The Union of Utrecht
January 23, 1579
Introduction: In 1578, Phillip II, who had not
accepted the principles of the Pacification of Ghent as understood
by its signatories, installed Alexander Farnese, the Duke of Parma
as the Spanish commander and Governor General of the Low
Countries. During the next seven years, Parma drove the Prince of
Orange and his followers out of the Southern provinces and won
back the allegiance of most of its increasingly overwhelmingly
Catholic population, which eventually led to the division of the
Low Countries and the creation of the Dutch Republic in the North.
The Union of Utrecht, signed on January 23, 1579, was not
originally intended as a new sovereign state but as a union of
sovereign provinces. It was an agreement between the provinces of
Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland and the rural
districts of Groningen. Its executive authority consisted of a
Council of State while the States General was its representative
body. Sovereignty remained with the provinces but there was no
right of secession. Earlier in January 1579, the Union of Arras
was formed, consisting of the southern Walloon provinces and
principalities, which had remained largely Catholic. William of
Orange, whose goal had been the creation of a general union of all
the provinces of the Netherlands did not join the Union of Arras
until May 3 of 1579, after it became clear that the Walloon
provinces would make peace with the duke of Parma and the king.
The Union of Utrecht, while not initially a constitution of a new
state. Served as the legal foundation of the Dutch Republic, known
as the United Provinces, until its abolition in 1795 following
invasion by France. The document below was translated from the
French and Dutch by Herbert H. Rowen and published in his The
Low Countries in Early Modern Times: A Documentary History
(New York: Harper & Row, 1972), pp. 69-74.
The constitution of the United Provinces and this treaty
became the model for the later American Articles of Confederation.
Whereas, since the Pacification made at Ghent, by· which almost all
the provinces of these Netherlands bound themselves to help each
other with their lives and goods in order to drive out the Spaniards
and other foreign nations, together with their adherents, we have
discovered that these same Spaniards under Don John of Austria and
their other chiefs and captains have endeavored and still daily
endeavor to bring these provinces as a group and individually under
their subjection, tyrannical government, and slavery and to divide
and dismember these same provinces by arms and wily practices and to
destroy and subvert the Union created by this aforesaid
Pacification, with the aim of the utter ruin and downfall of the
aforesaid lands and provinces, in which enterprise they persevere,
having recently solicited certain cities and quarters with letters
and attacked and invaded others, to wit, Gelderland, with arms,
Therefore, the members for the Duchy of Gelderland and County of
Zutphen, the counties and lands of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht,
Friesland, and the districts between Eems and Lauwers have found it
wise to unite and bind each other more closely and specifically, not
in order to split away from the aforesaid general Union made by the
Pacification at Ghent, but in order further to strengthen it and to
take measures against the troubles which may come upon them from the
wiles, attacks, and violence of their enemies, by determining how
and what each of these provinces will do in such a case and acting
to protect them against the violence of their enemies. And to
prevent further separation of the aforesaid provinces and individual
members while the others remain in the aforesaid general Union and
Pacification of Ghent, the deputies of the aforesaid provinces, with
the full authority granted by their principals, have decreed and
concluded the following Points and Articles, without thereby in any
way desiring to secede from the Holy Roman Empire.
I.
Firstly, the aforesaid provinces will form an alliance,
confederation, and union among themselves, as they do hereby form an
alliance, confederation, and union, in order to remain joined
together for all time, in. every form and manner, as if they
constituted only a single province, and they may not hereafter
divide or permit their division or separation by testament,
codicils, donations, cessions, exchanges, sales, treaties of peace
or marriage, or for any other reason whatsoever. Nevertheless each
province and the individual cities, members, and inhabitants thereof
shall each retain undiminished its special and particular
privileges, franchises, exemptions, rights, statutes, laudable and
long practiced customs, usages and all its rights, and each shall
not only do the others no damage, harm, or vexation but shall help
to maintain, strengthen, confirm, and indeed protect the others in
these by all proper and possible means, indeed if need be with life
and goods, against any and all who seek to deprive them of these in
any way, whatever it may be. It is fully agreed that differences
which now exist or may develop hereafter between some of the
aforesaid provinces, members or cities of this Union, concerning
their particular and special privileges, franchises, exemptions,
rights, statutes, laudable and long practiced customs, usages and
rights, shall be decided by means of the ordinary courts of justice,
by arbiters, or by friendly agreement, and the other lands or
provinces, cities and members thereof shall not interfere, as long
as the parties submit to procedures at law, unless they intercede
for the sake of agreement.
II.
[The Alliance and Union is to be maintained against attempts upon it
made in the name of the Peace of Ghent or under the pretext of
re-establishing Roman Catholicism, removing any innovations
introduced since 1558, or overthrowing the present Union of
Utrecht.]
III.
That the aforesaid provinces shall also be bound to assist each
other in the same way and to help each other against all foreign and
domestic lords, princes, lands, provinces, cities or members
thereof, who seek to do them, as a group or individually, any harm
or injustice, or wage war upon them. But it is agreed that
assistance given by the Generality of this Union shall be provided
with knowledge of the situation.
IV.
Item, in order to assure the aforesaid provinces, cities and members
thereof more effectively against all violence, the frontier cities
and others where this shall be found necessary in any provinces,
shall be maintained and fortified at the cost of the cities and
provinces in which they are situated, with the Generality providing
one-half of the costs. Provided that if it shall be found expedient
to build several new fortresses in any of the aforesaid provinces,
or to rebuild or tear down any that now exist, then the costs shall
be borne by all the aforesaid provinces in common.
V.
And to provide for the expenses which shall be found necessary in
such cases as the above for the defense of the aforesaid Provinces,
it is agreed that there will be introduced, raised, and leased to
the highest bidder every three months or at other convenient time,
in all the provinces upon the same footing for their common defense,
various taxes upon all kinds of wines, beers of domestic and foreign
brew, the grinding of corn and grain, salt, gold, silver, silk and
woollen cloth, livestock and cultivated land, slaughtered beasts,
horses, oxen sold or exchanged, goods weighed at public scales, and
all other goods which it shall be unanimously agreed hereafter to
tax. In accordance with the ordinance to be drafted and adopted upon
this matter, the revenues of the domains of his Royal Majesty shall
also be employed for these ends, after deducting the charges upon
them.
VI.
These revenues shall be increased or decreased only by unanimous
decision, according to the needs of the situation, but shall serve
only the common defense and the expenditures placed upon the
Generality, and they shall not be diverted to any other use.
IX.
Item, that no treaties of truce or peace shall be made or wars
begun, nor any taxes or contributions be raised affecting this Union
in general except with the general advice and consent of the
aforesaid provinces. But in other matters affecting the maintenance
of this Confederation and the results and consequences thereof,
decisions shall be made according to the opinions and votes of a
majority of the ·provinces included in this Union, which shall be
counted according to the existing practice of the States General but
only provisionally until other arrangements are ordered by the
common decision of the Allies [the word ‘Allies’ is used for members
of the Union throughout the document].
Provided that in the event that the provinces cannot reach agreement
in matters of truce, peace, war, or taxation, then the difference
will be referred to and provisionally submitted to the stadholders
now in office in the aforesaid United Provinces, who shall bring the
parties to an agreement or make their own decision in the conflict,
as they shall deem proper. It shall be understood that if the
stadholders themselves cannot come to an agreement in such matters,
they shall name impartial assessors or deputies of their own choice
and the parties shall be held to accept he decisions made by the
stadholders in this manner.
X
None of the aforesaid provinces, cities, or members thereof may make
any confederation or alliances with any neighboring rulers or
countries, without the consent of these United Provinces and Allies.
XI.
It is agreed that if any neighboring princes, lords, lands, or
cities desire to join with the aforesaid provinces and enter this
Confederation, they may be accepted only by common advice and
consent of these provinces.
XII.
The aforesaid provinces shall be required to adhere to the same
valuation of coinage, that is, the rate of monetary exchange,
according to such ordinances as shall be made thereupon at the first
opportunity, and it may not be changed except by common agreement.
XIII.
As for the matter of religion, the States of Holland and Zeeland
shall act according to their own pleasure, and the other Provinces
of this Union shall follow the rules set down in the religious peace
drafted by Archduke Matthias, governor and captain-general of these
countries, with the advice of the Council of State and the States
General, or shall establish such general or special regulations in
this matter as they shall find good and most fitting for the repose
and welfare of the provinces, cities, and individual Members
thereof, and the preservation of the property and rights of each
individual, whether churchman or layman, and no other Province shall
be permitted to interfere or make difficulties, provided that each
person shall remain free in his religion and that no one shall be
investigated or persecuted because of his religion, as is provided
in the Pacification of Ghent…
XVIII
Item, none of the United provinces, or cities or members thereof,
shall impose any taxes, convoy fees, or similar burdens, which shall
be detrimental to other Provinces, except by common agreement, and
none of the allies may be taxed more highly than the inhabitants of
the province itself…
XXIV
To assure its more exact performance, the Stadholders of the
aforesaid provinces who are now in office and their successors, as
well as the magistrates and chief officials of each Province, City
and member thereof, shall be required to swear an oath to follow and
maintain this Union and Confederation and each article therein, and
to have others do the same.
XXV
The same oath shall be taken by all civic guards, confraternities,
and corporate bodies in any cities and places in this Union.