@historikerinnen @histodons @earlymodern

Lower-ranking envoys often resided in place for decades and thus built networks that enabled them to compensate for the disadvantages of their low status. Their lack of access to the ruler was compensated for by their contacts with members of the court.
Neither have these lower-ranking agents and residents nor their networking and its importance for the functioning of #emdiplomacy been researched in detail, as Externbring and Ferber highlight. The same is true for the #emdiplomat's household. (9/10)

#emdiplomacy #earlymodern #EarlyModernEurope #history

@historikerinnen @histodons @earlymodern

An institutionalised education for #emdiplomats was lacking. Normally, their recruitment was part of an administrative or courtly career. Depending on the nature of the mission, the envoy had a legal education or he combined high birth and the master’s favour. (7/10)

#emdiplomacy #earlymodern #EarlyModernEurope #history

@historikerinnen @histodons

Although the transition from medieval to #emdiplomacy was far more fluid than described in older research, the emergence of a new type of political and diplomatic actor can be characterized as specific for the 16th century: the learned councilors.
Over the 16th and 17th centuries an increasing number of diplomatic actors could be seen, while the foreign politics and thereby also foreign relations became more and more monopolised by the sovereigns.
#emdiplomats were mostly recruted from the nobility due to their rank which should reflect the prestige of the master appropriately. They were often accompanied by jurists from the bourgoisie who were educated at humanist schools & therefore were international experienced. (5/10)

#EarlyModernEurope #EarlyModern #history
@earlymodern

@FAU @womenknowhistory @histodons @earlymodern

Félicité picks up on the fascinating example of trading companies: Although no sovereign powers from a European perspective, they acted quite independently in Asia for example and in fact helped the European monarchies establishing diplomatic contacts. She argues that “these institutions both co-produced diplomacy and were produced by diplomacy.” Thus, focussing on the sending institutions of #emdiplomacy deepens our understanding of early modern European political culture and state formation in general. (5/5)

#emdiplomacy #diplomacy #EarlyModernEurope #history #earlymodern

@FAU @womenknowhistory @histodons @earlymodern

Therefore, in a second step, Félicité discusses the diversity of political entities that enganged in diplomacy. These were not only the great powers and European kingdoms, but also smaller political actors, such as duchies or city states or even trading companies or religious orders. For these precarious actors diplomatic interaction was in a way key to their political survival. It kept them in the game and contributed to stabilizing their status. (4/5)

#emdiplomacy #tradingcompanies #diplomacy #EarlyModernEurope