By 1650, the English and French navies were in an uncertain and brittle condition. The civil wars that tore both kingdoms in half also caused divisions within their sea forces. The expanded naval arsenals that had been enhanced under royal patronage now possessed deeply conflicted loyalties underpinned by political change. If the last one hundred and fifty years of history had shown anything to those holding office in each navy, it was that strength at sea was dependent on the financial and political stability of the state. Navies had the potential to strengthen under developing and unchallenged political regimes. After over a century of administrative, military and religious change, England and France emerged during the early seventeenth century with stronger political infrastructures. These advances provided both states with a firmer grip over their national finances and regional disparities, while simultaneously providing the means for them to support the construction of large fleets. This study explores how, and why, the English and French standing navies were able to rise and decline between 1500 and 1650.

The two countries’ histories are deeply interconnected, and their navies’ progressions are too. With naval power playing a prominent role, the kingdoms fought against each other on no fewer than nine occasions during the period. Under the Tudor and Valois dynasties, the two powers were at war between 1511 and 1514, 1522 and 1525, 1543 and 1546, 1548 and 1550, 1557 and 1559, and finally, 1562 to 1563. Following this, under the Bourbons and Stuarts, although relations were somewhat more amicable, the two would again conflict during the major English naval campaigns on the Île de Ré and La Rochelle between 1627 and 1628. This is also not to discount the points at which the two formed fragile alliances against Spain under the House of Habsburg, which could be equally important for the exchange of administrative and political ideas, technology and, shipbuilding and sailing expertise. Examples of such alliances include the League of Cognac in 1526, the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585 while Spain allied with the French Catholic League, the English support offered in Normandy and Brittany between 1589 and 1591, and the talks between Henri IV and James I from 1608 to 1610.