Note 69 — Chapter III

Ibid., pp. 108-116.

Simon Renard, the imperial ambassador at this time at the English court, was a native of Franche Comté, and held the office of maître aux requêtes in the household of the emperor. Renard, though a man of a factious turn, was what Granvelle's correspondent, Morillon, calls "un bon politique," and in many respects well suited to the mission on which he was employed. His correspondence is of infinite value, as showing the Spanish moves in this complicated game, which ended in the marriage of Mary with the heir of the Castilian monarchy. It is preserved in the archives of Brussels. Copies of these MSS., amounting to five volumes folio, were to be found in the collection of Cardinal Granvelle at Besançon. A part of them was lent to Griffet for the compilation of his "Nouveaux Eclaircissemens sur l'Histoire de Marie Reine d'Angleterre." Unfortunately, Griffet omitted to restore the MSS.; and an hiatus is thus occasioned in the series of the Renard correspondence embraced in the Granvelle Papers now in process of publication by the French Government. It were to be wished that this hiatus had been supplied from the originals, in the archives of Brussels. Mr. Tytler has done good service by giving to the world a selection from the latter part of Renard's correspondence, which had been transcribed by order of the Record Commission from the MSS. in Brussels.