ABSTRACT
Before 1572 Elizabeth was on the whole straightforward with her suitors. On only two occasions did she simulate interest in a match which she had no intention at all of entering: first when she and her councillors had deliberately, though briefly, encouraged false hopes during the suits of Archduke Charles of Austria in the autumn of 1559; and then with Charles IX of France in mid-1565. By contrast, Elizabeth’s handling of the suit of Francis duke of Alençon between mid-1572 and late 1578 was a master-piece of protracted dalliance. Under pressure from some of her councillors she gave it serious consideration in the early summer of 1572, but between the massacre of St Bartholomew in August 1572 and the arrival of Jean de Simier at her court in January 1579, she used matrimony simply as a diplomatic tool. The French were rarely if ever deceived, but then they too were more interested in the benefits to be gained from the negotiations than in the marriage itself. It was for this reason that the courtship could go on for so long without making any progress. Both sides were following the same rules in the game of diplomacy.
