Pretense and Perception in the Spanish Match, or History in a Fake Beard

The relationship between England and Spain in the post-Reformation period has long been portrayed as one between mutually exclusive, largely monolithic opposites. The manifold evidentiary and conceptual shortcomings of Glyn Redworth's heretofore well-received book, The Prince and the Infanta, only highlight the problems inherent in this view. Contra Redworth, the ongoing negotiations for an Anglo-Spanish match were for more than two decades the diplomatic centerpiece of a complex interchange in which cultural, political, intellectual, and commercial elements mixed and influenced one another to a surprising degree.