Misja dyplomatyczna Thomasa Bodleya do krajów niemieckich i Danii w 1585 r. na tle poselstw Daniela Rogersa (1585 i 1588) oraz Johna Skeena i Wilhelma Stewarta (1590)

Abstract

LATE-ELIZABETHAN DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS: A STUDY COMPARING THE LEGACIES OF THOMAS BODLEY, DANIEL ROGERS, JOHN SKEEN, AND WILLIAM STEWART TO THE COURTS OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE KING OF DENMARK

Sir Thomas Bodley is not known well in and outside England, unless one studies the history of libraries and correctly ties him with the eponymous Oxford library, the Bodleian. Nevertheless at the end of 17th century he experienced a brief moment of prominence as an English diplomat heading an embassy to the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark. No less important were three other diplomats, sent by Queen Elisabeth I soon after him: Daniel Rogers, William Stewart and John Skeen. This article is examines those four diplomatic missions, with stress put on the legacy of Thomas Bodley’s endeavours, which marked a new era in Anglo-German diplomatic relations. The author analyses the differences in the dispatches and reports written by these Elizabethan diplomats.