British Policies before the British State

Abstract

Was there a British policy in the sixteenth century? This chapter argues that a growing awareness of a British problem on the part of English Statesmen did not axiomatically lead to a more coherent policy for the British Isles. In fact the growing disparity between policies towards Ireland (conquest and colonisation) and Scotland (alliance and union) suggests that the overall aim was by no means integrationist — towards the establishment of a unitary British state. Rather, what was coherent was the underlying purpose of English policy — to keep foreign powers out of the British periphery. In which case management of the ongoing situation might either be formal (by expensive direct rule) or informal (by a cheaper system of proxies) but the same result was aimed at. This was developed as a result of security needs, when policy-makers had to steer stormy waters after Henry VIII cut loose from Rome, and must be seen in the larger context of western European foreign policy. Since the underlying assumptions were strategic, it is fair to say that England was not alone in having a British policy. France and Spain developed British policies as they vied with each other for hegemony — when one was in alliance with England the other endeavoured to keep the English preoccupied in Scotland or Ireland.