Sixteenth-Century Europe and the Rise of Secret Services

Following the grand naval expeditions for new passageways to the East launched by the crowned heads of the Iberian Peninsula, the rivalry for competitive advantage between European states intensified. By the mid-sixteenth century, Venice was struggling—and gradually failing—to hold sway over the major Levantine trade routes, and eventually lost its prominent position as the commercial broker between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. 

France was amongst the first states to rid itself of Venetian mediation by signing a treaty with Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1539. The Dutch tiptoed in that direction in the late sixteenth century, intensifying their predatory stance in the seventeenth.

 Yet it was the English who employed a more aggressive approach, having devised ‘a general strategy to give England a larger role in European politics and economy’, that was felt keenly by Venetian merchants, who complained vehemently about Queen Elizabeth I’s ill-treatment and rapacious economic policies.

This intercontinental competition eastwards, in combination with the felix culpa of the discovery of America westwards, and the ensuing economic opportunities, spurred further rivalries for territorial expansion within and beyond Europe’s confines.

In the political arena, the sixteenth century ushered in an era of continuous wars that comprised conflicts instigated by the Reformation and the CounterReformation, including the religious wars in France, the English Reformation and the consolidation of Protestantism in England, the Dutch wars of independence, as well as the aggressive advance of the Ottomans in south-eastern Europe. 

The political uncertainty that ensued induced European governments to pursue somewhat similar domestic and foreign policies. For the majority of European states, these included a number of common characteristics: firstly, the consolidation of centralized governments premised upon some kind of central administration, which entailed permanent diplomatic representations overseas; secondly, the active defence of a variety of sovereign, dynastic, and commercial interests through diplomatic and military action; and thirdly, direct or indirect involvement with the advances of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.

These are some of the primary reasons that compelled most European states to create exclusive systems for obtaining intelligence on enemies within and beyond their territorial jurisdiction. Gradually, within this cut-throat competitive environment, an inestimable number of spies and informers infiltrated foreign lands in order to source sensitive information on behalf of several European magnates, including powerful potentates, their noble acolytes, and their rival foes, who aspired to further personal advancement and prosperity. 

Consequently, European states entered a phase of mounting information acquisition that was quasianalogous to their size. Amongst them, some prominent Italian city states, in combination with Philip II’s Spain, Elizabeth I’s England, Louis XIII’s France, and the Ottoman Empire made unequivocal efforts to develop robust intelligence networks. These will be discussed below.