Barrier Treaties

Barrier Treaties, three treaties negotiated between 1709 and 1715 granting the United Provinces of the Netherlands (the Dutch republic) the right to garrison and govern certain towns along the southern boundary of the Spanish (subsequently the Austrian) Netherlands as protection against attack by France.

By the First Barrier Treaty (Oct. 29, 1709) Great Britain agreed to support the restoration to the United Provinces of the fortresses that it had been granted by the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697), which had been lost to the French in 1701. In return the United Provinces undertook to support the succession of the house of Hanover in Great Britain. This treaty was set aside by Britain, and a Second Barrier Treaty, less favourable commercially to the United Provinces, was signed (Jan. 29, 1713). It was confirmed by the treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt, and Baden (1713–14), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. The details of the barrier were further modified by the Third Barrier Treaty (Nov. 15, 1715), signed by Great Britain, the United Provinces, and the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, then ruler of the Austrian Netherlands. The seven fortresses on the French frontier of the Austrian Netherlands that were given to the United Provinces by this settlement were: Namur, Tournai, Menen, Furnes (Veurne), Warneton, Ypres (Ieper), and Termonde. Subsequently, the French changed the direction of their foreign policy, and the Dutch generally neglected the defenses of the barrier.