This volume assembles hitherto unpublished English writings in French on France, and especially its nobility, during the 1580s, a key period for understanding the final crisis of the War of Religion. They contain information on the political dispositions of the leading royal officials and on the lineage 'alliances' and the properties of a vast number of French noblemen in the provinces. Robert Cecil, son of Elizabeth's minister Burghley, was certainly involved in their composition, which seems to have been written by those involved in English missions to France in the early 1580s.

Public concern about environmental issues has attracted interest in the subject in both the popular media and academic literature. The work of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) like Greenpeace and others in trying to change the environmental policies of governments and business organizations has received some attention, but what has been written is mostly northern-based and about northern NGOs.