Renaissance Diplomacy

by Garrett Mattingly

Famed historian's definitive history of the origins of diplomacy, tracing the diplomat's role as it emerged in the Italian city-states and spread northward in the 16th and 17th centuries. "An important book...carefully and elegantly written." — The Times (London). "Excellent." — New York Herald Tribune . Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Renaissance, European History, Medieval, Medieval History

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Garrett Mattingly was a Professor of European History at Columbia University. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for his The Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Reviews

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my "History of Diplomacy" class...a bit dry and boring for my taste, but had a lot of relevant information and definitely an excellent source for understanding the growth of diplomacy during the Renaissance era

[Jo Walton]

Dry, and obsessed with how Renaissance Diplomacy prefigures modern diplomacy, rather than being an interesting subject in its own right. A solid worthy book but not much fun.

[Dominique Lamssies · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book with a wealth of information about its topic. Mattingly actually made me care about Italian Renaissance politics, so that counts for a lot in my book.

[Samuel Birrer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without question one of the best historical works I have read. Perhaps it is the best. Mattingly writes clearly and plainly, even entertainingly, and without presuming too much background knowledge on the reader's part. In an effort to make the book more accessible to general audiences, the author chose to publish not through a university press, as would have been usual, but through a commercial publisher, and his goal of accessibility shines through. Nonetheless it is a scholarly work, and there is a significant collection of end notes for readers interested in digging deeper, with a note at the end listing other notable works on the subject.
Many detailed descriptions are included of events and specific persons in the history of European diplomacy in the Renaissance period, but what I found most compelling was the holistic view of how the role of the resident ambassador and the institutions surrounding it grew out of the medieval Roman law and the ecclesiastical canon law, how these institutions spread from the microcosm of the Italian peninsula to the whole of Europe, and how their foundations in the concept of a united Christendom eventually crumbled to give way to a new concept of "international law" among sovereign nations.
In the process of discussing specific developments in how diplomacy was carried out, the book often steps back and reveals a great deal about broader changes in government, warfare, and accepted worldviews during the Renaissance. This book is a definite candidate for a reread some time in the future!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulitzer Prize winner Garrett Mattingly's books will be read for decades yet, to the benefit of history students amateur and professional. The writing style of 65 years ago was more dense than nowadays, so be prepared to read carefully.

[Skallagrimsen]

The classic exposition of international relations in early modern Europe, with an emphasis on how they established the conventions of diplomacy that persist to the present day. More a book for scholars than general readers. Any subsequent well researched work touching on the subject probably lists Renaissance Diplomacy in its bibliography.