Pax Hispanica

The Pax Hispanica (Latin for "Spanish Peace") refers to a period of twenty-three years coinciding with renewed Spanish ascendancy in Europe (roughly 1598–1621), when Spain achieved European stability after various conflicts with the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of England and the Dutch United Provinces.

Peace was achieved by several treaties:

• 1598: The Peace of Vervins ended Spanish involvement in the French Wars of Religion. Spain had been at war with France, with only brief respites, since the Second Italian War of 1499.
• 1604: The Treaty of London concluded the Anglo-Spanish War on terms largely favourable to Spain.
• 1609: The Twelve Years' Truce halted the fighting in the Spanish Netherlands.

Spain, the foremost great power of the time, had been mired in conflicts with the Dutch since the reign of Philip II.

In 1579 the Dutch founded the Utrecht Union, after the reconquest by Spain of many territories in the Dutch provinces by Alexander Farnese.

The following year, the Spanish Monarchy achieved, for the first time since the Muslim conquest, its territorial unity through a personal union with the Kingdom of Portugal, thus creating the Spanish or Iberian Union (1580–1640). After capturing Ostend from Spinola, the Dutch continued their rebellion, finally achieving the independence during the reign of Philip III of Spain.

After this, Spain held the peace in Europe for nine more years, when the Twelve Years' Truce ended.