The French Alliance of March 1657

Abstract

The Lionne mission provided a clear warning that if the terms were favourable Mazarin might yet be pressurised into peace with Spain. This would invalidate the basis of Cromwell’s strategy, enabling Spain to reduce its continental commitments and to assist Charles II. Reports also cast worrying doubt upon Mazarin’s commitments to an English alliance, though Lockhart was more optimistic than Augier (who as a Huguenot was inevitably suspicious of the French government) and Colonel Bamfylde. Even so, the fact that Philip IV had insisted on the pardon of Condé blocked a Franco-Spanish peace for the moment. In these circumstances, Cromwell continued to insist on the cession of Dunkirk and Mardyke as an adequate pledge of French goodwill.