Introduction

Abstract

Traditionally the sixteenth century has been treated as an important watershed in English foreign policy. Historians have interpreted it as a period when monarchs left behind the medieval world of chivalric warfare for crusading or territorial ends, and turned instead towards recognizably modern foreign-policy concerns and strategies. According to this historiographical tradition, Tudor monarchs eventually came to terms with Henry VI’s defeat in the Hundred Years’ War, with the accompanying loss of Normandy and Gascony, and formulated policies which were in keeping with England’s new geo-political position as an island (or at least the southern part of one) off the coast of Europe. The result was the evolution of a ‘modern’ foreign policy which had five main strands: England’s growing isolation from the conflicts of the European states; the promotion of the ‘Britannic idea’ (the union of England, Scotland and Ireland); the development of an oceanic strategy involving overseas exploration and colonial expansion; the construction of a navy to defend England’s shores and assert its commercial interests abroad; and the emergence of a balance-of-power diplomacy designed primarily to prevent the domination of mainland Europe by any one power.¹ Thanks to the successful adoption of these policies, it was said, England by the end of the sixteenth century had begun to embark on its career as a Great Power.