Balthasar Gérard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Balthasar Gérard

assassin of William I of Orange

Date of Birth: 01-Jan-0001

Place of Birth: Vuillafans, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France

Date of Death: 14-Jul-1584

Profession: criminal

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Balthasar Gérard (alternative spellings Gerards or Gerardts; c.
1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassin of the Dutch independence leader, William I of Orange (William the Silent).
He killed William I in Delft on 10 July 1584, by shooting him twice with a pair of pistols, and was afterwards tried, convicted, and gruesomely executed. Gérard was born in Franche-Comté (then belonging to Spain, afterwards to France).
He came from a Roman Catholic family with 11 children and was a great admirer of Philip II, king of Spain and the Netherlands.
He studied law at the University of Dole.
On 15 March 1580, King Philip had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns to anyone who killed William the Silent, to whom he referred as a "pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race".