ABSTRACT
In the absence of any rigid separation between domestic and foreign politics, the men who considered themselves the king's natural companions and counsellors saw diplomatic missions to the Continent as a continuation of their participation in administrative business within the realm. Distinction during one or more of Edward III's earlier military campaigns is perhaps the most striking common factor among the aristocrats who later served the Crown as diplomats. The middle years of Edward III's reign have often been described as a period of harmonious relations between the king and the nobility. For some of Edward's leading clerical emissaries to Avignon in the mid-fourteenth century it is possible to ascertain more or less exactly the date of their admission to the king's council. Many clerics who later became royal emissaries will have had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the route to Avignon, the city and the papal court during previous journeys made as proctors of English petitioners.
