Editing Union of Utrecht

{{short description|1579 treaty unifying the northern Netherlands provinces}}
{{For|the federation of Old Catholic churches|Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic)}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=nl|otherarticle=Unie van Utrecht (1579)|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox treaty
| name                    = Union of Utrecht
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| date_signed             =  23 January 1579
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{{Netherlands state}}
The '''Union of Utrecht''' ({{langx|nl|Unie van Utrecht}}) was an alliance based on an agreement concluded on 23 January 1579 between a number of [[Habsburg Netherlands|Dutch provinces]] and cities, to reach a joint commitment against the king, [[Philip II of Spain]]. By joining forces, they hoped to force him to stop his harsh administrative measures. In addition, some important political matters were regulated in areas such as defence, taxation and religion, which is why the treaty in question is also seen as a first version or precursor of a later constitution. The Union of Utrecht complemented the so-called [[General Union of 1576]], established by the [[Pacification of Ghent]], which is why it is also referred to as the Further Union.

== 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.

==History==
The Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the [[Dutch Republic|Republic of the Seven United Provinces]], which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] in 1609.

The treaty was signed on 23 January by [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]], [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]] (but not all of Utrecht), and the province (but not the city) of [[Ommelanden|Groningen]]. The treaty was a reaction of the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] provinces to the 1579 [[Union of Arras]] (Dutch: ''Unie van Atrecht''), in which two southern provinces and a city declared their support for [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] Spain.

During the following months of 1579, other states signed the treaty as well, such as [[Ghent]], cities from [[Friesland]], as well as three of the quarters of [[Guelders]] ([[Nijmegen Quarter]], [[Veluwe Quarter]], [[Zutphen County]]). In the summer of 1579, [[Amersfoort]] from the province of Utrecht also joined, together with [[Ypres]], [[Antwerp]], [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] and [[Brussels]]. In February 1580, [[Lier, Belgium|Lier]], [[Bruges]] and the surrounding area also signed the treaty. The city of [[Groningen (city)|Groningen]] shifted in favor under influence of the [[stadtholder]] for Friesland, [[George van Rennenberg]], and also signed the treaty. The fourth quarter of Guelders, [[Upper Guelders]], never signed the treaty. In April 1580, [[Overijssel]] and [[Drenthe]] signed on.

[[Image:Map Union of Arras and Utrecht 1579-en.svg|right|thumb|Map of the Spanish Netherlands, the Union of Utrecht and the Union of Arras (1579)]]
The parts of the Low Countries that joined:<ref>{{Cite web|last=Redactie|title=De Unie van Atrecht (1579)|url=https://historiek.net/unie-van-atrecht-1579/74346/|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Historiek|date=6 January 2018 |language=nl}}</ref>
* the [[County of Holland]]
* the [[County of Zeeland]]
* the [[Lordship of Utrecht]]
* the [[Duchy of Guelders]]
* the [[Lordship of Groningen]]
* the [[Lordship of Friesland]]
* the [[County of Drenthe]]
* the [[Lordship of Overijssel]]
* the [[Duchy of Brabant]]
* the [[County of Flanders]]
* the cities of [[Tournai]] and [[Valenciennes]]

Antwerp was the capital of the union until [[Fall of Antwerp|its fall to the Spanish]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=HOUTTE|title=Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden|publisher=W. de Haan N.V.}}</ref>

Flanders was almost entirely conquered by the Spanish troops, as was half of Brabant. The United Provinces still recognized Spanish rule after the Union of Utrecht. However, the union contributed to the deterioration in the relationship between the provinces and their lord, and in 1581 the United Provinces declared their independence of the king in the [[Act of Abjuration]].

The Twelve Years' Truce of 1609 marked a pause in what became known as the [[Eighty Years' War]], effectively acknowledging Dutch independence. As Pieter Geyl puts it, the truce marked "an astonishing victory for the Dutch," who surrendered no lands and did not agree to halt their attacks on Spanish colonies and the Spanish trade empire. In return the Spanish granted the United Provinces ''de facto'' independence by describing them as "Free lands, provinces and states against whom they make no claim" for the duration of the truce.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pieter Geyl|title=The revolt of the Netherlands, 1555–1609|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cn0UAQAAIAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|isbn=9780064923828}}</ref>

==Religious tolerance==

The Union of Utrecht allowed complete personal [[freedom of religion]] and was thus one of the first unlimited [[edict of toleration|edicts of religious toleration]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=hyj|title = History of the Netherlands}}</ref> An additional declaration allowed provinces and cities that wished to remain Roman Catholic to join the union.

== Later reflection ==
Many people view the Union of Utrecht as the beginning of the Netherlands as a single state. This is not entirely accurate. It can be said that the Union of Utrecht laid the foundation for the Dutch Republic, also known as the Seven United Provinces, which would be formed a few years later. However, these seven states within a state only became a centralised state during the time of the [[Batavian Republic]] two centuries later.

Until the early 20th century, most Dutch and Belgian historians, such as P. L. Muller (1867) and [[Henri Pirenne]] (1911), believed that the Union of Utrecht was initially intended as a "Calvinist alliance" of the "seven" "Northern provinces" that separated themselves from the General Union (the Pacification of Ghent and the Unions of Brussels), and "seceded from the South".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Van Durme |first=M. |date=1944 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1944_num_23_1_1701_t1_0453_0000_3 |title=Delfos (Dr. L.). ''Die Anfänge der Utrechter Union, 1577–1587. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der niederländischen Erhebung, insbesondere zu deren Verfassungsgeschichte'' (review) |journal=Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis |volume=23 |pages=453–456}}</ref>{{rp|454}} The few Southern cities that joined the Union of Utrecht were considered more like "honorary members" rather than fully integrated members of the "Northern" Union.{{sfn|Van Durme|1944|p=454}} Flemish researcher Leo Delfos further investigated and openly challenged this view from 1929 onwards.{{sfn|Van Durme|1944|p=454}} He concluded that the Union of Utrecht actually sought to uphold the General Union / Pacification of Ghent of 1576 and did not intend to geographically limit itself to the North, but aimed to include all provinces in the Netherlands.{{sfn|Van Durme|1944|p=455}} Both the Pacification and the Union of Utrecht were, in fact, treaties between two parties: the Calvinist-governed provinces of Holland and Zeeland and the other 'fifteen' provinces dominated by Catholics.{{sfn|Van Durme|1944|p=455}} Even Alexander Farnese (Parma), the archenemy of the Union of Utrecht, denied in a letter to the States of Artois dated January 27, 1579, that the newly established Union of Utrecht had a Calvinist foundation. It was only through Parma's military conquests in the 1580s and the political developments in the rebellious region that it gradually became, in practice, a 'Northern Calvinist alliance', but it certainly did not start that way.{{sfn|Van Durme|1944|p=455}}

==See also==
* [[Dutch Revolt]]
* [[List of treaties]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Geyl, Pieter |title=The revolt of the Netherlands, 1555–1609|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cn0UAQAAIAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|isbn=9780064923828}}
* Israel, Jonathan I. ''The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477–1806'' (1998) pp 184–96
* Koenigsberger, H. G. ''Monarchies, States Generals & Parliaments: The Netherlands in the Fifteenth & Sixteenth Centuries'' (2002) 
*   [[Lucy Maynard Salmon|Salmon, Lucy Maynard]]. ''The Union of Utrecht'' (1894) [https://archive.org/details/unionutrecht00salmgoog online] pp 137–48

==External links==
*[https://constitution.org/1-Constitution/cons/dutch/Union_Utrecht_1579.html Text of Treaty in English translation]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Union Of Utrecht}}
[[Category:1579 in the Habsburg Netherlands]]

[[Category:Treaties of Flanders]]
[[Category:Eighty Years' War (1566–1609)]]
[[Category:Former polities in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Political charters]]
[[Category:1579 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:History of Utrecht (city)]]
[[Category:1579 treaties]]
[[Category:Edicts of toleration]]