The Spanish ambassadors in the Elizabethan court: collaboration, conflict, and contempt before the Anglo-Spanish War

Thesis

This thesis examines the Spanish embassies sent to Elizabethan England by Philip II and Anglo- Spanish diplomacy between 1558-1584. It employs an actor-centred approach to study the lived experiences of the Spanish ambassadors in England before the Anglo-Spanish war, and utilises methodologies proposed by the New Diplomatic History. The thesis relies on the diplomatic correspondence between the ambassadors, Philip II, and other key Spanish political figures in the sixteenth century to reconstruct the intelligence gathering strategies employed by the ambassadors, and determine how they conducted their diplomatic duties.

Organised into two parts, this thesis first considers the foundations of early modern diplomacy. Part I establishes the epistolary practices found in these diplomatic dispatches to highlight the source base for this thesis. It will then locate diplomatic dispatches within the circulation of news in early modern Europe. The representative character of ambassadors and sociability of ambassadors will also be discussed before Part I concludes with an examination of sub-ambassadorial figures in court and how these figures engaged in diplomacy.

Part II reflects on the ambassadors’ diplomatic activities in practice through a series of case studies that consider their relationships in court, and the relevance of the English embassy to early modern Spanish diplomacy. The ambassadors’ interactions with Protestants and other Catholic ambassadors in the English court are examined in-depth and their diplomatic and social activities are considered in the context of confessional and cross-confessional diplomacy. Their support of English Catholics and Mary, Queen of Scots, and their reactions to the Dutch Revolt and the Portuguese Succession Crisis are then each studied to reveal the ambassadors’ understandings of the ethos of Spanish diplomacy and their own diplomatic conduct. The thesis concludes with a study of the limitations of ambassadorship and evaluates how Spanish diplomatic presence in Elizabethan England impacted political thought after 1584.

Authors: McTaggart, H

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: new diplomatic history; Elizabethan court; Spanish ambassadors; Anglo-Spanish relations; Spanish diplomacy; early modern diplomacy
• Subjects: Ambassadors; Early modern, 1500-1700; Diplomacy--History; Spain--History--Philip II, 1556-1598; Spanish empire