Today is International Day of Women in Diplomacy! #emdiplomacy was by no means an all male affaire. Women played a central role not only in mainting contacts to the queen's court and other female actors. They could also directly take part in negotiations, as the example of the Ladies' Peace of Cambrai (1529) shows. Here Margaret of Austria and Louise of Savoy negotiated for the Emperor and the king of France respectively.
If you want to know more, have a look at the #handbook article by Carolyn James who talks about female diplomatic actors.
Today’s #handbook author is none other than our wonderful co-editor @dorotheegoetze.
Goetze is Assistant Professor at the Midsweden University in Sundsvall. If you ask her herself, she is not an historian of #emdiplomacy, but does constitutional history and early modern peace research with a special focus on the #HolyRomanEmpire and the Baltic region. Thus, she brings different perspectives into the field of #NewDiplomaticHistory.
She publishes extensively in German, Swedish and English, e.g. this #openaccess article in English on hospitality and the Riga capitulation in 1710. (2/7)
Goetze then turns her attention to #emdiplomacy by individual Imperial estates. Exemplary she focusses on Brandenburg, Saxony and Hesse-Kassel. In general, she again regrets a lack of research. Although there are some studies focusing for example on the relations between Hesse-Kassel and Sweden, such studies are always limited on a particular period and case.
There’s a definite lack on studies who try to give a more concise overview and put the diplomatic activities of the different Imperial estates into context. (6/7)
Summing up, Goetze concludes that the complexity of #emdiplomacy is reflected in the complexity of the #HRE and calls for more a more inclusive approach meaning more exchange between different research tradition, combining constitutional history, court studies and dynastic history and #NewDiplomaticHistory. (7/7)
The tasks of an #emdiplomat were manifold: Sometimes it meant getting a noble countryman - or to be precise his servants - out of trouble, because he didn't no the foreign laws, as this story of the English ambassador in Venice shows.
🇸🇪 Episode 312: Christina of Sweden, Minerva of the North
“In this week’s episode, get to know Christina of Sweden, the keenly intelligent and fiercely independent queen of Sweden, who is remembered today for her passion of learning and knowledge.”
🇸🇪 Episode 312: Christina of Sweden, Minerva of the North
“In this week’s episode, get to know Christina of Sweden, the keenly intelligent and fiercely independent queen of Sweden, who is remembered today for her passion of learning and knowledge.”
🇸🇪 Episode 312: Christina of Sweden, Minerva of the North
“In this week’s episode, get to know Christina of Sweden, the keenly intelligent and fiercely independent queen of Sweden, who is remembered today for her passion of learning and knowledge.”
Did you miss us? We’re back again introducing our next author Güneş Işıksel to you!
Işıksel is Associate professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University. He is an expert in Ottoman #emdiplomacy and published not only in Turkish but also in French and English. (2/7)
His monograph focusses on #emdiplomacy under Selim I. So who could be better than Işıksel for writing the #handbook article on the development of Ottoman #diplomacy?! (3/7)
The Ottoman Empire is an important actor in #emdiplomacy. Many European researchers look at the relations of different European countries to the Ottoman Empire. But these accounts are often onesided, as they lack the required language skills. Therefore, we are very happy to have found an expert who can take on the Ottoman perspective! (4/7)
Işıksel explains that Ottoman #emdiplomacy had to be in line with the precepts of the Hanafite school of Islamic law. However, these principles were regularly re-interpreted and adapted. Traditional European historiography sees the main shift in Ottoman #diplomacy in the 19th c. with the establishment of permanent embacys. However, Işıksel argues that this Eurocentric view ignores the many other diplomatic contacts and thus propose a different periodisation. (5/7)
Although it is already Friday, we do not want to conclude this week without introducing another #emdiplomacy#handbook chapter.
The next author to enter the stage is Maria Petrova who is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of World History at the Russian Academy of Sciences:
Having published broadly on Russian #diplomacy towards Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, Petrova is one of the leading experts in the field. See e.g. her study on the appearance of Russian #diplomats at the Imperial Diet in Regensburg (2/4)
1549 is considered the foundation date of the Russian foreign office, but until the 18th century Russian tsars preferred to permanent diplomatic representatives abroad. Major reforms were only introduced under the reign of Tsar Peter I.
However, a change in attitude towards foreign #diplomats already followed the dynastical change in the 1610s: restrictions were eased. Moreover, the tsar began to welcome permanent representatives from other territories and to establish permanent diplomats himself. (3/4)
By intensifying interaction with other #courts and rulers, Russian #diplomats became cultural brokers who contributed to the transfer of people, objects and ideas from Europe to Russia.
Petrova argues that the introduction of the European diplomatic rank system and ceremonial was aimed more at demonstrating the superiority of Russian rulers than at creating equal relations with other powers. (4/4)
<strong>Science of Naples: Making knowledge in Italy’s Pre-Eminent City, 1500–1800</strong>
"Individual chapters demonstrate the extent to which Neapolitan scholars and academies contributed to debates within the Republic of Letters that continued until deep into the nineteenth century. They also show how studies of Neapolitan natural disasters yielded unique insights that contributed to the development of fields such as medicine and earth sciences."
Science of Naples: Making knowledge in Italy’s Pre-Eminent City, 1500–1800
“Individual chapters demonstrate the extent to which Neapolitan scholars and academies contributed to debates within the Republic of Letters that continued until deep into the nineteenth century. They also show how studies of Neapolitan natural disasters yielded unique insights that contributed to the development of fields such as medicine and earth sciences.”