ИСТИНА

This project is aimed to demonstrate that many modern practices in the international relations (such as resident diplomatic representation and the idea of multipolar world) were developed in Western Europe as early as the 16th century, in which the widening contacts with Italy, the cradle of modern diplomacy, played the pivotal role. On this basis the case of Anglo-Papal diplomacy in the early modern period shows how the English monarchs employed their relations with the Papacy for improving their own diplomatic practices and later for playing against their former tutors. The research in this area will lead to a better understanding of how the principles of the modern international relations were brought to life. The principal goal of the research project is to present a survey of the development of the Early Modern diplomatic relations between England and the Roman curia during the Early Tudor period (1485-1555). Assuming the complexity and variety of these, I aim to trace the emergence and evolution of English diplomatic service as an independent institution in the system of the Early Modern English monarchy rather than to retrieve their details. I am also very conscious that while focusing on the specified topic I will also have to take into account the relations between England and other European powers as well as some Italian states (Venice, Florence and Milan). The sources I am using for my research include both printed materials, i.e. State Papers Series of PRO and British Library, as well as some unpublished ones , such as the Spinelli archive from the Beinecke Library. These are letters and papers of Tommaso Spinelli, a member of the prominent Florentine banker family, who was involved in the diplomatic interactions between England and the Papacy in the period of 1510-1520s. These papers are an excellent source for revealing the mechanisms of the ordinary diplomatic agents daily routine. The drafts of the diplomatic reports and speeches, along with their final versions, are probably among the most exciting pieces of evidence from this group of documents. They demonstrate how the diplomats mastered their skills of handling the words and language the basic weapons of diplomacy, which could serve as to broaden their powers as well as to limit them. My method of research is primarily positivistic, however I'm also using linguistic and prosopographic analysis.