WILLIAM III AND THE NORTHERN' CROWNS BURINS THE NINE TEARS WAR l6®9 “ 97- hj Stewart Philip OaJeley. Tolatte !• Text. 2 ABSTRACT. The present thesis, William III and the Northern Crowns during the Nine Years War 1689-97’, examines the policy of the stadtholder-king towards Sweden and Denmark - Norway in the years immediately following the English Revolution. His attempts to secure their active assistance against France were thwarted by the Swedish king’s fears of risking the neutrality he needed to complete his domestic reforms and to fulfil his ambitions of mediating in the European conflict and by Denmark’s hopes of French subsidies and support for her territorial ambitions in North Germany; while 6,000 Danish troops were secured for the Allies in 1689, a favourable alliance with Christian Y could not be concluded until November 1696. Both northern kingdoms feared the effects of the union of the two Maritime Powers on their plans for commercial expansion, which were further threatened by the Ango-Dutch ; convention of September 1689 barring all neutral trade u u u 'v' with France. This led them to form a League of Armed Neutrality in 1691 which helped to persuade William to abandon the aims of the convention and agree to compensation for seizures of their merchant ships. Negotiations in Stockholm and the Hague in the latter years of the war to persuade Sweden, a guarantor of Westphalia and Nijmijgen, to extract favourable peace terms from Prance continued until and even beyond the acceptance of her mediation at the beginning of 1697» William was also active in preventing the diversion of a Northern war such as was threatened by the disputes between Denmark and the duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1689 and 1696-7 and by the disputed succession to Saxe-Lauenburg. The study builds on manuscript material in the Publi Record Office, the British Museum, the Berkshire Record Office, Nottingham University Library, at Plas-Newydd, Anglesey and in archives in the Hague, Copenhagen and Stockholm as well as on published collections of documents and secondary works. 4 KOTE ABOUT DATES AND CURRENCY All dates in the text are old style, which was employed in England, Scandinavia and North Germany during this period. The year is assumed to begin on January 1st. In the Notes and References dates are quoted as they appear on the documents cited. Those on letters etc. originating in the United Provinces, Prance or the Habsburg dominions, even when written by representatives of countries employing the old style, are generally new style unless otherwise stated. The money of account normally quoted in transactions with the Northern Crowns was the Hamburg reichsthaler banco (abbreviated Rd.), of 24 marks, approximately equivalent to the English crown and, even more aoproxi- mately, to half an fecu and 1& gulden (fl.). 5 Contents Page INTRODUCTION . 10 (i) Scope and Purpose» 1° (ii) The Machinery of Diplomacy« 15 a) The Maritime Powers. 15 b) The Northern Crowns. 19 c) Irregular Representation and Special Missions. 22 d) Bribery and Espionage. 24 Chapter 1 NORTHERN EUROPE AT THE BEGINNING OP THE NINE YEARS WAR. (i) Sweden and Europe 1680-8. 28 (ii) Danish Policy after l679. 33 (ill) The Northern Crowns, the War and the English Revolution. 36 a) Swedish Reactions. 36 b) Denmark in the Crisis. 41 e) The North German Princes. 44 (iv) The Place of the North in William Ill’s War Policy. 46 2 WILLIAM III AND HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP IN 1689. 51 (i) The Background. 51 (ii) William and the Altona Negotiations. 55 (iil) Aftermath of Altona. °9 J WILLIAM AND DENMARK AFTER ALTONA (June 16&9 - Feb. 1690). • 7° (i) Danish Policy after Altona. 76 (ii) The Troops Treaty of August 1689. 77 a) Preliminaries. 77 b) The Negotiations. 82 c) Aftermath. 84 (ill) Alliance Negotiations. 88 a) Beginnings.' 88 b) The United Provinces. 90 c) Molesworthls Talks. 93 d) The End of the First Stage. 97 6 Chapter Page 4 THE QUEST FOR SWEDISH HELP (Jan.1689 - June 1690)» 100 (1) Swedish Treater Aid. 100 a) Negotiations in 1689. 100 h) Bidal*s Mission to Stockholm. 105 c) hast Attempts to Secure Swedish Ships. 108 (ii) Negotiations for Further Swedish Help. Ill a) Early Attitudes. Ill h) English Alliance negotiations. 119 c) The Invitation to the Grand Alliance, and the Hague Congress. 116 5 THE OPENING C® THE WAR ON FRENCH TRADE (August 1689 - June 1690). 121 (i) Introductory. 121 a) Seventeenth Century Attitudes to neutral Trade. 121 b) The Formation of William*s Policy and the Anglo-Dutch Convention of August 1689. 124 (ii) Early Scandinavian Reactions. 13° (iii) First Attempts io Reach a Settlement. 137 a) With Denmark'. 137 b) With Sweden. 139 6 NEW DISAPPOINTMENTS (June 1690 - March I69I). 146 (i) Embassy to the North. 146 a) Hären*s Mission. 147 b) Swedish Mediation. 148 c) Denmark and the Defensive Alliance of November 1690. 153 (ii) French Trade and Armed Neutrality. 158 a) The Hague Negotiations. Ì58 b) Danish Reprisals. 162 c) The League of Armed Neutrality. l64 7 STALEMATE (1691 - 2). I68 (i) The Results of Armed Neutrality and the Temporary Settlement of French 168 Trade. a ).The 1691 Conventions with Denmark, 168 - b) Haren*s Compensation Agreement with Sweden. 173 .S' 7 Chapter . P age c) Trade Negotiations in 1691. 175 (ii) Sweden and the War 1691-2. 179 a) The Second Mediation Offer and the Collapse of the Hanoverian Third Party. 179 b) Swedish Policy in 1692. 183 (iii) Denmark, Hanover and the New Third rParty! c u j ^ # ------ !---- ;----------:---- ^•188 a ) Dani sh Policy in 1691 and Troop Negotiations. 188 b) The Revival of Alliance Hopes: the Missions of Skeel, Whrtemberg and Plessenlin l6§2. 192 8 THE SECOND LEAGUE OP ARMED NEUTRALITY AND THE RAPZEBURG CRISIS (Nov.l692 - Sept.1693). 196 (i) Hop*s Mission^to Denmark. 198 (ii) The Renewal of Armed Neutrality. 200 a) Juel's Mission. ' 200 b) The Reactions of the Maritime Powers. 202 (iii) Eeekeren* s Mission to Sweden. 205 (iv) ^he Saxe-Lauenburg'Crisis. 207 • a) 6rigin. ' 207' b) Saxe-Lauenburg in 1693» 209 c) Mediation and Settlement. 211 9 DENMARK AND THE ALII IS 1693 - 5. (i) Reprisal and Counter-Reprisal*» 215 (ii) Alliance Negotiations. 219 (iii) Barfod and the Channel Salute. 221 (iv) Further Attempts to Reach a General Settlement.with Denmark. v 225 (v) Molesworth and the yAccount of Denmark n ! 231 10 THE ROAD TO PEACE (Jan.1693 - Nov.1695). (i) Sweden and Mediation in 1693. 234 a) D*Avaux’ OfferofTerms. 234 b) Denmark and Mediation. 239 c) Heekeren* a Mission. 241 (ii) Mediation and Treaty Aid 1694 - 5* 243 a) 1694. : 243 b) 1695. 248 c) Sweden and the Channel Salute. 253 8 Chapter Page 11 FAILURE IN SWEDEN (Nov. 1695 - Jan 1697) 256 (i) The Revival of the Holstein-Gottorp Problem and Its Consequences. 256 a) Denmark, Sweden and Holstein- Gottorp 1690-5» 256 b) The Stockholm Negotiation. 258 (ii) The Foreign Merchants Dispute. 263 a) Robinson's Compensation Negotiations. 263 b) Execution of the Law. 26b (iii) Mediation. 270 12 THE DANISH ALLIANCE AND HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP IN 1696. 276 (i) Goes* Compensation Talks. 1694-6. 276 (ii) Plessen1s New Attempt and the Alliance of November 1696/ ■ 279 (iii) Aftermath of the Alliance. 284 (iv) Ho1stein-G01torpl 286 a) Prelude to ¿inneberg. 286 b) The Opening of the Pinneberg Negotiations. 289 13 THE FINAL YEAR. 291 (i) Preliminaries to Rijswijk. 291 (ii) Sweden under the Regents. 292 a) The Change of Government. 292 b) Mecklenburg-Gtistrow. 295 c) Denmark's Attack on Holstein- 297 Gottorp. d) The End of the War on French Trade. 501 (iii) Ri.lswijk. 502 a) Denmark's Final Bid. v 502 b) The Path of the Mediator. 504 c) Crisis. 506 d) The Final Act. 509 14 CONCLUSION 5 H (i) Old Problems, Old Friends, and New. 5H (ii) William Ill's Northern Policy: an" Assessment. , 51° Volume II APPENDIX: DUNCOMBE' S ALLIANCE NEGOTIATIONS i n 1689. 55° Page NOTES AND REFERENCES 348 BIBLIOGRAPHY ' 479 A. Bibliographies, and Guides to Material. 480 B. Biographical Aids. 480 C. Original Documents. 481 D. Contemporary and Near- Contemporary Accounts. 494 E. Later Works. 495 MAPS 502 Schleswig-Holstein in the Seventeenth Century. 5^3 North-West Europe during the Nine Years War. 504 10 Introduction (i) Scone and Purpose The aim of this study is to examine William Ill's policy % towards and diplpraatic relations with the courts of Denmark- ITorway and Sweden during the conflict known variously as the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of the Grand Alliance,of the Palatinate and- - least misleadingly, if most non-committally, and mainly by Dutch historians - as the Nine Years'War. The emphasis has been placed, as far as the surviving materials allow, on the ntadtholder-king's own attitude to the Scandinavian kingdoms in the context of his general war aims, and an attempt thus made to contribute to a deeper understanding of the foreign' policy of a ruler, who, in view of the importance usually attributed to the Revolution in English diplomatic history, has been curiously neglected. But it is impossible to under­ stand the reasons for his success and failure without considera­ tion of both the policies and reactions of the Northern Crowns themselves and of the direction of Louis XIV's plans for the Baltic region during this period. The extent to which William, who suddenly found himself in effective control of the foreign policy of two countries whose interests had for long periods been not only independent but antagonistic, was influenced by distinct Dutch and English traditions has also had to be considered.