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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Orange
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Town in the south of France, north of Avignon, which was the centre of a small independent principality in the Middle Ages. The title of prince of Orange was inherited in the 16C by a man whose life and career had no direct connections with the area – *William the Silent, the leader of the Dutch in their struggle for independence from Spain. Orange was equally remote from the life of his great-grandson, the prince of Orange who became king of England in 1689 as *William III. But the name has survived in British history through the significance attached by Protestants in Northern Ireland to William's victory at the *Boyne.
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A secret order of Orangemen was founded in 1795 to uphold Protestant supremacy against Irish nationalism; and Orange lodges have remained a feature of life in Ulster, organizing marches and processions on July 12, the supposed date of the Battle of the Boyne.
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