The Making of Elizabethan Foreign Policy, 1558-1603

by Richard Bruce Wernham

Elizabethan foreign policy was very much the policy of Queen Elizabeth l herself. It was not foreplanned, envisaged whole in advance. It was built up out of her responses to questions and problems posed by her relations with neighboring and, in the case of France and Spain, far more powerful countries. The responses, inspired by consistant instincts and opinions concerning her own country's true interests, grew into a coherent policy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 1980

About the author

A specialist in 16th century English foreign policy, Richard Bruce Wernham was Professor of Modern History and Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford from 1951 until his retirement in 1972. Prior to his appointment at Worcester College, Wernham lecturer in history at University College London from 1933 until 1934, and a lecturer and then Fellow of Trinity College from 1934 until 1951.

Reviews

[Skallagrimsen]

R. B. Wernham offers a clear, readable overview of the complex foreign policy queen Elizabeth I was compelled to conduct, during an age of savage religious and dynastic conflict between and within the kingdoms of Europe. I appreciated that the book is scholarly yet, at 99 pages, concise.

But, looking back at this book after 20 years, I now think it's too concise. For example, I don’t recall any mention of Elizabeth’s diplomatic relationships with the great Muslim powers of her age. A scan of the index confirms the omission. The Making of Elizabethan Foreign Policy restricts its discussion pretty much to the other western European powers, primarily Spain, France and the Netherlands.

This is unfortunate. Elizabeth’s network of trade and diplomacy extended beyond Europe, to Persia, Morocco, and the Ottoman Empire. Her contacts and alliances in the south and east had important geo-political ramifications. They helped curtail Spanish imperial power. They had a powerful impact on Elizabethan culture (inspiring, for example, Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, the first great play of the Golden Age of English theatre). They helped pave the path to the future British global empire. And they facilitated England's entry into the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Wernham’s book is good, to the depth it goes, but parochial in focus.

The definitive book on the fascinating story of Elizabeth’s relations with the Islamic world is The Sultan and the Queen: The Unold Story of Elizabeth and Islam, by Jerry Brotton.