Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon

After serving in the French army he was sent ambassador to England in November 1568, as a replacement for Jacques Bochetel de la Forest.

[1] At the request of Charles IX of France he endeavoured to excuse to Elizabeth the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as a necessity caused by a plot which had been laid against the life of the king.

Mothe-Fénelon was involved the exchanges of gifts and portraits between the English and French court, including the work of the François Clouet and possibly Nicholas Hilliard.

[4] In 1574 Mary, Queen of Scots embroidered an incarnate satin skirt with silver thread using materials bought in London by Mothe-Fénelon.

[7][8] Presumably hopeful of an audience at the English court, Mary asked the Archbishop of Glasgow, her contact in Paris, to send coifs embroidered with gold and silver and the latest fashion in Italian ribbons and veils for her hair.

[11] In September 1574, Fenelon received a letter from the former Regent Arran, now known as the Duke of Châtellerault, and a small portrait or miniature of James VI of Scotland, probably derived from a work of Arnold Bronckorst or an artist recorded as the "French painter".

[21] The English diplomat, Robert Bowes and William Davison, reported that Mothe-Fénelon and Maineville were trying to build a French faction in Scotland, help by the financial insecurity of the Ruthven Regime.