Elizabethan Intelligence and Anglo-Scottish Diplomacy

During the 1580s, Elizabeth I’s government treated relations with Scotland as both a diplomatic and intelligence problem. English policy sought to maintain Protestant influence at the court of James VI, monitor Catholic and foreign intervention, and use ambassadors and intelligencers to report on factions whose alliances could affect England’s security.

William Ashby served as English ambassador in Scotland from 1588 to 1590 after working in the intelligence network associated with Sir Francis Walsingham. His correspondence illustrates the overlap between formal diplomacy and clandestine reporting during the Armada crisis and its aftermath, when Spanish, French, Scottish and English interests remained closely entangled.