Early Modern Diplomacy25 Sven Externbrink/Magnus Ulrich Ferber: Diplomatic Actors: Social Profile, Education and Careers (1/10)
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110672008-027
#emdiplomacy #emdiplomats #EarlyModernEurope #earlymodern
@historikerinnen @histodons
Our 2024 #emdiplomacy #AdventCalendar offered some glimpses into different #emdiplomats careers by introducing different diplomatic actors.
The #handbook takes a different approach by offering some generalizations. Our authors Sven Externbrink and Magnus Ferber take a closer look on the career paths of #emdiplomats as well as their social, national and educational backgrounds which suggest that the group of offical diplomatic actors in this age appears to be quite homogeneous. (2/10)
Early Modern Diplomacy (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image #emdiplomat of the day: Carl Gyllenborg (1679-1746) You think #emdiplomacy is boring? Then you don’t know Carl Gyllenborg’s life; it reads like a spy novel, although it began quite ordinary for a Swedish diplomat. Gyllenborg was born as the son of the Swedish politician Count Jacob Gyllenborg. He studied law, latin and history at the university of Uppsala, before he joined the army and fought in the Great Northern War. This is already interesting, as the connection between military experience and expertise and #emdiplomacy is an aspect that needs more attention from research. (1/4) #AdventCalendar #AdventCalendar2024 @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
Externbrink is professor at @fernunihagen. He is specialisied in early modern history of southwestern Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries and has a certain interest for French #emdiplomacy as documented in several publications. He recently published a monograph on Louis XIV (in German). (3/10)
Magnus Ulrich Ferber is a specialist for 16th century’s humanism and the republic of letters. He also edited a volume within the Acta Pacis Westphalicae series and has therefore great knowledge on the Westphalian Peace congress. His expertise on the republic of letters and diplomacy is especially helpful, as both spheres were often connected.
In a few months his co-edited volume on album amicorum will be published. (4/10)
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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)
@historikerinnen @histodons @earlymodern
#emdiplomats were not bound by their nationalities, quite the opposite, it was normal for them to serve foreign sovereigns with exception of the papal diplomatic service which mostly relied on Italians.
Moving between courts fostered desirable networks between the #emdiplomats & their colleagues but as the members of the courts. Although the comparatively low loyalty of the #emdiplomats hampered community building with the latter as Externbrink and Ferber emphasise. (6/10)
@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)
@historikerinnen @histodons @earlymodern
Diplomatic missions were ambiguous, on the one hand, diplomatic service could be seen as a test if one was suited for higher offices at court. On the other hand, there are examples of #emdiplomats perceiving lengthy missions as a removal from the centre of power.
Permanent absence from the home court became more frequent during the 18th century but was rare during the 16th and 17th centuries due to the yet not developed institutionalization of the legation system. (8/10)
@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)
@historikerinnen @histodons @earlymodern
In order to analyse the diplomatic activities of the members of the #emdiplomat’s household, research has to shift focus with regard to #emdiplomacysSources. It is not enough to evaluate diplomatic file material, which rarely mentions these individuals. Instead, research must increasingly resort to first person documents. (10/10)