John Condren is assistant professor at the university of Nottingham. He is an expert in 17th and 18th century Italian #diplomacy. In his PhD thesis he looked at the role of the duchies of the Po plain within the context of Louis XIV foreign policy. We’re eagerly awaiting its publication which is due this summer! (3/10)
Loek Luiten focusses on Italian #emdiplomacy from the other end of time making them both the perfect match! Luiten has done his PhD Oxford University on the Farnese Family in the 15th century. We can recommend his article “Friends and family, fruit and fish: the gift in Quattrocento Farnese cultural politics”. What a great title! (4/11)
Together Condren & Luiten accepted the challenge to give an overview on Italian #emdiplomacy! This is a great task indeed, as #earlymodern Italy consisted on a great variety of different political entities: duchies, princely composite states, the possessions of foreign monarchs and city-republics of different size and influence, meaning that Italy was itself “a hive of diplomatic activity”. (5/11)
In the first part, Condren and Luiten describe the structures and evolution of Italian #emdiplomacy until the late 15th/early 16th century, arguing that the different political entities developed at different paces and in varying ways.
For the republics of Venice and Genoa for example mercantile and commercial interests played a crucial role which shaped the way envoys to foreign courts were chosen. (6/11)
In general, there were a number of very different actors involved in #emdiplomacy: Mercenaries, merchants, mendicant friars, notaries, and bishops. They all had their different ways of doing #emdiplomacy and it was a slow process of merging these different traditions that took place during the 15th century. (7/11)
In a second step, Condren and Luiten discuss how the different Italian diplomatic actors were integrated in the developing European diplomatic system from the 16th century up to the Napoleonic Wars. As their role and their political status changed over time, they had to adapt their practices. (8/11)
Historiography has traditionally looked at Italian #emdiplomacy from the 16th century onwards from the perspective of the great European powers, especially France and the Habsburgs, and how they tried to realize their geopolitical interests on the Italian peninsula. However, it is important to realize that from an Italian perspective the different Italian princes and republics not only needed to maintain their interests within the bigger picture of #emdiplomacy, but they also needed to exchange diplomats among themselves. (9/11)
Studying Italian #emdiplomacy is so rich of case studies that we could have several separate articles – and we indeed have a special article on papal diplomacy. (10/11)
Moreover, Italian #emdiplomacy allows us to study so many different things in a nutshell: the development of diplomatic practices and the merging of different traditions, the connection between #emdiplomacy and state building, the role and agency of political entities of different status and how they tried to maintain their position within the power struggle of the great European powers. (11/11)
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