

6
 About half of Native American languages apply distict
versions of the we-concept, regardless of the languages'
families. Cherokee, for instance, distinguishes between
four forms of "we". These are: "you and I (inclusive
dual)"; "another and I (exclusive dual)"; "others and I
(exclusive plural)"; and "you, another or others, and I"
(inclusive plural). Fijian goes even further with six
words for "we", with three numbers—dual, small group
(three or four people), and large group—and separate
inclusive and exclusive forms for each number.
English makes this a grammatical distinction only marginally
through inclusive "let's". For example, the phrase "let us eat"
may exclude the addressee, as a request to be left alone to eat,
or include the addressee, as an invitation to eat together. The
latter usage is informal, however, and the contracted form "let's
eat" can only be inclusive.

7
Capitalizing Pronouns
Capitalization5 is writing a word with its first letter as a
majuscule6 and the remaining letters in minuscules7 , in those
writing systems which have a case distinction. Capitalization
custom varies with language. The full rules of capitalization for
English are complicated. The rules have also changed over
time, generally to capitalize fewer terms. To the modern reader,
an 18th century document seems to use initial capitals
excessively. It is an important function of English style guides
to describe the complete current rules, although there is some
variation from one guide to another.

capitalization of the first-person pronoun

• In English, the nominative form of the singular first-
person pronoun, "I" is almost always capitalized, along
with all its contractions (I'll, I'm, etc.).
• Many European languages capitalize nouns and
pronouns used to refer to God (reverential capitals):
hallowed be Thy name, look what He has done. Some
English authors capitalize any word referring to God:
the Lamb, the Almighty; some capitalize "Thy Name."
• In Dutch there is at least a singular letter, written by
William of Orange, demonstrating the usage of
capitalized first-person pronouns (Ic) and second
person singular or plural pronouns (U). An example for
these letters may explain better how the prince may
have used capitalization in his letters.
5
or capitalisation
6
upper-case letter
7
lower-case letters

8
The second-person pronoun
Some languages capitalize the formal second-person pronoun8:
• In German, the formal second person singular or plural
pronoun Sie is capitalized along with all its case-forms
(Ihre, Ihres, etc.), but these words are not capitalized
when used as third person feminine singular or plural
pronouns. Up until the recent German spelling reform,
the traditional rules for personal letters also capitalized
the informal pronoun Du (and its derivatives, such as
Dein), but this is no longer required.
• Italian also capitalizes its formal pronouns, Lei and
Loro, and their cases (even within words, e.g. arriveder
La "good bye", formal). This is occasionally likewise
done for the Dutch U, though this is formally only
required when referring to a deity and may be
considered archaic.
• In Spanish, the abbreviation of the pronoun usted, Ud.
or Vd., is usually written with a capital.
• Similarly, in Russian the formal second-person pronoun
Вы with its cases Ваш, Вашего etc. is capitalized
(usually in personal correspondence).
• Slovenian capitalizes the formal second-person pronoun
Vi along with its cases (Vas, Vam, Vami) and personal
pronoun (Vaš etc.) in formal correspondence.

8
All examples and information has been found in Wikipedia's database
Capitalization

9
 Historically, the familiar second-person pronoun ti and
its cases (tebe, tebi, teboj) were capitalized as well, but
new orthography prohibits such use.
• In Danish, the plural second-person pronoun, I, is
capitalized, but its other forms jer and jeres are not.
This distinguishes it from the preposition i ("in").
• In formally written Polish, Czech and Slovak, most
notably in letters and e-mails, all pronouns referring to
the addressee are capitalized. This includes not only Ty
(thou) and all its declensions (Twój, Ciebie etc.), but
also any plural pronouns encompassing the addressee,
such as Wy (you), including declensions. This principle
extends to nouns used in formal third person (when
used to address the letter addressee), such as Pan (sir)
and Pani (madame).
• In Swedish it's very uncommon nowadays to capitalize
pronouns. But in some cases it's still acceptable. If you
are writing a formal letter, let's say for a job or an
application to the University, you use the formal form
of you (in this case, instead of "du" we use "Ni").
Otherwise it's never used.

10
Letter #10317 (William of Orange)
From William (Prince) of Orange sent from Delft, Thursday, 26
February 1573 to the Dutch Churches in England.
In this letter9 prince William applies the following words in
archaic Dutch language:
• "Ic", "Ick" – the 1st person-pronouns, preferring the
majuscules, which may be interpreted as a replacement
for majestic plural.
• "meyn", "myn" – “my” - preferring the minuscules
• "ghy" – 2nd person pronoun, preferring the minuscules
• “U”, “u”, "Ulieder10", "ulieden" – 2nd person pronouns,
mixing majuscules & minuscules for the letter “u”
• “God”, "Godt" & “Christ” – God, always using
majuscules
Some corrector has underlined a number of words and
substituted others above the line. The substituted words have
been added as footnotes. In the following text these examples
have been marked yellow.

9
Letter #10317 (William of Orange)
10
U has been written as V; U-lieden has been written as Vlieden, in which
the letter V generally is identical to U (you)

11
Original text for Letter #10317
Myne heeren Ic duncke dat tot noch toe ghy hebt moghen
ghenouchsaemlick bekennen den goeden wille die my Godt
ghegheuen heeft, om Vlieder arme vaderlant in vryheyt te
stellen zo wel in tgene dat angaet de politie 11 desselfs, als de
religie ende hoe dat Ick verdraghen hebbe ontellicke
moyelicheden, dat Ic selfs meyn eyghen leven ghewaecht
hebbe om tot desen ende te commen.
Waert dat Ic sowel de macht12 ende mogentheit hadde, als den
goeden wille, Ick13 ware te vreden alle het last vp myn
schouderen te nemen, sonder yemant eenichsins daer mede te
bezwaren14.
tWelck ghy hebt moghen verstaen15 vutedien dat Ic vlieden hier
te vooren16 niet seer beswaert hebbe, Insulckerwys dat Ic soude
begheeren ten coste van myn eyghen leuen (waertmy
moghelich) tlant vuttecoopen ofte verlossen van de slauernye 17
der goederen, lichamen, ende zielen daer in het is, sonder dattet
yemant yet costen soude.

11
den staet
12
cracht
13
Ic soude geraden vinden
14
belasten
15
erkennen
16
voormaels
17
dienstbaerheyt

12
Maer vlieden ghemerct dat mynen wensch niet en baet, ende
dat myn eighen macht18 niet ghenouchsaem is19 voor zulcken
last, Ic ben bedwonghen helpe te begheeren eyst20 niet an alle
waere Christenen dien onghetwifelt dese zake belanct, ten
minsten an die guene21, den welcken (ghemerct sy van een lant
zyn) de sake schynt naerder an te gaen. Ende namelick tot
vlieden die vut sonderlicke weldaet gods zyt vertrocken in een
plaetse der ruste stilheyt. Dat den noot zeer groot zy ziet ghy,
ende daer es niemant onder V diess onwetende.
… (see the original in the website: Letter #10317

The end of the pledge has been documented as:

… Ja eenyeder als Ic achte zal bekennen dat Ic onachtsaemlick
verlaten ben22 gheweest van die der23 welcker getrauwicheit my
behoorde ghedient thebben tot bystant ende hulpe...

Van Delft desen 26 dach Februarij 1573.

V Lieder goede Vrient Guillaume
van Nassau
Bouen stont geschreuen Aende Dienaeren Ouderlinghen ende
Diaconen der gemeenten van Londen Norwits Sandwits
Medston Colchester Ypswich eende Tetfort.

18
crachten
19
zyn
20
so
21
addition above the line by the corrector
22
“hebben” altered to “ben” by the corrector
23
addition above the line by the corrector

13
Letter #8819 (William of Orange)
In another letter24 addressing the sovereigns of Gent another set
of examples may be derived:
• "U" and "Ulieden" 2nd person pronouns, in majuscules
• "wij" and "ons" - “we” and “us” in minuscules,
• "Almogende" and "Zijne Heilige Hoede" in majuscules,

... Wij bidden Ulieden insgelijks altijd verzekerd te zijn,

dat al wat wij kunnen ondernemen tot dienst en tot welvaren
van de stad Gent en tot het welzijn van ieder van U persoonlijk
door ons met liefde, ijver en genegenheid zal worden gedaan;
en met hetzelfde goede hart dat met de hartelijkste
'gebiedenisse' aan U, de Almogende bidt, Ulieden... goede
vrienden te nemen in Zijne Heilige Hoede ...

24
a letter from Vlissingen, dated the 20 th of August 1583 found at page 207
of Willem van Oranje: droom en gestalte by Robert van Roosbroeck - 1962
- 232 pages

14