ABSTRACT
Sir Henry Neville was in France, serving as Ambassador, between earlyMay 1599 and August 1600. It seems certain that he never visited England during any of this period, since he often petitioned Cecil and the Queen to allow him to return, without success.1 In Paris, Neville was faced with a number of overlapping, although related, responsibilities which made his task particularly difficult. His most important duty was to attempt to detach France from Spain, with which French ruling circles under King Henri IV had increasingly become friendly. A previous conflict between France and Spain had been ended by the Peace of Vervins in May 1598, which drew France away from England and the Netherlands as anti-Spanish powers.2 Queen Elizabeth and the English government were not highly regarded by the French Court at this time, and there seemed little chance of recovering the enormous sum (over 1.3 million crowns, or £402,000) given by England to France in pursuit of its former war with Spain.
