Editing Union of Utrecht (section)

== Previous history ==

=== Earlier alliances ===
The signing of the treaty for the Union of Utrecht, during the [[Eighty Years' War]] (1568–1648), was preceded by a whole series of unions, edicts and covenants. At the [[Union of Dordrecht]], on 4 July 1575, [[William the Silent|William of Orange]] was appointed [[Stadtholder|stadholder]] of Holland and Holland and Zeeland decided to cooperate. These areas – except for Amsterdam and Middelburg, among others – were largely free of Spanish troops in the years 1572–1576, and there leaders with the [[Reformed Christianity|Calvinist]] faith gained the upper hand. The [[Sack of Antwerp|Spanish sack of Antwerp]] on 4 November 1576, in which Spanish troops looted and reduced the city to ashes and killed thousands of citizens, caused a stir in the Netherlands. The [[States of Holland and West Friesland|States of Holland]], the States of Zeeland and the other regions, which were predominantly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], reconciled on 8 November with the Pacification of Ghent in their aversion to the Spanish presence. They declared at the Pacification that they would cooperate in resisting interventions by King [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] but remain obedient to him. There was no final settlement of the religious issue. For the time being, the Calvinist religion would be leading in Holland and Zeeland, the Catholic religion in the other regions, but religious peace would be sought in all regions.

In Holland and Zeeland, however, Calvinists took little notice of the agreements. And returning Calvinist exiles who had once fled from [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Alva]] sometimes caused serious religious disturbances in the then church- and king-faithful regions outside Holland and Zeeland after 1576.

The agreements of the Pacification of Ghent were confirmed at the first [[Union of Brussels]] on 6 January 1577, by which the regions wanted to force the new governor [[John of Austria|Don Juan of Austria]] to recognise the Pacification; the Spanish soldiers were to leave the country and the regions themselves would take care of maintaining Catholicism, much against the wishes of the Calvinists. The governor finally agreed by signing the [[Edict of 1577|Eternal Edict]] on 12 February, after which Spanish troops began to withdraw, largely to the [[Duchy of Luxembourg]], which had always remained royalist. That same month, William of Orange was already urging Gelre to ‘make a good, firm alliance and alliance in private with those of Hollant and Zeelant, etlycke other provinces with some of the principal lords and noblemen.’ Rather than break the Pacification, the prince wanted to raise a second line of defence in a ‘further union’. The concept of the Union of Utrecht was already contained in this proposal to Gelre. However, the predominantly Catholic Gelre saw little point in it; it did not want to depend on intransigent, Calvinist Holland for a possible reconciliation with the king.