Ralph Winwood

Sir Ralph Winwood (c. 1563 – 27 October 1617) was an English diplomat and statesman to the Jacobean court.

He was born the son of Richard Winwood at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire and educated at St John's College, Oxford (1577), Magdalen College, Oxford (1582), Padua (1594) and studied law at Gray's Inn from 1617.

In 1599 he became secretary to Sir Henry Neville (c. 1562-1615), the English ambassador in France, and he succeeded Neville in this position two years later, retaining it until 1603. He was Clerk of Privy Council (extraordinary) from 1603 to 1608, and (ordinary) from 1608 to 1609. In 1603 Winwood was sent to The Hague as agent to the States-General of the United Provinces, and was appointed a member of the Dutch council of state on the basis of the Treaty of Nonsuch. Winwood's hearty dislike of Spain coloured all his actions in Holland; he was anxious to see a continuance of the war between Spain and the United Netherlands, and expressed both his own views and those of the English government at the time when he wrote, "how convenient this war would be for the good of His Majesty's realms, if it might be maintained without his charge." He was knighted on 28 June 1607.

In June 1608 Winwood signed the league between England and the United Provinces, and he was in Holland when the trouble over the succession to the duchies of Jülich and Cleves threatened to cause a European war. In this matter he negotiated with the Protestant princes of Germany on behalf of James I. He was appointed Master of Requests for 1609 to 1614.

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