| Series |
Oxford studies in medieval European history
Oxford studies in medieval European history. ^A1334126
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| Contents |
Introduction : Diplomacy and the "genèse de l'État moderne" -- Renaissance Italy. Part 1 The framework : 1 The political geography of Italian diplomacy : Diplomatic interactions -- Identities and chronologies -- Spheres of activity: Italy and beyond -- Concluding remarks: Praxis and late developments. 2 The polygenesis of diplomacy and the trajectories of change : Patterns -- A polygenetic model: formal diplomatic assignments -- merchants -- Papal legates, nuntii, collectors -- The chronology of diplomatic change -- Concluding remarks: flexibility and models. 3 Sources for the study of diplomacy : Letters and other representations -- Records -- Narratives -- Laws and rules -- Concluding remarks: images and perceptions. Part 2 Diplomacy as a political action : 4 Information : The value of information -- Control and manipulation -- Information networks -- Information-gathering, ordering, and transmission: the techniques -- Concluding remarks: information and anxiety. 5 Negotiation : Old and new meanings -- General aims and daily practices -- Roles and patterns of interaction -- Concluding remarks: the documentary lenses. 6 Communication : Communication in diplomacy -- Communication networks -- A web of words -- Concluding remarks: controlling conflict, "thinking" about politics. Part 3 Diplomacy as a practice : 7 Diplomatic agents: an open social field : An open social field -- Ambassadors -- Occasional diplomats -- The gendered face of diplomacy -- Concluding remarks: a reciprocal duty. 8 Forms, actions, and rituals : Forms, actions, and rituals of diplomatic interactions -- FOrms and practices of diplomacy -- Ritual and hierarchy -- Concluding remarks: the obsession with secrecy. 9 The spaces of diplomacy : the political and physical spaces of diplomacy -- The spatial geography of interactions -- Cities and countryside: the spaces of diplomacy -- Concluding remarks: a world on stage? Part 4 Diplomacy as a political language and a cultural process : 10 The forms of diplomatic communication : Forms and codes: speaking, reading, actions, writing -- Speaking and reading -- Actions -- Writing -- Concluding remarks: the records' memory. 11 Argument and emotion : Argument and emotion: performative codes and the transformative power of words -- Argumentative strategies over time -- The words and scripts of emotions -- Concluding remarks: constative, performative, or transformative? 12 Languages, Lexeis, and exchanges : Transfers -- Languages -- Lexeis -- Exchanges -- Concluding remarks: the ultimate exchange. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index. |
| Abstract |
Diplomacy has never been a politically-neutral research field, even when it was confined to merely reconstructing the backgrounds of wars and revolutions. In the nineteenth century, diplomacy was integral to the grand narrative of the building of the modern "nation-State." This is the first overall study of diplomacy in early Renaissance Italy since Garrett Mattingly's pioneering work in 1955. It offers an innovative approach to the theme of Renaissance diplomacy, sidestepping the classic dichotomy between medieval and early modern, and reconsidering the whole diplomatic process without reducing it to the "grand narrative" of the birth of resident embassies. This volume situates and explains the growth of diplomatic activity from a series of perspectives - political and institutional, cognitive and linguistic, material and spatial - and thus offers a highly sophisticated and persuasive account of causation, change, and impact in respect of a major political and cultural form. The volume also provides the most complete account to date of how it was that specifically Italian forms of diplomacy came to play such a central role, not only in the development of international relations at the European level, but also in the spread and application of humanism and of the new modes of political thinking and political discussion associated with the generations of Machiavelli and Guicciardini. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 266-309) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2014959005 |
| ISBN | 9780198727415 (hbk.) |
| ISBN | 0198727410 (hbk.) |
