Peace of Münster

The Peace of Münster was a treaty between the United Netherlands and Spain signed in 1648. It was a landmark treaty for the Dutch republic and one of the key events in Dutch history; with it, the United Netherlands finally became independent from the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty was a part of the Peace of Westphalia which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War.

Eighty Years War

The Eighty Years' War, or Dutch Revolt (1566-1648), was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands against the Spanish (Habsburg) empire.

Spain was initially successful in suppressing the rebellion. In 1572, however, the rebels conquered Brielle, and the rebellion resurged. During the revolt the Northern Netherlands became "de facto" independent and rapidly grew to become a world power through their merchant shipping and experienced a period of economic, scientific, and cultural growth. However at the same time the Southern Netherlands (situated in modern-day Belgium, Luxembourg and Northern France) remained under Spanish rule. Despite various attempt the Dutch never managed to expel the Spanish. In the final years of the war the French allied themselves with the Dutch and they attacked the weakened Spanish in the rear. By 1648 large areas of the Southern Netherlands had been lost to France and despite many military successes Andries Bicker and many others wanted to sue for peace.

Negotiations and peace

The negotiations between the fighting parties began in 1641 in the towns of Münster and Osnabrück, in present-day Germany.

Despite not formally being recognised as an independent state, the Dutch republic was allowed to participate in the peace talks; even Spain did not oppose this. In January 1646, eight Dutch representatives (two from Holland and one from each of the other six provinces) arrived in Münster to start the negotiations. The Spanish envoys had been given great authority by the Spanish King Philip IV who had been suing for peace for years. On January 30, 1648, the parties reached an agreement and a text was sent to The Hague and Madrid to be signed. On May 15th of the same year peace was made. With the peace, the Netherlands was recognized as an independent country.

An original copy of the treaty is held by the Rijksarchief (Dutch national archives) in The Hague.

ources

* Boer, H. W. J. de, H. Bruch en H. Krol (red.) Adriaan Pauw (1585-1653); staatsman en ambachtsheer. Heemstede, VOHB, 1985
* Poelhekke, J. J. De vrede van Munster. 's-Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1948.