Anglo-French trade, war and diplomacy in the early Stuart Age.

摘要

This study opens with a description of Anglo-French commercial relations under the first two Stuart kings and an examination of the changes which occurred in the traditional trading patterns during the 1630s. The remainder of the essay is devoted to the diplomatic relations between the two countries during the reign of Charles I. The narrative begins prior to the accession of Charles I with a discussion of the Anglo-French negotiations for the marriage of Charles and Henrietta Maria. This followed by an investigation of the process by which England went from the successful conclusion of a marriage alliance in 1625 to the declaration of war on France in 1627. After a brief analysis of the causes of England's military disasters in the 1620s, the third chapter ends with the conclusion of peace with France in April 1629.; The final two chapters of the study are devoted to the decade of Charles I's 'Personal Rule.' In this section several of the traditional assumptions that have been made about the king's conduct of foreign affairs are challenged. Contrary to the popular view, England's role in European affairs was not negligible in the 1630s. The neutrality which they enjoyed placed the English in a strong bargaining position vis-a-vis the Bourbons and Habsburgs, both of whom courted the English in the hope of concluding an alliance to their own advantage. Furthermore, whereas the traditional view maintains that the Palatinate was the chief foreign policy objective, it is demonstrated in this essay that Charles and his key advisors were more concerned with the maintenance of their claim to sovereignty of the seas around the British Isles, with the protection of their trading interests, and with the continuation in the littoral provinces of the Spanish Netherlands of a relatively friendly and neutral regime than they were with the restoration of the Palatine family to their patrimonial estates.