Languages of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World

Europe and the USA
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-90-485-5831-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 322 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Languages and Culture in History

This book outlines major trends in language use by early modern diplomats, mainly in the European context, through a series of case studies and overviews of regional diplomatic traditions.

During the early modern period, linguistic practices in European diplomacy changed drastically, as the decline of Latin and German as diplomatic languages paved the way for the rise of French as a pan-European medium of diplomacy. While it was no secret that French was the dominant language of European elites during the eighteenth century, surprisingly little is known about the way this cultural trend translated into a major linguistic shift in diplomacy. This volume offers a broader perspective, tracking these changes throughout the early modern period. Spanning three centuries and extending across and beyond continental Europe, the contributors map the pace, the mechanisms, the reasons and the limits for changes in the use of languages in early modern diplomacy and explore the linguistic practices of diplomats as an indicator of wider social, cultural, and political changes.

A novel study of the European diplomacy and linguistic interactions, this book will be of interest to historians, in particularly those working on language practices in diplomacy and the social history of languages.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kazakov, Gleb

Rjéoutski, Vladislav

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Diplomatie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Kommunikationswissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures

About the Authors

I Introduction

1. Languages of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World. An Introduction

Gleb Kazakov and Vladislav Rjéoutski

II German-Speaking States and the Growing Role of French in European Diplomacy

2. German and French in the Diplomacy of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1700–1730

Gleb Kazakov

3. The ‘Linguistic Turn’ in Diplomacy in Prussia under Frederick II

Tatjana Trautmann

4. Languages in the Diplomatic Correspondence between France and Territories of the Holy Roman Empire

Nina Pösch

III Linguistic Policies, Language Practices, and Diplomatic Careers

5. Models and Practices of Language Use at the Peace Congresses of the Seventeenth Century

Guido Braun

6. “Write in no Foreign Language but Solely and Only in Swedish”: Languages of Internal Communication in Swedish Diplomacy, c. 1700–1792

Sophie Holm

7. An Empire on the Wane? Language Use and Linguistic Policy in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Diplomacy

Vladislav Rjéoutski

8. Language and Career: Karl and Ivan Simolins in the Diplomatic Service of the Russian Empire

Maria A. Petrova  9. Language Choice in Eighteenth-Century Diplomatic Ciphers from Europe

Michelle Waldispühl and Beata Megyesi

IV Languages in Contacts between European and Non-European Powers

10. Linguistic Practice in Dutch Diplomacy in Taiwan, 1624–1662

Christopher Joby

11. The Eloquence of Ottoman Diplomacy: How Ottomans Acquired and Used Languages in the Eighteenth Century

Irena Fliter

12. Language and Legitimacy: The Entry of American Diplomats into the Francophone World of Diplomacy, 1775–1800

Ellen R. Welch and Jonathan Singerton

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Gleb Kazakov is postdoctoral researcher at the department of East European History, Historical Institute, Justus Liebig University of Gießen, Germany. He is author of

Vladislav Rjéoutski is research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Paris, France, and principal investigator of the DFG-funded research project on the languages of diplomacy in the eighteenth-century Russia. He is co-author of (with Derek Offord and Gesine Argent) The French Language in Russia. A Social, Political, Cultural, and Literary History (2018)