Military and political activity of the French wing of the English emigration of the era of Mary I Tudor (1553-1558): piracy, conspiracies, the adventure of the "King of Scarborough"

The subject of this study is the activities of English emigrants in France during the reign of Mary I. The author aimed to assess the significance of the military and political activity of the migr community in the 1550s. The author faced the following tasks: to characterize the community itself, its social composition, relations within it, as well as with the authorities of England and France, to highlight the key forms of its military and political activity and its results in the context of Anglo-French relations of the mid-16th century. The source base of the study consists primarily of published correspondence of diplomats, documents published in the so-called "calendars" of state papers, and narrative sources were used where necessary. The chronological framework of the study: 1553-1557 (before England's entry into the Italian War of 1551-1559). The author analyzes the social composition of the movement using prosopographic methods and applies a biographical approach to the study of its leaders. Analyzing the social composition of the community and the course of the emigration, the author concludes: the emigration consisted mostly of nobles, its motives were political, and the movement lacked a solid economic foundation and reliable financial support. This, according to the author, limited its military potential. The author identifies the following forms of military and political activity of the emigrants: piracy (activity peaked in 1556), preparations for invasions of England (especially active in 1554 and 1556–1557), and for attacks against Calais. Analyzing the impact of the movement on Anglo-French relations, the author comes to the conclusion that support, albeit limited, for its activities on the part of Henry II was a significant complicating factor and became an important casus belli for England in 1557. The results of the study complement both the picture of English emigration to the continent during the reign of Mary I Tudor and ideas about Anglo-French relations in the mid-16th century.