DIPLOMATS, CONVERTS, MISSIONARIES: ENCOUNTERS OF CULTURES AND INDIVIDUALS IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD 3700-KON342-AL
The corse will begin with general classes which will aim to present the main issues to be analyzed at subsequent meetings. Later in the series of classes, three main thematic blocks can be distinguished.
The first of them will be devoted to the characteristics and functioning of the early modern diplomatic service, in particular of the Venetian diplomacy. This analysis (regarding missions’ staff, their daily work, used languages and tools, produced documents, information flow, etc.) will serve to properly introduce to reading of diplomatic reports, as well as to indicate the role of the above-mentioned elements in reflection on the role of an early modern diplomat as an cultural intermediary and informer who provides knowledge about the described area (with different authority than an explorer, merchant, missionary, conquistador, colonizer, etc.).
The second part of the classes will deal with encounters of early modern diplomats with representatives of other countries, cultures or territories. It will discuss accounts of representatives of the Venetian state from the Ottoman or Safavid Empires, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; and diplomats of the latter from the mission to the Sultan's court. The subject of reflection will also be the knowledge of the Persian and Caucasian territories, as presented by the creators of Venetian foreign policy. The main purpose of this part of the course, based largely on reading of available diplomatic relations, will be to look for examples of encounters and interactions with representatives of other countries and cultural circles; as well as to analyze the discourse on foreignness/otherness and cultural identification present in diplomatic documents. This will be done in the context of a political and cultural geography of the world as imagined by Venetian diplomats – including the position of Europe, Christendom and their parts – indispensable for understanding the phenomenon of foreignness/otherness perceived in Muslim (non-European) countries.
In the third part of the course, the abovementioned observations will be confronted with the activity of other cultural agents of the early modern age: missionaries (on the example of the mission of Theatines in Georgia), converts and slaves from European territories in the Ottoman Empire, as well as merchants. The purpose of reflection in this part of the course will be to compile the functioning, activity, and role of individual types of cultural intermediaries and their mutual interactions, as well as to draw attention to the specificity of religious, ethnic, and cultural identity in the early modern period.
It is estimated that an active participation in classes will require to devote about 2 hours a week to preparing for them, i.e. about 30 hours in total (not counting the classes themselves).
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
1. To acquire knowledge about basic phenomena and problems related to the organization and functioning of the early modern diplomacy, missionary activity, Europe's contacts with the world of Eastern Christianity and the Muslim world.
2. To gain orientation in debates present in the humanities that regard religious and cultural identity in the early modern times, the history of relations between the European / Western world and the East / Orient, the importance of microhistory and global history.
3. To improve skills of preparing short texts of a divulgative scope (presentations dedicated to main points of a book / article, etc.).
Assessment criteria
In order to pass the classes it is required to:
1) actively participate in classes, including by taking part at discussions or by preparing a presentation dedicated to main points of a text listed in blibiography (50% of the weight of the final grade);
2) to prepare an essay related to the history of travel, missions, diplomacy, conversions, intercultural encounters, etc. in the early modern period, or regarding cultural, religious, regional differences, etc. observed by diplomats or missionaries, based on sources used during classes, or other agreed with the teacher (50% of the weight of the final grade) - not later than two weeks before the last class.
The final grade takes in account if and how the student has (1) gained knowledge related to the topic of the classes, (2) developed a critical analysis of texts, (3) originally and acurately expressed his/her opinions, (4) reliably, clearly, and concisely presented main points of analyzed texts, (5) expressed him- or herself in an elegant and communicative way.
Bibliography
Main readings:
Davis J. C. (ed.), Pursuit of Power: Venetian Ambassadors' Reports on Spain, Turkey, and France in the Age of Philip II, 1560–1600, New York: Harper, 1970.
Delanty D., Odkrywanie Europy. Idea, tożsamość, rzeczywistość, Warszawa: PWN, 1999.
Dursteler E. R., The Bailo in Constantinople: Crisis and Career in Venice’s Early Modern Diplomatic Corps, ‘‘Mediterranean Historical Review” 16 (2001), pp. 1-30.
Kołodziejczyk D., Semiotics of behavior in early modern diplomacy: Polish embassies in Istanbul and Bahçesaray, ‘‘Journal of Early Modern History” 7, 3–4 (2003), pp. 245-256.
Mattingly G., Renaissance Diplomacy, New York: Cosimo, 2008.
Nahlik S., Narodziny nowożytnej dyplomacji, Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1971.
Nguyen D. H., Polscy misjonarze na Dalekim Wschodzie, Warszawa: [s.n.], 2005.
Polska służba dyplomatyczna XVI–XVIII wieku, Warszawa: PWN, 1966.
Prejs M., Egzotyzm w literaturze staropolskiej, Warszawa: WPUW, 1999.
Rayfield D., Edge of Empires. A History of Georgia, London: Reaktion Book, 2012, pp. 164-221.
Rota G., Under Two Lions. On the Knowledge of Persia in the Republic of Venice (ca. 1450–1797), Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2009
Rothman E. N., Interpreting Dragomans. Boundaries and Crossings in the Early Modern Mediterranean, ‘‘Comparative Studies in Society and History” 51, 4 (2009), pp. 771-800.
Rothman E. N, Brokering Empire. Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul, Ithaca–London: Cornell University Press, 2012.
Rykaczewski E. (ed.), Relacye nuncyuszów apostolskich i innych osób o Polsce od roku 1548 do 1690, vol. I: 1548–1600, Berlin–Poznań: Behr, 1854.
Steensgaard N., Consuls and nations in the Levant from 1570 to 1650, ‘‘Scandinavian Economic History Review”, 15, 1-2 (1967), pp. 13-55.
Trzy relacje z podróży na Wschód muzułmański w I połowie XVII wieku, Kraków: WL, 1980.
Wielka legacja Wojciecha Miaskowskiego do Turcji w 1640 roku, Warszawa: PWN, 1985.
Additionally: archival sources prepared and presented by the teacher.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: