Netherlands: Notable Policies and Documents

1576 - Pacification of Ghent (All Facts)

• Treaty passed by the 17 provinces of the Netherlands to form a federation / alliance to

  • maintain peace

  • suppress propaganda against heretics

  • keep Spanish and other foreign troops and mercenaries out of the Netherlands / Low Countries

• Treaty made via negotiations instigated by the Sack of Antwerp, led by William of Orange and the states of Brabant

• Treaty which declared and appointed William of Orange as “stadtholder” of the United Provinces of the Netherlands

1579 - Union of Utrecht (All Facts)

• Alliance based on an agreement concluded between a number of Dutch provinces and cities, to reach a joint commitment against the King Philip II of Spain with the hope of forcing him to stop his harsh administrative measures

  • Agreement upon which deputies from the six provinces of the (Spanish) Habsburg Netherlands pledged to

    • act together as allies in the event of war

    • allow each province to govern itself in its own way

  • Agreement which failed to mention

    • the Spanish King’s name

    • any question of reconciliation with Spain

    • the maintenance of Catholicism

• It finalized the division of the former Netherlands, the effect of the agreement being separate from its subsequent agreement meant only to split a people / nation already deeply divided by religious beliefs even further, at a time when Spain was facing new threats from the Ottoman Turks

• It formed the United Provinces

• It also served as the basis for the Constitution of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands

• In 1594, the province of Groningen joined the union

1654 - Act of Seclusion (All Facts)

• Secret clause contained within the Treaty of Westminster under which the House of Orange-Nassau was barred from the Stadtholderate of the Netherlands and thus unable to ally itself with the House of Stuart of England (and Scotland), ensuring that the still-powerful Dutch Navy was denied to the House of Stuart

1667 - Perpetual Edict / Exclusion Act (All Facts)

• Edict issued by Johan de Witt, it

  • abolished the office of stadtholder in Holland

  • prevented the prince of Orange from becoming a stadtholder