1581 declaration of independence from Spain by several Dutch provinces
Act of Abjuration
First page of the printed and written versions of the Act of Abjuration
Ratified
26 July 1581
Author(s)
Andries Hessels Jacques Tayaert Jacob Valcke Pieter van Dieven Jan van Asseliers
Purpose
Declaration of independence of the Dutch Republic
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The Act of Abjuration (Dutch: Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; Spanish: Acta de Abjuración, lit. 'placard of abjuration') is the declaration of independence by many of the provinces of the Netherlands from their allegiance to Philip II of Spain, during the Dutch Revolt.
Signed on 26 July 1581 in The Hague, the Act formally confirmed a decision made by the States General of the Netherlands in Antwerp four days earlier. It declared that all magistrates in the provinces making up the Union of Utrecht were freed from their oaths of allegiance to their lord, Philip, who was also King of Spain. The grounds given were that Philip had failed in his obligations to his subjects, by oppressing them and violating their ancient rights (an early form of social contract). Philip was therefore considered to have forfeited his thrones as ruler of each of the provinces which signed the Act.
The Act of Abjuration allowed the newly independent territories to govern themselves, although they first offered their thrones to alternative candidates. When this failed in 1587 by, among other things, the deduction of François Vranck the provinces became a republic in 1588.
During that period the largest parts of Flanders and Brabant and a small part of Gelre were recaptured by Spain. The partial recapture of these areas to Spain led to the creation of Staats-Vlaanderen, Staats-Brabant, Staats-Overmaas and Spaans Gelre.
The ActofAbjuration (Dutch: Plakkaat van Verlatinghe; Spanish: Acta de Abjuración, lit. 'placard ofabjuration') is the declaration of independence by...
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northern quarters of Gelderland joined the Union of Utrecht and became part of the United Provinces upon the 1581 ActofAbjuration, while only the Upper...
time. These men would then be executed if they refused to take the ActofAbjuration. O'Mullowney used the money to fund his heavy drinking and expensive...
coalition of rebel provinces united in the Union of Utrecht declared independence from the Spanish Empire with the 1581 ActofAbjuration, in 1588 establishing...
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Antwerp (1585). The States General of the northern provinces, united in the 1579 Union of Utrecht, passed an ActofAbjuration in 1581 declaring that they no...
the republican form of government immediately: in the formal declaration of independence (ActofAbjuration, 1581), the throne of king Philip was only...
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The Dutch ActofAbjuration in 1581 and the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 served as models for the Declaration of Independence of Flanders...
The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753 was an Actof Parliament (26 Geo. 2. c. 26) which allowed Jews resident in Britain to become naturalised by application...
The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is...
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