Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1523–1589) was a French diplomat who served as ambassador to Elizabeth I in England and to James VI in Scotland.
Ambassador in London Mothe-Fénelon was secretary to the French ambassador Gilles de Noailles during the crisis of the Scottish Reformation in 1560.
After serving in the French army he was sent ambassador to England in November 1568, as a replacement for Jacques Bochetel de la Forest.Conyers Read, Mr. Secretary Cecil And Queen Elizabeth (New York, 1961), p. 409: William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. 40. At the request of Charles IX of France he endeavoured to excuse to Elizabeth the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as a necessity caused by a plot which had been laid against the life of the king. After the death of Charles IX, Fénelon continued as ambassador in London. Mothe-Fénelon was involved the exchanges of gifts and portraits between the English and French court, including the work of the François Clouet and possibly Nicholas Hilliard.Elizabeth Goldring, Nicholas Hilliard (Yale, 2019), pp. 103-4.
He was recalled in 1575 when Catherine de' Medici wished to bring about a marriage between Elizabeth and the duke of Alençon, and thought that another ambassador, Michel de Castelnau, would have a better chance of success in the negotiation.
Mothe-Fénelon and Mary, Queen of Scots While in England, Mothe-Fénelon corresponded with Mary, Queen of Scots on political matters. He also bought textiles and sewing materials for her, and advised on potential gifts for Elizabeth.Clare Hunter, Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power (Sceptre, 2023), p. 260: William Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London: Dolman, 1845), p. 230. In 1574 Mary, Queen of Scots embroidered an incarnate satin skirt with silver thread using materials bought in London by Mothe-Fénelon.Carole Levin, 'Queen Elizabeth and the Power and Language of the Gift', Donatella Montini & Iolanda Plescia, Elizabeth I in Writing: Language, Power and Representation in Early Modern England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), p. 227. She soon wrote for more incarnate silk thread, better quality thinner silver thread, and incarnate taffeta for the lining.A. Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), pp. 111, 119 Mothe-Fénélon presented the finished item to Elizabeth on 22 May, with a declaration of friendship, and reported to Charles IX that the gift was a success.Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (Maney, 1988), p. 94.Correspondance de Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe Fénélon, 1574-1575, vol. 6 (Paris, 1840), p. 122 'une basquinne [sic] de satin incarnat, ... en tout tissu de sa main'. Presumably hopeful of an audience at the English court, Mary asked the Archbishop of Glasgow, her contact in Paris, to send coifs embroidered with gold and silver and the latest fashion in Italian ribbons and veils for her hair.Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), p. 187.
Mary planned making more gifts for Elizabeth and wrote to Mothe Fénélon for advice on what she would like best. She asked him to send lengths of gold passementerie and braids called "bisette".Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), pp. 222-3. Mothe Fénélon mentions gifts such as "three small night caps of her own handiwork", troys petites coyfures de nuict, ouvrées de sa main.Charles Purton Cooper and Alexandre Teulet, Correspondance Diplomatique De Bertrand De Salignac De La Mothe Fenelon, 6, (Paris, 1840), pp. 122, 397. Elizabeth remained cautious of Mary's gifts, and was reluctant to try some sweets which Mothe Fénélon offered her as a gift from the brother of the chancellor of Mary's dowry, for fear of poison.Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 4 (London, 1852), pp. 235-6
In October 1574, Fénélon heard that Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, had left the court in England and was travelling to her house in the north of England. From there she intended to visit her grandson James VI at Stirling Castle. The visit to Scotland did not happen, but she organised the wedding of her son Charles Stuart to Elizabeth Cavendish, which greatly displeased Queen Elizabeth. In September 1575, Fénélon received a letter from the former Regent Arran, now known as the Duke of Châtellerault, and a small portrait or miniature of James VI of Scotland, probably derived from a work of Arnold Bronckorst or an artist recorded as the "French painter".Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 12, (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 361. The portrait and the letter were intended to be forwarded to Mary, Queen of Scots.Alexander Teulet and Charles Purton Cooper, Correspondance Diplomatique De Bertrand De Salignac De La Mothe Fenelon, vol. 6 (Paris, 1840), pp. 254, 261, 293, 319, 427
England and Scotland in 1583
In August 1582, the government of Scotland passed into the hands of the Ruthven Raiders, a rule known as the Gowrie Regime. Mothe-Fénelon and another French diplomat, François de Rocherolles, Sieur de Mainville, were instructed to ensure that James VI was at liberty, continue discussions about the return of Mary to Scotland to rule in "association" with James VI, and the rehabilitation of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, who had been exiled by the Raiders.Steven J. Reid, "Bairns and Bearded Men", Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power in Scotland (Routledge, 2017), p. 43.
They were sent as ambassadors to Scotland in December 1582.Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), pp. 694-700. Mary, Queen of Scots, sent him a cipher key and her instructions.George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, Satoshi Tomokiyo, "Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578–1584", Cryptologia (February 2023), pp. 5, 56-59. Elizabeth I gave him a passport to travel to Berwick-upon-Tweed and he was accompanied by her diplomat William Davison.William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 15 no. 23
James VI wished to avoid him meeting Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox in his journey.Joseph Stevenson, Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), pp. 298-9. While travelling to Berwick in December 1582, by chance near Northallerton the ambassador encountered the Duke of Lennox, who was travelling south.Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. 235, 240-3, 256-7, 262-3, 265-6. Mothe-Fénelon corresponded with George Seton, 7th Lord Seton, who offered him the use of his lodging in Edinburgh.Joseph Stevenson, Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), p. 313. In January 1583, he stayed in Robert Gourlay's house on the Lawnmarket, at the top of the Royal Mile.Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by David Moysie (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 43. Mainville arrived by ship at Burntisland on 19 January and came to Leith by the ferry boat.Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), pp. 337, 340.
Diplomatic discussions involved the topic of a marriage for James. The ambassador advocated the Auld Alliance, and reminded James that his grandfather James V of Scotland had married Madeleine of Valois and Mary of Guise.Joseph Stevenson, Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), p. 335. The English diplomat, Robert Bowes and William Davison, reported that Mothe-Fénelon and Maineville were trying to build a French faction in Scotland, help by the financial insecurity of the Ruthven Regime.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 205. After a banquet given by the Provost of Edinburgh, Alexander Clark, and the burgh council,Joseph Stevenson, Bowes Correspondence (London, 1842), p. 354.Michael Lynch, Edinburgh and the Reformation (John Donald, 2003), p. 160. Mothe-Fénelon went to Seton Palace and returned to Berwick.Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 700.
Return to France Mothe Fénélon returned to France in 1583. He opposed the Protestants until the end of the reign of Henry III, but espoused the cause of Henry IV. He died in 1589.
Writings Fénelon was the author of a number of writings, among which those of general importance are: Mémoires touchant l'Angleterre et la Suisse, ou Sommaire de la négociation faite en Angleterre, l'an 1571 (containing a number of the letters of Charles and his mother, relating to Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and the Bartholomew massacre), published in the Mémoires of Castelnau (Paris, 1659) Négociations de la Mothe Fénelon et de Michel, sieur de Mauvissière, en Angleterre Dépêches de M. de la Mothe Fénelon, Instructions au sieur de la Mauvissière, contained with the above in the edition of Castelnau's Mémoires, published at Brussels in 1731. The correspondence of Fénelon was published at Paris in 1838–1841.
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