The Diplomatic Viol

Diplomacy is a performance. The stage is set on the streets and palaces that centre upon the spaces of political power. The audience is made up of the prince and the court, the pope and the curia, the emperor and the diet, the doge and the senate, the sultan and his viziers. The cast is composed of the diplomats, each grasping for attention, each vying to out-do the other. They follow a plot formed of ceremony and etiquette that defines the spheres of interaction and elevates the smallest issues in precedence and protocol to the status of grave insults and greater rivalries. As this conference will explore, diplomacy as 'spectacle' is no mere metaphor for political interaction, but an elevation of how it was practiced as performance. No other activity in the early modern world allowed for such a cultural exchange to flow, artistic endeavour to be patronised, or expense to be lavished on the aggrandisement of events, entertainments, and festivities. Indeed, these efforts were orchestrated: the ambassadors themselves were both impresarii and lead actors. Ceremonial entries, banquets, masquerade balls, commissions of music or dramatic pieces, naumachie, and festivities of all kinds provided diplomats with the means to display their own value and merit, influence others, and to obtain prestige and standing as a mode to succeed in their negotiations and missions. Comprehending the ambassador as a cultural mediator is more than just conceiving of the diplomatic agent as a conduit of exchange: it is instead the recognition of the power of diplomatic activity to transform culture through the process of mediation, and more, the appreciation of the sphere of diplomatic mediation as a most fertile ground for cultural invention and innovation, the legacies of which are still felt today.

The conference builds upon the recent ‘cultural turn’ in diplomatic studies that has seen more innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to a subject that was once viewed in heavily bureaucratic and constitutional terms. Scholars are increasingly appreciating the importance of ritual and other forms of symbolic communication in diplomatic practices and the role of diplomatic processes in cultural exchanges. Diplomats were important political brokers whose actions could have profound implications for international relations, but they played an equally important role in the transfer and adaptation of cultural ideas and artefacts through their activities as cultural agents, authors and brokers. The profound impact of diplomacy on culture in this period is, moreover, seen in the increasing prominence of representations of diplomacy in literature and a range of other media. The aim of this conference is to further our understanding of early modern diplomatic practices, of the dynamics of diplomatic exchanges both within and without Europe, and how diplomatic ideas and practices interacted with other cultural and political processes. The keynote lecture ‘Diplomacy as a Social Practice: Recent Research Perspectives’ was delivered by Professor Christian Windler (Bern). The conference featured two panel discussions: one on the impact of the ‘diplomatic moment’ and another on future directions in diplomatic studies. Papers and panels addressed aspects of diplomatic culture in Europe and the wider world including gender, gifts, material culture, the dissemination of information, archival practices, international law, cross cultural exchanges and translation, as well as the impact of diplomacy on literary writing and representations of diplomacy. The paper abstracts are available at: http://www.textualambassadors.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/abstracts1.pdf

2017

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.

Performance od Diplomacy in the Early Modern World - Vienna, 17th - 18th March 2017

A revised and expanded version of my article "Diplomats as Musical Agents in the Age of Haydn."

Eastern European History Review, 2021

Il Comitato redazionale e scienti co è lieto di presentare al pubblico la rivista scienti ca Eastern European History Review. Con un carattere internazionale e interdisciplinare, una cadenza annuale e una fruibilità open access la rivista focalizza i propri interessi sulle dinamiche occorse nell'Europa Orientale durante tutta l'età moderna (XIV-XIX). Eastern European History Review è espressione del Centro Studi dell'Università della Tuscia CESPoM (Centro Studi sull'età dei Sobieski e della Polonia Moderna) nato nel  per intuizione del Prof. Gaetano Platania, Direttore Emerito della Rivista. L'iniziativa editoriale che presentiamo nasce dall'evidente mancanza in Italia di una rivista scienti ca relativa alla storia dell'Europa centro-orientale in Età Moderna, nonostante la penisola abbia giocato un ruolo fondamentale per la Storia e la Cultura di una parte integrante del continente, a torto considerata come lontana e periferica. Consapevoli di questo, il Comitato ha posto quale obiettivo primario della Eastern European History Review quello di off rire uno spazio di ri essione e di discussione su temi che appartengono alla storia dell'Europa centro-orientale, e insieme alle relazioni-politiche e culturali-che questa vasta area del Vecchio Continente ha avuto con l'occidente d'Europa, e l'Italia in particolare, incoraggiando il dialogo tra studiosi e esperti di settore, e tra diff erenti approcci della ricerca scienti ca. Il Comitato Redazionale e Scienti co EASTERN EUROPEAN HISTORY REVIEW: THE JOURNAL  e Editorial and Scienti c Board are proud delighted to present the Eastern European History Review under the aegis of Sette Città Editore.  e Eastern European History Review is an international and interdisciplinary annually online and open access peer-reviewed journal about studies on Ceantral and Eastern Europe in the Modern Age (XIV-XIX).  e Journal is also the expression of the Study Center CESPoM (Centro Studi sull'età dei Sobieski e della Polonia Moderna-Center Study on the Age of Sobieski and Modern Poland) of the University of Tuscia, born in , from an idea of Prof. Gaetano Platania, today Director Emeritus of this journal. It publishes articles with signi cant approaches and original interpretations in all research elds concerning Central and Eastern Europe, with speci c attention to the History sciences.  e editorial initiative we present comes from the obvious lack of a journal, in Italy, concerning the history of Central and Eastern Europe during the Modern Age, this despite its fundamental role in the history and culture of that part of the continent, wrongly considered distant and peripheral. Quite the contrary is true, in fact. Main objective of the journal is to create a space for re ection and discussion on topics pertaining to Central and Eastern Europe, but also relations with Continental Europe, encouraging dialogue between scholars and experts in the eld, and between diff erent approaches of scienti c research.