This book is the result of preliminary work for the sequel to my Henry VIII and Francis I: the final conflict (Leiden, 2012), in which I intend to cover the relations between France and the British Isles in the period 1547–1565, to be called France and the Hegemony of the British Isles. In the course of this I became aware of how limited was knowledge of the French ambassadors after the Noailles brothers in the 1550s. I hope that this book partly fills that gap. It will be followed by a further study, of Paul de Foix.

French ambassadors in England

Michel de Seure: the making of an ambassador

The state of Anglo-French relations, 1560–1561

Recall

Conditions of service

Sources

The manuscript texts are edited in the normal way for French manuscripts of this period, that is, with original spelling but modern punctuation and apostrophe, and accentuation only to elucidate meaning (for example to differentiate a from à, ou from où, etc); capitalization is standardized. Otherwise, u and v are differentiated. Accents are seldom used in manuscript French (as opposed to printed books) in the period, though more frequently in the later part of the sixteenth century. Where, as in the ms fr. 17870, some accents have been used along modern lines, as in ée (though not consistently), they are retained in the transcription.

To the duke of Norfolk, 18 February 1559/1560

To Marie de Lorraine, regent of Scotland, London, 20 February 1559/1560

To Jacques de La Brosse, Henri Clutin, sieur d’Oysel, and Nicolas de Pellevé, bishop of Amiens, 7 March 1559/1560

To Marie de Lorraine, London, 8 March 1559/1560

To Marie de Lorraine, 8 March 1559/1560

To Marie de Lorraine, London, 14 March 1559/1560

From James Hamilton, duc de Châtelleraut, 21 March 1559/1560

To the duc de Châtellerault, 28 March 1560

To William Cecil, 28 August 1560

To Francis II, London, 24 September 1560

To the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, London, 24 September 1560

To Charles IX, London, 19 December 1560

To Catherine de Medici, London, 18 December 1560

To Charles IX, London, 23 January 1560/1561

To Charles IX, 16 March 1560/1561

To Charles IX, 4 April 1561

To Charles IX, 23 April 1561

To Charles IX, 29 April 1561

To Charles IX, 30 May 1561

To Charles IX, 17 June 1561

To Catherine de Medici, 17 June 1561

To Charles IX, 13 July 1561

To William Cecil, 15 August 1561

To Charles IX, 21 August 1561

To Charles IX, 11 October 1561

To Catherine de Medici, 19 October 1561

To Charles IX, 4 November 1561

To Charles IX, 21 November 1561

To Charles IX, 29 November 1561

The duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine to Marie de Lorraine, regent of Scotland, Vendôme, 19 February 1559/1560

Francis II to Marie de Lorraine, Amboise, 7 March 1559–1560

The duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine to Marie de Lorraine, Amboise, 7 March 1559/1560

Mary queen of Scots to Marie de Lorraine, [Amboise, 7 March 1559/1560]

Mary queen of Scots to Elizabeth I, [7 March 1560]

Catherine de Medici to Elizabeth I, [c.7 March 1560]

The duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine to Marie de Lorraine, Amboise, 12 March 1559/1560

Instructions of Jean de Monluc, bishop of Valence, for negotiations with Elizabeth I, 25 March 1560; extracts

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Edinburgh, 27 March 1560

Jacques de La Brosse and Nicolas de Pellevé to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Edinburgh, 27 March 1560

Henri Clutin, sieur d’Oysel, to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Dunbar, 27 March 1560

Nicolas de Pellevé to the cardinal de Lorraine, Edinburgh, 27 March 1560

The duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine to the sieur d’Oysel, Nicolas de Pellevé, and Jaques de La Brosse, Amboise, 31 March 1560

Francis II and Mary queen of Scots: Commission to Jean de Monluc, Nicolas de Pellevé, and Jacques de La Brosse, 1 April 1559/1560

The duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine to Marie de Lorraine, [Amboise, 31 March]; Marmoutier, 9 April 1560

‘Memoire pour envoyer à la Royne Regente d’Escosse du xj d’apvril’ [1560]

Marie de Lorraine to Jean de Monluc, Edinburgh castle, 14 April 1560

Marie de Lorraine to Francis II, Edinburgh castle, 26 April 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the sieur d’Oysel, Edinburgh castle, 27 April 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the sieur d’Oysel, and Jaques de La Brosse, 29 April 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, 30 April 1560

Francis II and Mary queen of Scots: Commission to Jean de Monluc and others, Chenonceau, 2 May 1560

Francis II to Elizabeth I, Chenonceau, 2 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the sieur d’Oysel, 3 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, mid-May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to Francis II, Edinburgh castle, 17 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to [the sieur d’Oysel], 17 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Edinburgh castle, 21 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Edinbugh castle, 26 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to Francis II, 26 May 1560

Marie de Loraine to Mary queen of Scots, 26 May 1560

Marie de Lorraine to the duc de Guise and cardinal de Lorraine, Edinburgh castle, 28 May 1560

Reply of Francis II on the ratification, 15 September 1560

Francis II to Elizabeth I, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 17 September 1560

Charles IX to Elizabeth I, Fontainebleau, 20 February 1560/1561

Catherine de Medici to Elizabeth I, Fontainebleau, 20 February 1561

Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, to Elizabeth I, 20 February 1561

Anne de Montmorency to Elizabeth I, Fontainebleau, 20 February 1560/1561

The duc de Guise to Elizabeth I, Fontainebleau, 26 February 1560/1561

Charles IX to Elizabeth I, Fontainebleau, 26 April 1561

Elizabeth I to Charles IX, 14 July 1561

The duc de Guise to Elizabeth I, Corbeil, 27 March 1561/1562

Complaint of the French ambassador, 16 March 1560

Remonstrance, late March, of Jean de Monluc and Michel de Seure against the Queen's Proclamation of 24 March 1560

Protestation of the ambassador, 20 April 1560

‘Ce qui a esté cotté sur la responce faicte par la Royne d’Angleterre à la protestation que lui feit l’ambassadeur du Roy’

On returning to France, de Seure was immediately swept into the service of the queen mother at a time of the most intense political and religious crisis so far. In the course of 1562, he became a member of the conseil privé. On 14 April 1562, we find him introducing Throckmorton for an audience with Catherine and then, early in May, he was visiting Throckmorton to announce to him that Paul de Foix had sent word of the coming of Sir Henry Sidney to France. It seems clear that he was becoming an increasingly trusted agent of the queen mother in these years.