The conduct and practice of diplomacy during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483)
type: CreativeWork
description: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how English diplomacy was conducted during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483), by examining the personnel of Yorkist diplomacy (including ambassadors, agents, spies and messengers) and by studying the structure of the diplomatic polity. The practice of English diplomacy during the later Middle Ages has been much neglected by historians, whose work has mainly concentrated on the period after 1500. In the first decade of the sixteenth century, Henry VII became the first English king to employ resident ambassadors at foreign courts and it has been commonly suggested that efficient diplomatic contact with other states was a product of Henry VII's changes in diplomatic practice. Consequently, it has also been claimed that earlier diplomatic methods provided only clumsy and haphazard diplomatic contact with other powers, and limited opportunities for intelligence-gathering. However, it is the contention of this dissertation that prevailing notions of diplomacy during the later Middle Ages are in clear need of revision. The first chapter of the dissertation is an assessment of the practical implications of the complicated legal principles and theory advocated by the authors of medieval tracts on diplomacy. The activities and responsibilities of Edward IV's diplomats (whether fully-empowered ambassadors or minor agents) are then discussed in chapters two and three. It will be argued that the common depiction of the temporary embassy as an inflexible means of diplomatic contact is inaccurate, since Edward IV's ambassadors had considerable freedom to act upon their own initiative and embarked upon informal negotiations without formal powers authorising them to do so. Moreover, diplomatic personnel of a lower status played a far more important role in late medieval diplomatic practice than most historians have allowed. Calais, England's last territorial possession in France, was a crucial (and neglected) part of the late medieval …
abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how English diplomacy was conducted during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483), by examining the personnel of Yorkist diplomacy (including ambassadors, agents, spies and messengers) and by studying the structure of the diplomatic polity. The practice of English diplomacy during the later Middle Ages has been much neglected by historians, whose work has mainly concentrated on the period after 1500. In the first decade of the sixteenth century, Henry VII became the first English king to employ resident ambassadors at foreign courts and it has been commonly suggested that efficient diplomatic contact with other states was a product of Henry VII's changes in diplomatic practice. Consequently, it has also been claimed that earlier diplomatic methods provided only clumsy and haphazard diplomatic contact with other powers, and limited opportunities for intelligence-gathering. However, it is the contention of this dissertation that prevailing notions of diplomacy during the later Middle Ages are in clear need of revision. The first chapter of the dissertation is an assessment of the practical implications of the complicated legal principles and theory advocated by the authors of medieval tracts on diplomacy. The activities and responsibilities of Edward IV's diplomats (whether fully-empowered ambassadors or minor agents) are then discussed in chapters two and three. It will be argued that the common depiction of the temporary embassy as an inflexible means of diplomatic contact is inaccurate, since Edward IV's ambassadors had considerable freedom to act upon their own initiative and embarked upon informal negotiations without formal powers authorising them to do so. Moreover, diplomatic personnel of a lower status played a far more important role in late medieval diplomatic practice than most historians have allowed. Calais, England's last territorial possession in France, was a crucial (and neglected) part of the late medieval …
author: Meek, Edward Lewis
language: eng
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/15062d16-a9df-4e3e-9662-e69b841e6c37/download
license: http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2001-10-09
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:04Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.39805