Between Valois and Habsburg, the struggle for European hegemony places the Italian peninsula in XVIe century at the center of the clashes. Marked by fragile agreements and sudden changes in alliance, Franco-Florentine relations then become the laboratory of a new diplomacy.
From its author’s doctoral thesis, Plural diplomacies in XVIe century sets out to analyze the dynamics of Franco-Florentine relations during the second part of the Italian Wars. Following a long siege in 1530, imperial troops captured Florence and restored the Medici family to power. Placed under the tutelage of Charles V, Alexandre de Medici became the first duke of the city and broke with its Francophile tradition. Subsequently, his assassination in 1537 caused a major political crisis, marked by the military threat of fuoriuscitibitter opponents of the regime forced into exile. The situation partially stabilizes with the election of Cosimo Ier and, thanks to imperial intervention, by the redistribution of Florentine political forces. The anti-medicines found refuge in France. Then began a period long considered a radical break between the two States, the emperor forbidding the sending of diplomatic missions to France as long as the war lasted.
However, despite the imperial proscription, a plurality of actors continued to weave the fabric of Franco-Florentine relations. Pierre Nevejans tells the story of these figures with varying statuses: secretaries, lawyers, bankers, consuls, even spies, all move in a precarious balance on the edge of officiality, suspended between recognized and unrecognized spheres of action. Through their action, Como managed to maintain an almost continuous presence at the French court. Florence does not interrupt her exchanges, she simply adopts more discreet and varied forms of dialogue.
Multiple diplomacies
Continuing recent historiographical reflections and taking the late 1530s as a starting point, the volume highlights the complexity of the social and political model of diplomacy during the Renaissance, through the study of concrete cases and relationships shaped by hierarchies, by law and by family solidarity. The choice of the plural in the title Plural diplomacies also immediately announces the fertility of the subject, by referring to the coexistence of practices, multiple actors and intertwined registers, ranging from the most official to the most intimate.
The reflection is based on the unofficial nature of Medicean diplomatic maneuvers, part of an institutional framework that is nevertheless public and visible, such as the courts or the spaces of the royal palace. By exploring the place of secondary actors, Pierre Nevejans shows how they participate in the regulation of the system of relations between Florence and France, revealing their discreet but decisive part in the diplomatic balance.
The study is based on a particularly abundant corpus of Florentine (chancery funds, diplomatic correspondence, family archives) and French (BnF) sources, often scattered in series not specifically devoted to external relations. This dispersion reflects the fragmentary nature of the documentation, from which the author nevertheless manages to obtain an overall vision.
A hidden diplomacy
The volume, of great documentary richness, focuses first on the analysis of cases which highlight the unique place of experts trained in business, capable of transforming themselves into technicians then into real diplomatic agents in the context of the imperial ban on Franco-Florentine relations. These men are distinguished by a remarkable mastery of the essential functions of diplomacy, recalled elsewhere in the work: negotiating, representing, transmitting information. Whether they act by choice or by compulsion, they always operate within a very official framework. Holders of letters of credence, they are fully recognized as legitimate by the French authorities.
Their capacity for intervention is demonstrated in an exemplary manner in a seemingly innocuous episode, “ the grain affair » of 1540 (pp. 59-68). A contract for the sale of wheat having turned into a dispute between Genoese and Lucca merchants, and the latter acting on behalf of Florence, the complaint reached Cosimo de Medici on the one hand, and was brought before French royal justice on the other hand. Extended until 1553, this legal procedure became a unique diplomatic opportunity, since it authorized the lasting presence of Florentine representatives in France, revealing the plasticity of exchanges, capable of reinventing themselves in new forms. The analysis of this affair thus shows that the rupture between Florence and France is never complete, but constantly readjusted according to circumstances.
Family intimacy and relational diplomacy
The personality of Catherine de Medici is also considered, not in the regency period (1560-1563), but in earlier years, as dauphine of France after her marriage to the future Henri IIthen as queen consort until his death. In line with current research, Pierre Nevejans describes her as a fully committed actress and as a privileged interlocutor of the Duke of Florence, who over time acquired a central position in the relationship between the kingdom and the duchy. Catherine goes beyond the traditional function assigned to princesses married abroad, namely ensuring diplomatic representation of their lineage. The study of his correspondence with Cosimo de’ Medici, but also with Eleanor of Toledo and Maria Salviati, reveals a relationship that is both intimate and political between the two cousins. Over the years, this relationship transformed, gradually making the political dimension prevail over family proximity.
Without dwelling on the codes of princely society, the author highlights the role of naturalized French Florentine servants and Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. ; they actively participate in the establishment of family and diplomatic dynamics, such as “ letter carriers » who, sometimes, have the right to speak in his name (p. 108-116). By integrating her entourage, her home into this system, Catherine reinforces her image as a true “ bridgehead of the Florentine projection at the court of France » (pp. 151-153). She thus mobilizes her closest networks by changing client logic and reorienting her status as patron towards diplomatic objectives, transforming links of dependence into instruments of international policy.
Official ambassadors and their secretaries
Between 1544 and 1551, only five Florentine ambassadors took the road to France. Coming from the city’s great families, they only stayed briefly at court, on the occasion of dynastic celebrations and festivities (such as weddings or births). These episodes became so many pretexts for Cosimo de Medici to remind the French sovereigns that the rarity of these missions was not his choice, but an imperial ban.
While recalling the constitutive features of the embassy and the qualities expected of an ambassador in general, the third section of the volume focuses on the study of the missives of these agents. Their status and the prestige of their missions, officially recognized, make it possible to explore the legal issues at the heart of “ the daily reality of diplomats “. The analysis shows how their interventions complement or overlap with those of other representatives present at court, less protected and lacking the same privileges (p. 185 et seq.), and how they come up against the tenacity of their opponents or other Italians installed in France. Long-time refuge of fuoriusciti Florentines – Lyon, in particular, appears to be one of the main places of refuge for Florentine exiles since the XVe century – the kingdom can appear as potentially hostile territory for these agents. In its pages, the author accurately reproduces the true extent of the tensions aroused by the exiles.
In a world where each gesture – preceding or following another ambassador when passing through a palace door, for example – constitutes a sign of one’s own influence and reflects the power of one’s lord, quarrels over precedence become inevitable. By using specific examples, such as that of Pandolfo Della Stufa’s mission to Compiègne in 1545, and taking into account the underlying legal foundations, this section offers the reader an insight into the concrete functioning of international relations and reveals its subtle logic.
Subordinate, sometimes invisible, never signing documents with their name, the secretaries of diplomats appear as real agents in the shadows.
The author recalls that these essential figures of the diplomatic exercise have only recently attracted the attention of historiography, and devotes the fourth and final chapter of his work to them. The statement sheds light, once again, on the daily life of these men and defines the contours of their mission of supporting ambassadors: sharing of tasks, relay of authority, and even, sometimes, control of their diplomatic action. Indeed, although hierarchically subordinate, these “ creatures of Como » do not serve the person of the ambassador, but the mission itself, the embassy and, beyond that, the prince ; which justifies that they can “ have parallel instructions » to those of the ambassador or that they are led to monitor him (p. 265).
A continuum of diplomatic practices
Pierre Nevejans’ volume focuses on secretaries, informers, spies and others. new men », whose changing roles reflect the construction of an inclusive diplomacy, attentive to second-tier actors. This approach, echoing recent historiographical work, values the “ tiny lives » and discreet practices. Echoing the idea formulated by Jean Sénié in the preface, Pierre Nevejans calls into question the too rigid separation between official channels and back channels; it highlights the existence of a real “continuum» diplomatic practices (p. 12) which are constructed as much in chancelleries as in homes, as much by ambassadors as by servants.
Beyond the affirmation of the Medicean principle, his work thus offers a broader perspective on the diplomacy of the entire period. Apart from a few minor typos – such as forgetting the reign name “Charles” in front “Quint» (p. 25) – as well as certain stylistic clumsiness or repetitions which occasionally make the reading heavier, the work retains the solidity of its analysis and the value of its scientific contribution. A few shortcuts do not undermine the relevance of the argument either.
By renewing the problem of Florentine diplomacy of XVIᵉ century and by paying particular attention to the political place of women, secretaries and subordinate agents, Pierre Nevejans is part of a historiography attentive to subordinate actors and opens up stimulating research perspectives.