of all who remembered the austerer fashions of Elizabeth.[1] It was a general relief when Christian decided to abridge the period originally set down for his stay. He came again, briefly and informally, in 1614. Other Jacobean visitors were the Duke of Holstein, another brother of the Queen, in 1604, the Prince de Joinville in 1607, the Prince of Brunswick, a nephew of the Queen, in 1610, the Duc de Bouillon in 1612, and the Elector Palatine, for his wedding with the Princess Elizabeth, in the same year. James received congratulations on his accession from ambassadors extraordinary sent by the Emperor and the Kings of France and Spain, as well as from other representatives of minor powers. Subsequently Juan de Velasco, Constable of Castile, came as ambassador extraordinary from Spain, with other Spanish and Flemish commissioners, for the signing of a treaty of peace in 1604, and had the honour of being waited upon by Shakespeare as groom of the chamber.[2]
In addition to extraordinary ambassadors there were generally also permanent or 'lieger' ambassadors in residence. These varied in number with the shifting diplomacies of the time. France was the foreign country most constantly represented at Elizabeth's Court.[3] There was generally also a Scottish ambassador. Diplomatic relations with Spain were broken off in 1584;[4] and there were no Italian ambassadors,*
- ↑ Cf. ch. v for Harington's description of a drunken mask at Theobalds; there is confirmatory evidence in V. P. x. 386; Boderie, i. 241, 283, 297.
- ↑ Cf. ch. xiii, s.v. King's.
- ↑ Gilles de Noailles, Abbé de Lisle (1559), Michel de Seurre (1560-2), Paul de Foix (1562-6), Jacques Bochetel, Sieur de la Forest (1566-8), Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1568-75), Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de Mauvissière (1575-85), Guillaume de L'Aubespine, Baron de Chasteauneuf (1585-9), Le Sieur de Beauvoir (de La Nocte) (1589-98?), Le Sieur Thumery de Boissise (1598-1601), Christophe de Harlay, Comte de Beaumont (1601-5), Antoine Le Fèvre, Sieur de la Boderie (1606-11), Samuel Spifame, Sieur des Bisseaux (1611-15), Gaspard Dauvet, Sieur des Marets (1615-18). Complete lists of lieger and extraordinary ambassadors, with notes of the manuscripts containing their dispatches, are given by A. Baschet in Reports of Deputy Keeper of the Records, xxxvii, App. 1, 188; xxxix, App. 573; and C. H. Firth and S. C. Lomax, Notes on the Diplomatic Relations of England and France, 1603-88 (1906); cf. General Bibl. Note, s.v. Beaumont, Boissise, La Boderie, La Mothe.
- ↑ The Spanish ambassadors during 1558-84 were Don Gomez Suarez de Figueroa, Count of Féria (Jan. 1558-May 1559), Don Alvaro de la Quadra, Bishop of Aquila (May 1559-Aug. 1563), Don Diego Guzman de Silva (Jan. 1564-Sept. 1568), Don Guerau de Spes (Sept. 1568-Dec. 1571), Don Bernardino de Mendoza (March 1578-Jan. 1584); their dispatches are in Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España, lxxxvii, lxxxix-xcii, and are calendared, with those of Antonio de Guaras, a merchant who acted as agent 1573-7, in M. A. S. Hume, Calendar of Letters
