ABSTRACT
The diplomatic system that provided the wider framework for Anglo-curial diplomacy was not only adequate and effective, but also exhibited most of the 'features of sophistication'. This chapter explores the techniques and modes of diplomatic activity in the late middle Ages. For the French there would have been good reasons to take measures against English diplomats on their way to the curia in order to impair their functioning. The greatest obstacle to referring to the diplomatic system as 'sophisticated' is the apparent lack of continuity—that is, the absence of a permanent English embassy to the Holy See. The complexity of the interior structure of Benedict XII's new palace offered a range of possibilities for stage managing diplomatic ceremonies as well as for adapting the form of bilateral and multilateral discussions to their contents. The chapter shows that medieval diplomacy was governed by the necessity principle: no ruler or ruling body practised continuity for continuity's sake.
