There is a lot going on in Pieter van Laer's 1630s "Self-Portrait with Magic Scene" (e.g. #earlymodern#alchemy and #magic, and #books). But have a look at the paper cone in the right foreground of the painting. Likely seeds or #peppercorns are spilling out. This is relevant for #PaperHistory and #BookHistory, dear #histodons.
One central problem that resulted from the federal nature of the #Dutch republic was secrecy: How could one keep a secret with so many actors involved? This was almost a mission impossible, although one tried several measures such as an oath of secrecy to deal with the problem.
When dealing with Dutch #emdiplomacy you inevitably come across two other big issues: the Protestant character of Dutch #earlymodern#diplomacy and the importance of trade and commercial interests. For @helmers_h and @NinaLamal these are not contradictory interests. However, they argue that “commerce, geopolitics, and protestantism were perfectly reconcilable”. (4/5)
Finally, @helmer and @NinaLamal argue that it is important to analyse #Dutch#emdiplomacy not only in its European context, but in its global dimension. The East India Company (#VOC) and its growing importance in #Asia played an important role in the rise of the Dutch republic. Unfortunately, both dimesions – the European and the global one – are far too often dealt seperately with by modern research. A problem that is generally true for research on #earlymodern diplomacy.
This leads to an overarching problem of how to competently connect national, European and global perspectives on diplomacy without blurring the focus. A question to be discussed elsewhere. (5/5)
A multi-day conference is planned for Glasgow in summer 2025 (dates TBD) to mark the quatercentenary of the death of James VI & I. Please register your interest via the online form (NB this is NOT a CFP)
According to Cario-Invernizzi the fact the Iberian kingsdoms were the first European realms to connect with the rest of the world on a grand scale, gave their diplomatic policies a unique character.
Diplomatic relations with Africa and Asia required constant negotiations, and even required tributes to be paid to guarantee the security of Europe’s presence in the area.
Distance was a significant factor in Iberian #diplomacy. Therefore, agents were sometimes sent to cover shorter distances. Moreover, diplomatic encounters in Eurasia did not take place between entire societies but rather between segments of societies or subcultures.
This fact suggests the existence of a cross-sectional diplomatic language between European and Asian societies. (4/n)
According to Cario-Ivernizzi Spanish historiography continues to suffer from a lack of discourse surrounding its cultural history in general and with literary studies in particular, this is also reflected in new diplomatic #history.
However, historians specialised in Spanish #diplomacy continue to take steps forward in the field, not only with regard to the exchange of gifts but also gradually incorporating the analytical category of gender.
The career paths of Spanish & Portguese #emdiplomats have gained more attention in research only recently.
By placing more of a focus on integrating the activities of both official ambassadors and informal agents into diplomatic studies in the future, we will be able to obtain a more complete understanding of Spanish and European diplomacy in the #earlymodern era. (6/6)
Es hat sich einiges getan in unserem Storytelling-Projekt, das einst "Hidden Cities" hieß - und nun "HistoryCity Apps" heisst. Es folgt eine Übersicht der Apps, Begleitbücher, Webseiten, Comics, etc.
Geschichte vermitteln und erleben: Historisches Storytelling!
Das Wichtigste vorab: Hier lassen sich alle - bislang 10 (und es werden noch mehr!) - kostenlosen und mehrsprachigen Apps mit Stadttouren durch frühneuzeitliche Städte herunterladen:
Es gibt Neuigkeiten! Nach rund 8.000 Downloads der App, mehr als 250.000 Aufrufen der Webangebote über den „Time Jump“ bei Apple Maps, und mehr als 2.000 Downloads des kostenlosen eBooks, haben wir eine 2. Auflage veröffentlicht: aktualisiert, mit neuem Logo, und immer noch kostenlos als ebook. Das Papierbuch und den Download der 2. Auflage gibt es hier: https://editionlumiere.de/bellingradt-heise-zweite.html
He argues that #French#diplomacy continuously changed over the centuries, which can be seen as a sign of modernisation.
While #emdiplomacy was originally regarded as part of a more general service to the king, it slowly developed into a more specialised field of activity. From this the need to a much more profecient education of #emdiplomats arose. (3/6)
However, these changes were not introduced against, but within the existing system, often by those in charge. Therefore, elements of a more professionalised system co-existed with patronage relations. Waquet argues that we should speak of “a gradual internal transformation rather than of a permanent conflict between old and new”. (4/6)
George Buchanan & the Highlands & Islands of Scotland
22 May, Stirling
Tickets by donation
George Buchanan (1506–1582): poet, scholar, humanist, constitutional theorist, & native #Scots & #Gaelic speaker. Prof Ali Cathcart will examine Buchanan’s writings on the Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland found in his 1582 Rerum Scoticarum Historia
Walking in style in a library in 1654. The shoes he's wearing while transporting 4 big books in Wolfenbüttel's Herzog August Bibliothek were trending in mid-seventeenth century Europe.
#emdiplomacy was a multilingual affair. An #emdiplomat who could speak several languages had a clear advantage - not the least because he could thereby show equal respect to different parties, as this example by @dbellingradt shows. (1/2)
And what about using a red ink library stamp to make the stamp almost disappear on the title page printed with red and black ink?, mumbled a smiling librarian once and used the library stamp accordingly on this #earlymodern#Schreibkalender.
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)
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)