Westminster, treaty of, 1462. Edward IV, hoping to recover some of the influence in Scotland lost by the Wars of the Roses, agreed in 1462 at Westminster (sometimes called the treaty of London) with John Macdonald, lord of the Isles and earl of Ross, and James, 9th earl of Douglas, that they should become his vassals and help him to gain the Scottish throne. They would then share the lands north of the Forth. Nothing came of the grandiose plan and it took Edward twenty years to recapture the border fortress of Berwick.

J. A. Cannon

Westminster, treaty of, 1654. Though the Dutch had suffered more during the first Anglo-Dutch war, the treaty which concluded it was mild, since Cromwell was anxious to bring to an end this damaging quarrel between two protestant nations. The English Navigation Act of 1651 remained on the statute book and the Estates of Holland agreed to exclude the House of Orange from public life, thus removing a potential source of assistance to the Stuarts in exile. But the issues of sovereignty, saluting the flag, fishing rights, search, and contraband, which had been so prominent at the start of the war, were compromised.

J. A. Cannon

Westminster, treaty of, 1674. The treaty, signed on 19 February, brought to an end the third Anglo-Dutch war. Since the Dutch were anxious to make a separate peace in order to concentrate their resources on defeating the French, they offered concessions which did not reflect the balance of the fighting. They agreed to salute the English flag, pay a small indemnity, and return New Amsterdam, recaptured in August 1673.

J. A. Cannon