Knight's Hall, Binnenhof, The Hague

On October 3, 1247, the young Count William II of Holland was elected as king of the Romans by the German electors at the age of 19. The young count from the eccentric Low Countries became king of the entire Holy Roman Empire! From then on, Count William II could call himself rex romanorum. This status also came with a representative residence.

On this ground in The Hague, William II began to build on a scale that the county had never seen before. In the words of a later chronicle, he summoned ''wise craftsmen to construct a royal palace there''. The workers (and the master builders) for this project likely came from Flanders, but the basic design was influenced by England.

William II never saw his palace at the Binnenhof completed. In 1256, during a campaign against the rebellious West Frisians at Hoogwoud, he fell through the ice with his horse and was slaughtered by the rushing Frisians.

Dromos