DIALOGUE AND DISCRETION: THOMAS SACKVILLE, CATHERINE DE MEDICI AND THE ANJOU MARRIAGE PROPOSAL 1571

Letters are a literary resource often under-estimated by scholars. Sackville's letters from France, to Thomas Heneage and Elizabeth I, demonstrate how the application of literary means, guided by a partial viewpoint, creates the circumstances in which the political management of actuality can occur. These letters are generally known only from extracts and digests in calendars, which give no hint of their literary forms and styles. No one has yet commented on the significance of their rhetorical tactics. The full context of the correspondence shows Sackville exploiting existing relationships with Heneage and the queen to build up good will and credibility for himself as a lively and judicious personality. In particular, the previously unpublished representation of his secret interview with Catherine de Medici exploits the actuality of dramatic dialogue far beyond the normal use of so-called verbatim report in diplomatic correspondence. This representation raises questions of how far Sackville interpreted what he heard and why. The opportunity to compare Catherine's account of their meeting with Sackville's shows him selecting and emphasizing certain details, while suppressing others, in anticipation of his reader's response.