thumb|1732 copy of the text of the Treaty of Nonsuch (click for full PDF)

The Treaty of Nonsuch was signed on 10 August 1585 by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch rebels fighting against Spanish rule. It was the first international treaty signed by what would become the Dutch Republic. It was signed at Nonsuch Palace, England.

Terms

The treaty was provoked by the signing of the Treaty of Joinville in 1584 between Philip II of Spain 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 florins, about a quarter of the annual cost of the revolt. As a surety for this assistance, the Dutch were to hand over Brill and Flushing to England, which it would garrison at its own expense. They were known as the Cautionary Towns.

See also

  • List of treaties

Footnotes

Primary sources

  • The text of the Treaty of Nonsuch (1585)
  • pp. 83–88: Treaty of Nonsuch (10 August 1585).
  • pp. 89–91: Placard of the States General of the United Provinces, conferring the government of their Countries upon the Earl of Leicester (6 February 1586).
  • pp. 92–97: Placard discharging the Dutch from their Oath to the Earl of Leicester. (States General of the United Provinces, 12 April 1588).