Peace of Ryswick

Peace of Ryswick, pact signed between September 20 and October 30, 1697, at the palace of King William III (William of Orange) at Rijswijk, on the outskirts of The Hague. The treaty ended the Nine Years’ War between France, led by King Louis XIV, and the Grand Alliance, a coalition including England, the Dutch United Provinces, Spain, and various states of the Holy Roman Empire, as well as its emperor, Leopold I. By the pact, Louis XIV agreed to recognize William of Orange as king of England (but refused to expel the exiled Stuarts from France). For his part, Louis XIV was expressly confirmed in possession of Strasbourg and Alsace. However, France was obliged to return the rest of the territory it had acquired in the Rhineland and the Spanish Netherlands since 1679, including the great fortress of Luxembourg. The Peace of Ryswick thus demonstrated that France’s neighbours were becoming capable of checking French power. The Dutch, for example, gained favourable commercial terms from France, and, by a subsequent agreement of 1698, the right to garrison a number of “barrier” fortresses in the south of the Spanish Netherlands.