Letters of Paul de Foix, French Ambassador at the Court of Elizabeth I, 1562-66

Description

"This book is planned as the sequel to A Knight of Malta at the Court of Elizabeth I: The Correspondence of Michel de Seure, French Ambassador 1560-1561 (2014). That volume mapped out a project to present the surviving correspondence of French ambassadors between the well-known periods of the Noailles brothers (1550s) and La Mothe Fénelon (1570s). This volume presents the surviving correspondence of de Seure's successor. Paul de Foix was an intriguing figure: a liberal Catholic reformer suspected of heresy, a scholar and patron of scholars and a trusted agent of Catherine de Medici. All this was at a time of civil war in France, war between France and England and growing tension between England and Scotland over Mary Stuart's marriage. De Foix's despatches are only partially preserved in volumes at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris but they have been supplemented by exploration of the original source, the L'Aubespine archive, which was dispersed between the 1830s and the 1990s. De Foix's letters and reports throw light on many aspects of Elizabethan politics and society, notably on the Queen's demeanour as a negotiator, on the question of her marriage and on the role of an ambassador in a period of extreme instability both in France and England." -- Provided by publisher.

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