Peace of Aachen (1668)

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Memorial image of the Peace of Aachen in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

The First Peace of Aachen was concluded on May 2, 1668 in Aachen (French: Aix-la-Chapelle) and ended the war of devolution between France and Spain . It was mediated by the Triple Alliance of England , the Republic of the United Netherlands and Sweden at a congress in Aachen. The French King Louis XIV had to give back the free county of Burgundy , but kept a number of permanent places in the Spanish Netherlands .

prehistory

Louis XIV had seized several permanent places in the Spanish Netherlands in 1667 during the War of Devolution; in February 1668 he succeeded in conquering Franche-Comté (Free County of Burgundy). Ludwig's successes threatened the security of the Republic of the United Netherlands, whose stronghold was Flanders . Therefore, under the direction of Johan de Witt, on January 23, 1668 in The Hague, it concluded the triple alliance with England and Sweden brought about by Sir William Temple in order, as a secret federal deed stated, to unite the French king for peace with Spain force if he did not want to accept the condition to be proposed to him.

negotiations

When, after long hesitation, the Spanish governor in Flanders, the Marquis of Castel Rodrigo , spoke of the double proposal that Spain should cede to France either the places conquered by the enemy in the Netherlands in 1667 or Franche-Comté and some cities in Flanders the former, to the great annoyance of the United Netherlands, which had accepted those fortresses reluctantly in France's possession, finally also consented to Louis XIV, especially when the allies showed seriousness, in the proposed armistice with Spain. The Sun King was able to do this all the easier when on January 19, 1668 he had signed a secret treaty with Emperor Leopold I - which only became known in the 19th century - to divide the kingdom of the Spanish line of the Habsburgs in the event of their extinction. He concluded the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye of April 15, 1668 with the two mediating powers England and United Netherlands , in which his agents Le Tellier, Lionne and Colbert , the Dutch, van Beverningh , and the English, Trevor , signed the draft of a peace based on that assignment, to be concluded under the guarantee of the United Netherlands and the Court of London .

On April 25, 1668, peace negotiations began in Aachen. In addition to the Spanish plenipotentiary, the Marquis de Castel Rodrigo, and his deputy, the Count von Bergeyck , the French, Charles Colbert, marquis de Croissy , and those of the mediating naval powers, the Knight Temple and van Beverningh, the envoys also acted as mediators of Pope Clement IX. , the prince archbishops (electors) of Mainz and Cologne and the bishop of Münster . Only Temple, the soul of the entire negotiation, prevented, by prudent moderation, the mutual bitterness of the Spanish and Dutch plenipotentiaries from frustrating his peace efforts, as France was already hoping. When Spain saw that it could not hope for assistance in any other way from the Triple Alliance, it gave its approval to the peace draft, not without visible reluctance, and signed the peace with France on May 2, 1668 in Aachen.

Louis XIV gives Europe the peace of Aachen (partial view, Charles Le Brun )
French territorial gains achieved through the Peace of Aachen

content

After the third of the total of nine articles of the Peace of Aachen, France retained the twelve permanent places Charleroi , Binche , Ath , Douai with Fort Scarpe, Tournai , Oudenaarde , Lille , Armentières , Courtrai , Menin , Bergues and Furnes, which had been conquered in 1667 in Flanders and Hainaut . In return, Louis XIV gave Franche-Comté back to Spain according to the fifth article of the peace treaty. He also had to withdraw his troops from the rest of the Spanish Netherlands. According to the ninth article, the French and Spanish kings should swear to the honest fulfillment and observation of this treaty on the crucifix , the gospels , the mass canon and their honor.

This was the first peace treaty that Louis XIV signed for his state advantage since Mazarin's death . On the commemorative coin of this peace treaty, Louis XIV can be seen armed, how the goddess of peace offers him the olive branch, with the inscription “Pax triumphis praelata” and the signature “Foedus Aquigranense, 2 May 1668”.

aftermath

The twelve fortified cities that Louis XIV was allowed to keep formed French enclaves in the Spanish Netherlands, which made it more difficult to defend this country against future attacks by the Sun King. Louis XIV was not satisfied with the territorial gains achieved in the Peace of Aachen and viewed it only as a kind of provisional armistice in order to be able to realize his further expansion plans as soon as possible. He thought of the complete conquest of the Spanish Netherlands, but wanted to take action against the Republic of the United Netherlands in particular in retaliation. Although England, Sweden and the United Netherlands expressly took over the guarantee of the Peace of Aachen through the treaty of May 7, 1669 concluded in The Hague, Spain did not join this treaty. In addition, the Sun King succeeded in breaking up the Triple Alliance next year.

See also

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Hasse, General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . 1st section, 1st vol. (1818), p. 10.
  2. ↑ Klaus Malettke : Die Bourbonen , Vol. 1, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-17-020581-9 , p. 205.
  3. ↑ Klaus Malettke, Die Bourbonen , Vol. 1, p. 206.
  4. ↑ Uwe Schultz : Ludwig XIV. Und seine Zeit , CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54989-6 , p. 207.
  5. ↑ Uwe Schultz, Ludwig XIV. Und seine Zeit , p. 209.