Treaty of Arras (1579)


The Treaty of Arras of 17 May 1579 was a peace treaty concluded between the Spanish Crown, represented by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, and representatives of the County of Hainaut, the County of Artois, and the cities of Douai, Lille, Orchies and Arras, all members of the Union of Arras, that had been formed the previous January, at the Abbey of St Vaast in Arras. It was a separate peace that formally ended the state of war that had existed between these entities during the Eighty Years' War. The provinces that had formed the Union of Utrecht continued the war.

Background

After Don Juan of Austria, the royal governor-general of the Habsburg Netherlands had broken with the States General of the Netherlands in July 1579 and resumed hostilities the members of the Union of Brussels initially maintained their common front against the government of king Philip II of Spain. But after the death of Don Juan in October 1578 his successor, the Duke of Parma, approached a Catholic faction, known later as the "Malcontents", led by the stadtholder of Hainaut, Philip de Lalaing, 3rd Count of Lalaing and his half-brother Emanuel Philibert de Lalaing and convinced them to engineer a breach with the Prince of Orange, the leader of the States General, over the latter's policy of "religious peace". This led to the forming of the Union of Arras in January 1579. The members of this Union then opened peace negotiations with Parma which led to the signing of a separate peace.

Negotiation history

The representatives of the parties to the Union of Arras already on 8 December 1578 agreed on a first draft of the treaty. This was followed by a second draft of 9 January 1579 and a third draft of 6 April 1579. Then on 17 May 1579 the Treaty was signed between the representatives of Parma and the members of the Union of Arras. But still the negotiations had not ended and Parma succeeded to wrest a number of further concessions from the treaty partners, which resulted in the version of 12 September 1579, which was ratified by king Philip and promulgated in Mons. This differs on appreciable and important points from the treaty as signed on 17 May.

Main provisions of the treaty, as signed on 17 May 1579

;For the Crown
;For the States of Artois
;For the States of Hainaut
;For Walloon Flanders
;Governors