The North Preserved

Abstract

The Treaty of Nonsuch of 1585 committed Elizabeth to maintain a sizeable English Army in the Netherlands. Five thousand foot and a thousand horse were to serve at the Queen’s expense — temporarily. Article 2 of the Treaty hastened to make it clear that there was to be no loose generosity and that all the Queen’s outlay would be repaid within five years of the signing of a peace. As on many later occasions of a similar kind, it was optimistically supposed the war would be a short one. By way of security for the cost incurred, the strategically vital ports of Flushing and The Brill were to remain in English hands and be garrisoned at the Queen’s expense. What the Queen would not do was to accept the sovereignty of the rebel provinces.¹