Abstract
Abstract Using an unstudied set of diplomatic instructions given by the Portuguese kings to their ambassadors, spies and agents sent to Tudor England between 1553 and 1559, this article seeks to re-examine the emergence of Anglo-Portuguese maritime rivalry in West Africa. By carefully detailing the contents of these instructions, and matching them with other sources, this study also highlights the role of Mary I (1553–1558) in English maritime expansion. Analysing the contents of each mission in connection to the first English voyages to West Africa, I suggest that Portugal already envisaged Mary Tudor’s England as a serious maritime competitor and provide possible reasons for this conviction. Contextualising this rivalry with Philip II’s reign as king consort of England and the related Portuguese diplomatic strategies aimed at maintaining a mare clausum, this article argues that Portuguese maritime espionage in sixteenth-century England is inextricably linked to the development of a maritime and scientific milieu under Queen Mary. Additionally, I propose that such endeavours are intimately connected with the well-known English maritime achievements of the Elizabethan era, highlighting the importance of Mary’s reign in this process. Although the existence of intensive Portuguese maritime espionage in Mary Tudor’s England may (given the existing historiography) be surprising, I suggest that it should not be read as such, by showing that previous Portuguese maritime rivalries with Spain and France provide a relevant precedent, and stressing the globalisation of nautical knowledge unfolding in the sixteenth century.
Published Version
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