Foreign Intelligence and Information in Elizabethan England: Volume 25
Two English Treatises on the State of France, 1580–1584

Publishes English writings in French on France, and especially its nobility, during the 1580s.

David Potter (Edited by)

9780521847247, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 31 March 2005

272 pages
22.3 x 14.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.448 kg

"Potter's book will no doubt be of interest to political and diplomatic historians of England, particularly those interested in questions of foreign policy, French affairs, and the English embassy in Paris... many historians of France will also find the treatises, its related documents, and the annotations of Potter's to be useful, especially those working on the French nobility, clientage networks, and the provincial power structures in the sixteenth century."
- H-Albion, Edward Shannon Tenace, Department of History, Lyon College

This volume assembles hitherto unpublished English writings in French on France, and especially its nobility, during the 1580s, a key period for understanding the final crisis of the War of Religion. They contain information on the political dispositions of the leading royal officials and on the lineage 'alliances' and the properties of a vast number of French noblemen in the provinces. Robert Cecil, son of Elizabeth's minister Burghley, was certainly involved in their composition, which seems to have been written by those involved in English missions to France in the early 1580s. The texts are accompanied by full annotation, which explains the complexities of the many individuals and families discussed. The introduction discusses the authorship of the documents and the assumptions of their writers as well as the context of foreign news reporting in the period.

Introduction
Traité des princes, conseillers et autres ministres de l'estat de France Part I, Traité Part II, Notes to Part I, Notes to Part II, Richard Cook's Description de tous les provinces de France
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1], European history [HBJD]