Queen and diplomacy in the early 17th century: two letters from Anne of Denmark to Marie de Medicis (1610–1611)
Keywords:
Anne of Denmark, James I, Marie de Medici, Samuel Spifame, Antoine Le fever de La Boderie, Anglo-French relations, history of diplomacy, female courtiers, informal political contacts, ambassadress as Queen’s representativeAbstract
The publication presents two previously unknown letters from Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England and Scotland, to Queen-Regent Marie de Medici from the Collection of P. P. Dubrovsky (St Petersburg, Russian State Library, Autograph 12, N 42–43). Written by a secretary and signed by Queen Anne, these documents are “letters of recommendation” for Lady Magdalen Edmondes, wife of a new English ambassador to Paris, and to the returning French ambassador Antoine Le Fevre de La Boderie, who won the Queen’s favour. The transcribed letters demonstrate the communications between the English and the French royal courts, as well as the active participation of women –members of royal dynasties and female courtiers – in these contacts. The letters were written in 1610–1611, during the first year of the regency of Queen Marie de Medici. The introduction presents the reconstruction of the political context of the correspondence of the two Queens, establishes the circumstances, in which each letter was compiled, the date and the place of their making. The publication includes the transcription of the original letters (in French), their Russian translation, and commentaries
