The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed on 10 August 1585 by

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

and the Dutch rebels fighting against Spanish rule. It was the first international treaty signed by what would become the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. It was signed at

Nonsuch Palace Nonsuch Palace was a Tudor royal palace, built by Henry VIII in Surrey, England; it stood from 1538 to 1682–83. Its site lies in what is now Nonsuch Park on the boundaries of the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey and the London Boro ...

, England. R. B. Wernham, ''Before the Armada: The growth of English foreign policy 1485–1588'' (1966), p. 371.

Terms

The treaty was provoked by the signing of the

Treaty of Joinville The Treaty of Joinville was signed in secret on 31 December 1584 by the Catholic League, led by France's first family of Catholic nobles, the House of Guise, and Habsburg Spain. Treaty provisions In the treaty: * Philip II of Spain agreed to fi ...

in 1584 between

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

and the Catholic League in which Philip II promised to finance the League. Elizabeth I agreed to supply 6,400 foot soldiers and 1,000 cavalry (who were to be led by Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester) which were initially intended as a way of lifting the siege of Antwerp, with an annual subsidy of 600,000

florin The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...

s, about a quarter of the annual cost of the revolt. As a surety for this assistance, the Dutch were to hand over

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

and

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushing ...

to England, which it would garrison at its own expense. They were known as the

Cautionary Towns The Cautionary Towns were three strategic Dutch ports which under the 1585 Treaty of Nonsuch were held by English troops as security for assistance provided by Elizabeth I during the Eighty Years' War against Spain. They included Brielle or Briel, ...

. The treaty granted Elizabeth the right to appoint two councillors to the Council of State of the United Provinces. The surety provoked the objection of

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

, which was to lose the most by this measure. Elizabeth rejected the title of General of the Provinces, offered to her in the treaty.

Aftermath

Philip II viewed the treaty as a declaration of war against him by Elizabeth I, and the Anglo-Spanish War started. Three years later, he launched the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...

and attempted to invade and conquer England. The resources spent by Philip on the Armada (10 million

ducat The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

s) undoubtedly diverted significant resources from fighting the

Dutch revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) (Historiography of the Eighty Years' War#Name and periodisation, c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and t ...

. Around 110 million ducats were spent on the partly-successful campaign against the resurgent revolt. The Treaty of Nonsuch was renewed and amended by the Treaty of Westminster of 6/16 August 1598 between the States-General and the Privy Council on behalf of Elizabeth.Davenport, F. G.; Paulin, C. O. (1917). ''European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies''. Carnegie Institution of Washington. pp. 239–242.

Footnotes

External links

Primary source for terms of Treaty of Nonsuch 1585
1585 in England 1585 in the Dutch Republic 1585 treaties Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) Dutch Republic–England relations Elizabethan era History of Surrey Nonsuch Nonsuch {{Treaty-stub

Terms

Aftermath

See also

Footnotes

External links