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Networks of exchange in anglo-portuguese sixteenth-century diplomacy and Thomas Wilson’s mission to Portugal
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Abstract(s)
In June 1567, Elizabeth I sent Dr. Thomas Wilson on a diplomatic assignment to Lisbon. His mission was to present before the Portuguese king and his court the English Queen’s displeasure and firm protest against the Portuguese conduct at sea: she simply could not approve of Portugal’s ‘innovative’ policies, which included sinking English ships, seizing their cargo and imprisoning their crews. The fact that English privateers had been endangering the Portuguese economy and the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance for decades was an irrelevant coincidence of sea strategy, a matter that the English emissary would have to avoid at all costs. Therefore, significant political and economic complexities, as well as disagreements, underlined Wilson’s diplomatic mission.
The English ambassador finally arrived in Lisbon on the 5th of October, after having endured a terrible storm at sea, only to admit himself directly in a hospital. There, he was visited by Ayres Cardoso, the Portuguese ambassador he had formerly met in London, who welcomed him on behalf of the King. In his letter to Cecil, Wilson mentions a second visitor, a man of the Inquisition, and his message of warning: “Well then, I caution you to conduct yourself piously and to not arise amongst us any schism.” Religious asymmetries distanced the two kingdoms even farther, while simultaneously emphasised the role of diplomacy in the establishment of a common ground of understanding, a bridge between two worlds.
Based on Wilson’s mission to Lisbon, this paper explores the Anglo-Portuguese diplomatic correspondence and the exchange of ambassadorial missions between the courts of Portugal and England in the 16th century.
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Keywords
Early modern Anglo-Portuguese relations Diplomacy
Citation
Oliveira, S. (2020). "Chapter 2 Networks of Exchange in Anglo-Portuguese Sixteenth-Century Diplomacy and Thomas Wilson’s Mission to Portugal". In Exile, Diplomacy and Texts. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004438040_004
Publisher
Brill