Peace of Arras (1579)

In the Peace of Arras in May 1579, the ten southern provinces of the Netherlands recognized the rule of Catholic Spain again.

Before that, denominational differences of opinion broke the unity of all Dutch people against the rule of Madrid , which existed after the raging of the Spanish fury and in the Ghent pacification . On January 6, 1579, the ten southern, predominantly Catholic provinces adhering to the Union of Arras formed . The Spanish governor Alessandro Farnese managed to get the support of the discontented Catholic nobility in the Walloon south for this.

The seven northern provinces of Holland , Zeeland , Utrecht , Gelderland , Friesland , Groningen and Overijssel with a predominantly Calvinist- oriented population reacted to this on January 23, 1579 with the establishment of the Utrecht Union against Spain and for the free exercise of religion.

In the years that followed, Farnese made the cities and towns in Brabant and Flanders largely accept the Union of Arras and conquered Antwerp in 1585 . Followers of the Protestant faith then had to leave the Spanish Netherlands within two years.