Anglo-Scottish Diplomacy, c.1558-1568: a study of the ambassadors and diplomatic practices

This thesis compares and analyses the personnel, procedures, and practices in English and Scottish diplomacy between 1558 and 1568. Drawing comparisons between the two countries is necessary for several reasons. First, in this period, both the English and Scottish diplomatic services were unique as the ambassadors did not receive official diplomatic training. Instead, they relied on their political experience and time abroad in the party of a diplomat to guide their own actions on an embassy. Secondly, after England, France, and Scotland concluded peace in July 1560 in the Treaty of Edinburgh, the new Anglo-Scottish amity created an environment in which queen-to-queen diplomacy could flourish. Although there was no open conflict, the tensions from the previous years of war and mistrust that underlay this period need to be explored in relation to how they influenced the choice of ambassadors, when ambassadors were exchanged, and for what purpose.

There is already an extensive body of literature on the diplomatic relationship between the English and Scottish monarchs, regents, and secretaries, which is heavily supplemented with contemporary reports and correspondence of ambassadors whose presence at the rival court helped to reduce the need for meetings between the high-ranking agents. Since the 1960s, the 'new diplomatic history' has made a conscious effort to understand the careers and actions of the individuals who were commissioned. Unfortunately, in the context of the Anglo-Scottish relationship, this has led to an oversight of the broader structural patterns and themes in the diplomatic exchanges. This research identifies that the number and frequency of diplomatic personnel (resident ambassadors, regular ambassadors, extraordinary ambassadors, commissioners, and representatives) sent between England and Scotland increased in the 1560s to, on the face of it, sustain the new amity. However, behind the peaceful façade, diplomatic practices used by previous English and Scottish monarchs were continued to gather intelligence with the objective of protecting the country from threats and tensions that still underpinned the relationship.

This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter showcases that not only was there a clear increase in how frequently the two courts exchanged ambassadors but also the types of diplomatic personnel and embassies - the accredited ambassadors and representatives, and embassies that were rumoured or planned but did not take place - were more varied than has previously been identified. On the face of it, this was an attempt to uphold the new Anglo-Scottish amity. By comparing the different diplomatic personnel, we can use the similarities and differences to understand how the representatives compared to the sixteenth-century continental model. The second chapter argues that whilst an ambassador represented his monarch, he was also expected, and at times forced, to exert agency in a fast-paced and complex political environment. The models of how an ambassador exerted agency are used to reassess the Anglo-Scottish tensions in 1565 through the narrative of the diplomatic exchanges. This demonstrates how the power shifted in Anglo-Scottish diplomacy in less than a year. The final chapter moves away from examining the changes in diplomacy that have drawn more attention from scholars and instead acknowledges that even after peace was established in 1560, intelligence-gathering practices that were used by previous monarchs continued to serve the broader objective of defending the national interests and security of each country. This reveals a greater degree of tensions than the historians who have focused on the 'amity' are yet to appreciate. In this decade, the type of person who was commissioned as an ambassador and their responsibilities changed to reflect the broader changes that we see in continental diplomacy and, in the context of Anglo-Scottish relations, tensions from the previous centuries of conflict that were still at the forefront of the government's mind. It was these tensions, caused by unprecedented situations, that forced ambassadors to use their own agency and the English or Scottish government to employ practices in intelligence gathering to defend their national interests.