ABSTRACT
The return of the Prince was, in Sir Benjamin Rudyerd's striking phrase, 'the turn of Christendom', for it was to lead to English commitment to the Great War against the Habsburgs. This was not immediately apparent, however, and the last three months of 1623 were taken up by complicated manoeuvres in which Buckingham played a difficult and dangerous part with great skill. His own attitude was quite clear. The journey to Madrid had given him the opportunity to study at first hand the men who moulded Spanish policy, and he had been made forcibly aware of the very real dangers that the expansion of Habsburg power offered to the western world. Policy-making was in the hands of the King, and James was not going to turn warrior overnight. Nor could Buckingham count on the support of the Councillors who advised the King.
