Berwick, treaties of

Three treaties between the English and the Scots signed at Berwick, on the border of the two countries.

In the first treaty, made in January 1560, Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Calvinist Lords of the Congregation in Scotland agreed to an alliance, and the expulsion from Scotland of French troops who were supporting the Catholic regent, Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Queen of Scots.

In the second treaty, made in July 1586, James VI of Scotland signed a treaty with Elizabeth by which, in return for an English pension of £4,000, both sides agreed to maintain their established religions, and cooperate in case of an invasion of Britain by Catholic forces.

The third treaty, made in June 1639 ended the first Bishops' War. King Charles I of England agreed with the Scottish rebels that a General Assembly of the Scottish Church, the Kirk, would determine religious matters and that a parliament would be summoned in Edinburgh, and in return they stood down their forces.