ABSTRACT

In November 1614, under the sponsorship of England and France, the contending parties to the Cleves-Jülich dispute met at Xanten to compose the crisis. The two claimants to the succession agreed to an equitable division of the lands, and the powers that had militarily intervened, the Spanish and the Dutch, agreed to withdraw their forces. Their evacuation, however, never came about. Spain retained control of Wesel and the Dutch remained ensconced in the fortress of Jülich. Eventually the issue was absorbed into the Thirty Years’ War. In the meantime, for the remainder of James’s reign, there were no more armada scares, though from time to time the specter of one briefly arose to temporarily cause concern. It was not until 1625, under Charles I, that a new scare of some proportions occurred.