The desire to secure suitable marriages for the royal princes, Henry (d. 1612) and Charles (d. 1649), saw the Stuart dynasty enter into a series of complex negotiations with the royal courts of Europe. Recent decades have witnessed a growing interest in examining the Stuarts’ relations with France, Spain, and the empire. The role of dynasticism and the manner in which it often transcended religious and political divisions, however, largely remains a subtheme within current scholarship. By locating the Stuarts’ marriage strategy within a broader dynastic framework of interpretation, this collection of essays makes an important and timely contribution to scholarship. Particular attention is devoted to exploring the strategic objectives of the Stuarts and Bourbons and their hopes of curtailing Hapsburg influence in Europe and further afield. Malcolm Smuts, Peter H. Wilson, and Porforio Sanz Camañes each emphasize that the threat posed by Spanish military power should not be underestimated when examining Stuart entanglement in European politics.

A second strand of essays (by Manuel Rivero Rodríguez, Rubén González Cuerva, and José Eloy Hortal Muñoz) underline the Southern European dimension to these negotiations, exploring how a deterioration in Hispano-Papal relations and Madrid's desire to strengthen ties with Vienna shaped Anglo-Spanish relations in the early 1600s. Beyond Europe, Edmond Smith reveals that while the English East India Company faced a growing challenge from their Dutch rivals, the Spanish and Portuguese likewise retained considerable economic and military influence in the Indian Ocean. An alliance with Catholic France, however, presented several problems for the Stuarts. In a fascinating essay, Sarah Wolfson reveals the extent to which the household of Henrietta Maria (d. 1669) functioned as a conduit for projecting Counter-Reformation propaganda into the heart of Charles I's court (embarrassingly, from her husband's perspective).

The accumulation of intelligence formed important elements in these negotiations. Kelsey Flynn reveals how an effective intelligence-gathering service not only allowed the Stuarts to extend their influence beyond the effective military reach of the state but also helped them to mediate disputes with the French in North America (to the detriment of the Spanish). Good relations with the resident Spanish ambassadors in London and competent staff overseas were also essential to the gathering of intelligence. While Robert Cross examines how James I's religious ambiguity allowed him to pursue an “ecumenical foreign policy” (75) and negotiate effectively across confessional lines, Valentina Caldari demonstrates that James I, thanks to his relationship with the Count of Gondomar, gave him considerable, if indirect, influence over marriage negotiations in Madrid during the late 1610s and early 1620s. Following the collapse of the Anglo-Spanish marriage negotiations in 1624, it has often been assumed that the Spanish party in England lost most of its influence. Thomas Cogswell's piece challenges this notion and reveals how the English Hispanophiles launched a successful smear campaign against the Duke of Buckingham.

While the dissemination of information, false or otherwise, had ruined Buckingham, news played an important role in shaping private and public perceptions of the ongoing marriage negotiations. David Coast's chapter explores how James I sought to control the flow of information in his favor. Although the limiting of counsel may have helped James I to safeguard against dissent during his own reign, this approach backfired drastically during the reign of his son, Charles I. News and public discourse could also shape royal policy. Helmer Helmers and Paul Arblaster each explore how news of the Spanish Match was reported in the United Provinces and Flanders. Helmers, in particular, argues that the rich body of European discourse on the match has not only been overshadowed by the “well-analysed English debate” (204), but that a reconsideration of English material alongside European material offers numerous avenues for further research. Steve Murdoch and Adam Marks explore the roles of Scottish and English soldiers, respectively, in Europe during the Thirty Years’ War. As both essays reveal, these soldiers not only gave James I and Charles I an important degree of influence in Central European affairs, they also exerted a profoundly destabilizing effect on the politics of the three kingdoms.

Overall, there is an impressive range of expertise on display within this volume. This book will be of interest to both students and scholars of early Stuart Britain and early modern Europe more generally.