The Treaty of Berwick was negotiated on 27 February 1560 at Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....

. It was an agreement made by the representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...

, and the Scottish

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

 Lords of the Congregation

Lords of the Congregation

The Lords of the Congregation were a group of Protestant Scottish nobles who in the mid-16th century favoured reformation of the church along Protestant principles and a Scottish-English alliance.- Historical events :...

. The purpose was to agree the terms under which an English fleet and army would come to Scotland to expel the French troops who were defending the Regency of Mary of Guise

Mary of Guise

Mary of Guise was a queen consort of Scotland as the second spouse of King James V. She was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560...

. The Lords were trying both to expel the French and to effect the Scottish Reformation

Scottish Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...

, and this had led from rioting to armed conflict.

The leader of the Lords of the Congregation was the Duke of Chatelherault. He had formerly been Regent, but in this treaty was described as "second person", meaning that he was heir to the throne after Mary, Queen of Scots. His representatives at Berwick were James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, was Regent of Scotland for his nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570...

, Patrick, Lord Ruthven

Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven

Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven , played an important part in the political intrigues of the 16th century. He succeeded to the lordship in December 1552...

, Sir John Maxwell of Terregles, William Maitland younger of Lethington, John Wishart of Pitarro, and Master Henry Balnaves of Halhill

Henry Balnaves

Henry Balnaves was a Scottish politician and religious reformer.-Biography:Born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, around 1512, he was educated at the University of St Andrews and on the continent, where he adopted Protestant views. Returning to Scotland, he continued his legal studies and in 1538 was appointed...

. England's representative was Thomas, Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...

.

The treaty was effective, and an English army under Baron Grey de Wilton

William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton

William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton KG, was an English baron and military commander serving in France in the 1540s and 1550s, and in the Scottish wars of the 1540s.He was the thirteenth Baron Grey de Wilton....

 marched north from Berwick and assisted with the Siege of Leith

Siege of Leith

The Siege of Leith ended a twelve year encampment of French troops at Leith, the port near Edinburgh, Scotland. The French troops arrived by invitation in 1548 and left in 1560 after the English arrived to assist in removing them from Scotland...

 until hostilities ended in July 1560, after the death of Mary of Guise and the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh

Treaty of Edinburgh

The Treaty of Edinburgh was a treaty drawn up on 5 July 1560 between the Commissioners of Queen Elizabeth I with the assent of the Scottish Lords of the Congregation, and French representatives in Scotland to formally conclude the Siege of Leith and replace the Auld Alliance with France with a new...

. The French fortifications at Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

 were demolished and the French and English went home. The religious ambitions of the Scottish lords were realised in the Reformation Parliament

Scottish Reformation Parliament

The Scottish Reformation Parliament is the name given to the Scottish Parliament commencing in 1560 that passed the major pieces of legislation leading to the Scottish Reformation, most importantly Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1560; and Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560 .right|thumb|[[John...

 of August 1560. This parliament also ratified the treaty; William Maitland commended it and the goodwill and favour of Elizabeth in relieving the extreme necessity and "almost utter ruen of the whole countrie." According to the English observer Randolph

Thomas Randolph (diplomat)

Thomas Randolph was an English ambassador serving Elizabeth I of England. Most of his professional life he spent in Scotland at the courts of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son James VI. While in Scotland, he was embroiled in marriage projects and several upheavals...

, there was common consent and some would have happily signed in their own blood.

John Knox

John Knox

John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who brought reformation to the church in Scotland. He was educated at the University of St Andrews or possibly the University of Glasgow and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1536...

 thought the treaty so important in explaining the actions of the Lords of the Congregation to posterity that he inserted the whole text into his History of the Reformation. Knox directly related the treaty to the thinking of his colleague Christopher Goodman

Christopher Goodman

Christopher Goodman BD was an English reforming clergyman and writer. He was a Marian exile, who left England to escape persecution during the counter-reformation in the reign of Queen Mary I of England. He was the author of a work on limits to obedience to rulers, and a contributor to the Geneva...

 in his tract, How Superior Powers Ought to be Obeyed, by writing:
The modern historian Michael Lynch called the treaty "an astonishing document which mentioned many things but not religion." Pamela Ritchie, historian and author of a political biography of Mary of Guise, sees the treaty as facilitating "the interference of a foreign monarch in what was essentially a domestic crisis."

Articles of the treaty

On the 27 March 1560, Mary of Guise wrote to her brothers, the Cardinal

Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine

Charles de Lorraine , Duke of Chevreuse, was a French Cardinal, a member of the powerful House of Guise. He was known at first as the Cardinal of Guise, and then as the second Cardinal of Lorraine, after the death of his uncle, John, Cardinal of Lorraine . He was the protector of Rabelais and...

 and Duke of Guise

Francis, Duke of Guise

Francis de Lorraine II, Prince of Joinville, Duke of Guise, Duke of Aumale , called Balafré , was a French soldier and politician.-Early life:...

, that she never saw anything so shameful as the Articles.

The Berwick articles included:

1. The belief of Elizabeth that France intended to conquer Scotland, and offered her protection to its nobility during the marriage of Mary to Francis II of France
   Francis II of France
   Francis II was aged 15 when he succeeded to the throne of France after the accidental death of his father, King Henry II, in 1559. He reigned for 18 months before he died in December 1560...
   
   .
2. Elizabeth would send an army with all speed to join with Scots.
3. All forts won by the force would be destroyed, or delivered to the Duke.
4. The Scots will aid the English Army.
5. All enemies of England are enemies of both.
6. Scotland shall be no further united to France than by Mary's marriage.
7. Scotland will help repel French invasions of England.
8. The Earl of Argyll
   Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
   Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll was one of the leading figures in the politics of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the early part of that of James VI.-Biography:...
   
    will help English rule in the north of Ireland.
9. The Scots will offer hostages or 'pledges' — those sent in April 1560 included:
   1. Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley
      Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley
      Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley was a Scottish politician. He was a younger son of James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran. In 1553, he received the lands of the abbey of Paisley...
      
      , aged 14.
   2. Master Alexander Campbell, first cousin to the Earl of Argyll
      Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll
      Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll was one of the leading figures in the politics of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the early part of that of James VI.-Biography:...
      
      .
   3. Master Robert Douglas half-brother of Lord James.
   4. Master James Cunningham, son of Earl of Glencairn
      Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn
      Alexander Cunningham, 5th Earl of Glencairn was Scottish nobleman and Protestant reformer, prominent in the Scottish Reformation.-Biography:...
      
      .
   5. Master George Graham, son of the Earl of Menteith, aged 5.
   6. Master Archibald Ruthven, son of Lord Ruthven
      Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven
      Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven , played an important part in the political intrigues of the 16th century. He succeeded to the lordship in December 1552...
      
      , aged 14.
      Chatelherault wrote to Elizabeth on 21 December 1561, asking for the return of these pledges, as they were meant to stay in England only until a year after the end of Mary's French marriage.
10. The treaty to be signed by the Duke after the hostages are delivered. There is no due obedience withdrawn from Mary or the French king.

The treaty was signed and sealed by 30 of the Lords of the Congregation at the 'camp before Leith' (Pilrig

Pilrig

Pilrig is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The name derives from a tower at the end of a field .Pilrig lies midway between Leith and Edinburgh, west of Leith Walk. It is split by Pilrig Street, which marks the division between the EH6 and EH7 postcode districts...

) on 10 May 1560.