This work examines the early years of the post-medieval European states and the growth of a recognizably "modern" system for handling their international relations. The author focuses on France, Spain and England and to the state of relations between them, as their various power plays rolled over Italy and the Low countries but also incorporates the Northern and Eastern states including Russia, Poland and the Baltic world into the main European political arena. The author provides a narrative of European politics and its impact on diplomacy including the Italian wars 1494-1559, the French Wars of Religion, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation and the relations of Christendom and Islam with the advance of the Ottoman empire. He also gives attention to the influence of military and economic factors on international relations.