The Treaty of Berwick was negotiated on 27 February 1560 at Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was an agreement made by the representative of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Duke of Norfolk, and the group of rebellious nobles known as the Scottish Lords of the Congregation. 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. The Lords were trying both to expel the French and to effect the Scottish Reformation, 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, Patrick, Lord Ruthven, Sir John Maxwell of Terregles, William Maitland younger of Lethington, John Wishart of Pitarro, and Master Henry Balnaves of Halhill. England's representative was Thomas, Duke of Norfolk.
The treaty was effective: the English navy already had a fleet in the Firth of Forth commanded by William Winter, and now an English army under Baron Grey de Wilton marched north from Berwick into Scotland. The Scottish Lords arranged to rendezvous with the English army on 31 March 1560, at Aitchison's Haven, the harbour of Newbattle Abbey at Prestongrange in East Lothian.