OATH OF ABJURATION

The 'Oath of Abjuration' or 'Plakkaat van Verlatinghe', signed on July 26 1581, was the formal declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II. This act followed the Union of Utrecht.

Contents

Oath of Abjuration

Provinces

Notes

References

External links

Oath of Abjuration

The 'Oath of Abjuration' meant a climax in the Dutch Revolt, a point of no return, in which the Low Countries asserted they were no longer loyal to their king
Sometimes, the oath is interpreted as an act of secession from Spain, but this is strictly speaking incorrect. Legally, the oath deposed the provinces' current ruler, Philip of Habsburg — who, by dynastic coincidence, was also king of Spain. Philip's attempts to unify his various realms under a more centralized government based in Madrid were the major drivers behind the oath. Philip used troops from Spain and other areas loyal to him (such as Wallonia and Italy) to fight the rebels.
In the Oath, the Staten-Generaal (the General Estates, a sort of federal parliament) assert that a king is a servant of his people and should respect their laws and traditions. When he no longer does this, the people have the right to choose another ruler.
Philip II did not accept this Oath, and made the duke of Parma, Alexander Farnese, governor of the Low Countries. Farnese began a conquest with Walloon, Spanish and German troops that ended in the occupation of most of Flanders and half of Brabant. The other regions gained their independence from Philip and became the federal Republic of the United Provinces (now the Netherlands), whereas the occupied parts of Brabant and Flanders became, together with loyal Wallonia, the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).
The Oath was a model for the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 ^[1] and that of the Southern Netherlands in 1789/1790 (the United Belgian States).

Provinces

In the declaration, these provinces are mentioned (in order of appearance):

★ Brabant

★ Gelre

★ Flanders

★ Holland

★ Zeeland

★ Friesland

★ Mechelen

★ Utrecht
The provinces of Groningen and Overijssel (which included Drenthe) also seceded but are not separately mentioned as they strictly speaking were not separate entities but parts of Gelre and Utrecht, respectively.

Notes

1. The Scottish Declaration of Arbroath (a letter to the Pope written in 1320 denouncing an English invasion) is sometimes claimed as a source of inspiration. Historians generally do not acknowledge the supposed link. Becker (1922); Maier (1997)

References

★ Becker, Carl. ''The Declaration of Independence: A Study on the History of Political Ideas'' (1922), online edition

★ Maier, Pauline. ''American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.'' Vintage, 1997.

External links

★ Complete Dutch text of the ''Plakkaat van Verlatinge''

★ Site about the ''Plakkaat''

★ Dutch text with fairly complete line by line English translation

★ Dutch University website that has both the original text as well as a recent translation