England and the Peace with Spain, 1604
Pauline Croft analyses the causes and traces the consequences of a momentous Treaty.
August 2004 saw the 400th anniversary of the Treaty of London (1604), one of the most significant treaties in British history and splendidly commemorated in the great portrait of the diplomats - English, Spanish and Flemish - sitting around a carpeted table in the old royal palace of Somerset House, London. There are two versions of this remarkable painting, one of the very largest of its era, and unique in its depiction of a key political moment in European history. Clearly the agreement was regarded as momentous by contemporaries, but to appreciate why it was so important we need to understand the background.
The Armada War
The negotiations of 1604 brought to an end the long conflict between Spain and England which had broken out in 1585.
There was never a formal declaration of war by either side, but the main bone of contention was the 1585 treaty of Nonsuch, a formal alliance which Elizabeth I contracted with the leaders of the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule in the low countries (roughly modern Belgium and The Netherlands).
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