The Treaty of London, the Twelve Years Truce and Religious Toleration in Spain and the Netherlands (1598–1621)

Abstract

Religious toleration towards the subjects of other sovereigns was only pursued during peacetime. Moreover, the Spanish Inquisition clearly disapproved the Alba-Cobham Agreement and never stopped persecuting English Protestants, in spite of the complaints of the English ambassadors in Madrid. In reality, the politics of repression of the Spanish Monarchy in Spain and the Netherlands did not change until the beginning of the 17th century, when religious tolerance was implemented in order to make international peace, Philip III's so called Pax Hispanica , possible. The mechanisms that led to this adjustment were two international treaties between the Spanish Monarchy and its most important Protestant enemies: the Treaty of London of 1604 and the Twelve Years Truce of 1609. The motives of the Spanish and English government to start the negotiations that led to the Treaty of London were signed on 29 August 1604. Keywords: Alba-Cobham Agreement; Netherlands; Philip III; Religious toleration; Spain; Treaty of London; Twelve Years Truce