The diplomatic mission of Melchior von Ruck. The financial relationships between the Spanish Monarchy and Brandenburg-Prussia (Splendid Encounters 5: Diplomats and Diplomacy in the Early Modern World: Diplomatic Personnel) (original) (raw)
Related papers
For the PUBLISHED version of this paper, see "The renewal of early-modern scholarship on the ambassador. Pierre Ayrault on diplomatic immunity", in the section "Papers".
The second half of the 16th century saw a profound change in the scholarship on the ambassador, which took many forms and led to its becoming an important line of thought within early-modern scholarship on ius gentium. Within this context, the French jurist and humanist Pierre Ayrault (1536-1601) occupies a particularly interesting position. Although he wrote no monographs on the ambassador – unlike other jurists of his time – he did devote specific sections of his erudite works "Decretorum libri" (later republished as "Rerum ab omni antiquitate judicatarum Pandectae") and "De l’ordre et instruction iudiciaire" to the subject. These works vividly demonstrate the extent of the change which scholarship on the ambassador was undergoing at the time, particularly in their treatment of diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution: these are the observations that I intend to focus on in my paper. After a brief outline of the debate on diplomatic immunity from the end of the Middle Ages to the middle of the 16th century, I will concentrate on Ayrault’s discussion of the topic and point to some important changes that occurred in the way in which the figure of the ambassador – his office, his functions, and his prerogatives – was conceived at that time. This analysis may also provide an insight into the origins of the doctrine of the “extraterritoriality” of ambassadors, which was, in fact, first formulated by Ayrault, before its widespread dissemination through the work of Hugo Grotius.
in Journal of the History of International Law, 18, 2016, p. 449-468
This paper deals with the doctrine of diplomatic immunity elaborated by the French jurist and humanist Pierre Ayrault (1536-1601). After a brief outline of the debate on diplomatic immunity from the end of the Middle Ages to the middle of the 16th century, the paper focuses on Ayrault’s discussion of the topic in the works he published between 1563 and 1588 and points to some important changes that occurred in the way in which the figure of the ambassador was conceived at that time. These changes offer us a number of elements which could lead to a better understanding of the transition from the medieval to the early-modern conceptions of diplomacy and ius gentium.
in Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 84, 2016, p. 165-192.
Lucas de Penna’s commentary on the Tres Libri Codicis – and, in particular, that commentary’s section on the part de legationibus – documents how late-Medieval civil law scholarship contributed to work out the status of ambassadors. Although de Penna’s text has been overlooked in legal historiography and studies on Medieval diplomacy, the author’s specific approach was at the time unique in late-Medieval legal scholarship, both in terms of method and content, and anticipated in many ways essential themes of early-modern scholarship on the status of diplomats.
During the Seventeenth century, the Republic of Lucca, as a small state, needed to seek protection especially from Spain, which was the actual ruler of the Italian peninsula; for this reason it was important to have a resident ambassador in Madrid. Connections and friendships were essential for the ambassador to obtain precious information on what was happening around Europe and to negotiate matters in the interest of his Republic (and even in his own) at the court of His Catholic Majesty. The case study, which I present, is the embassy of Lorenzo Cenami in Madrid in the second half of the 17th century (1662-1674) and is based on both public sources and private ones, the latter held in the Cenami family archives. This paper has two aims. Firstly, it intends to reconstruct the network of people with whom the diplomat interacts: other diplomats, members of Consejos and Junta de gobierno, people connected with king Philip IV, and then with the queen Gobernadora Mariana of Austria and with the child king Charles II. Secondly, it will focus on how the ambassador constructs this large network of relationships: making his moves, in the various shifts of balance within the court during twelve years, requires not only a good knowledge of who are the prominent people, but also recurrent interactions through frequent visits, formal and informal meetings, and a vast use of the practice of gift giving.
Diplomatic personae: Torquato Tasso on the ambassador
This article examines Torquato Tasso's Il Messaggiero [The Messenger] (1582), by focusing on the political subject matter, as discussed in the final part of the text through an imaginary dialogue, that is, the figure of the ambassador, the framework of his office and its relationship with power. Tasso's dialogue features the nature of the ambassador as a figure incarnating his own 'self', while simultaneously representing his prince and acting on his own behalf within a specific political context, an external dimension, namely, the 'international'. Such a condition of alienation is one of the origins of the office's 'conflicting obligations' toward the prince and toward its conciliatory function. We should indeed discuss the diplomatic personae or a divided persona. Tasso rejects the concept of the ambassador as a mere executor of policy, which is a striking departure from the previous general conception of the ambassador. The paradoxical conclusion that emerges is that the messenger, or the ambassador, is not a simple messenger. Tasso's text and its context is the article's epicentre. However, this article concerns the possible links between certain ideas and discourses regarding the ambassador's persona and the growth of diplomacy as a part of the rise of the 'international'.
e-journal of Portuguese History, vol. 17, n.1, 2019
Diplomatic correspondence and the information transmitted through letters of instruction, which gave diplomats the necessary support for the performance of their duties, have become a highly important subject in the study of medieval diplomacy. In documents of this type, we can find some quite remarkable and valuable information about what could or could not be said in diplomatic contexts, outlining the rituals, attitudes, and procedures that a diplomat was required to adopt in the course of his international mission. Together with the letters of instruction, diplomats also carried with them letters of credence (commonly known as credentials). These were the documents that the various monarchs gave to their legitimate representatives, and which were designed to be presented at the courts visited by each diplomatic mission. These letters were essential for guaranteeing the correct conduct of negotiations, since, besides presenting the diplomats and expressing the wish that they be afforded credence in their role, these documents also explained the purpose of their missions. Thus, letters of instruction and credence are fundamental tools that enable historians to complete the picture of external relations through the description that they provide of other aspects of communication and symbolic representation, which sometimes tend to go unnoticed in different types of documents. In order to better understand certain fundamental aspects of this analysis, we complemented the information obtained from the aforementioned documentation with data from other documentary sources that indicate some of the protocols that were used in dealings with princes and kings of other realms, as well as the specific characteristics that some of the royal counsellors should have. Keywords Letter of instruction; letter of credence; diplomacy; ambassador; protocol; Middle Ages Resumo A correspondência e troca de informações, através das cartas de instrução que davam o suporte necessário à atuação de um diplomata, constitui um tema da maior 1 A first version of this work was presented at Splendid
A Multitude of Actors in Early Modern Diplomacy
Journal of early modern history, 2019
This special issue has been motivated by the drive to contextualize the role of individuals of various backgrounds in early modern foreign relations. All contributions cover a broad geographic scope and stress the impact of non-European practices and stages for the study of early modern foreign relations. Four thematic articles follow diverse diplomatic actors, ranging from non-elite envoys to chartered companies, Catholic friars and ministers on ships, to foreign courts, and behind their desks. They provide insights into these individual actors' functions and achievements and raise questions about social belonging and knowledge channels. The introduction below portrays the development of an actor-oriented research angle in the field of New Diplomatic History over the past decades and addresses blurring concepts and over-generalizations. It attempts to redefine the heterogeneous group of early modern diplomatic actors as products of their involvement in political and material struggles, both at home and abroad.