Cromwell’s Foreign Policy: The Historical Assessment

Abstract

Any analysis of seventeenth-century foreign policy must bear in mind its relative importance to the national leadership. The concept of international relations was not highly developed (at least outside Italy), and the English government had only sporadic interest in European power-politics before 1689. Intense diplomatic activity under Elizabeth, when the survival of the regime was at stake, can be contrasted with a more leisurely approach by Charles I after 1628. In any case, the permanent personnel of government was small compared to later centuries and concentrated on those issues which were most important, such as taxation and security. Foreign rulers were only of sustained interest when they were seen as of particular importance to England, as was usually the case with neighbours such as Scotland (until 1603) and France. Foreign policy was pursued at the personal initiative of the monarch, assisted by interested ministers.