Ambassador or rogue? : the labyrinth of Habsburg diplomacy in the light of a murder in Constantinople

During an extensive research on the circumstances of Simon Reniger’s appointment as Habsburg ambassador to Constantinople, a crime started to excite my interest. The offence had been committed during the term of the previous resident ambassador, Alexander Greiffenklau but it caused a lot of difficulties even at the time when Reniger came into office. Namely, in the autumn of 1646, Greiffenklau killed a certain Don Juan de Menesses, an adventurer of dubious origin, who – according to Habsburg informants – had been involved in conspiring against the dynasty within the Sultan’s entourage. In my paper, I want to describe what led to Menesses’s murder and what kind of consequences can be drawn on the basis of the crime as to the diplomatic cooperation between the Spanish and the Austrian lines of the Habsburg dynasty in the last years of the Thirty Years’ War

"Mein guter, väterlicher Maister" : Wissenstransfer unter kaiserlichen Gesandten an der Hohen Pforte in der ersten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts

Targeting an old desire of the investigations into early modern Habsburg-Ottoman relations, this paper addresses the question of how and where early modern Habsburg diplomats were trained and prepared for their missions to the Sublime Porte. First of all, the required elements of knowledge and the necessary skills of the envoys are discussed, focusing on main actors of the Habsburg diplomatic corps sent to Constantinople in the first half of the seventeenth century. Furthermore, the study reveals the possible means of knowledge transfer that can be gained from the sporadic archival sources: the transfer of oral and written information at the Aulic War Council (the body responsible for the Habsburg´s eastern diplomacy); the use of information networks; the assistance of experienced colleagues; and the locally organized training supervised by the envoy in Constantinople at the time. The research outcomes are expected to widen our knowledge on the design and execution of Habsburg diplomatic missions in an Ottoman context, while they shed light on the formation of an experienced staff of personnel within the Aulic War Council in Vienna primarily responsible for the shaping of Habsburg-Ottoman relations

"Mein gueter, väterlicher Maister"

Targeting an old desire of the investigations into early modern Habsburg-Ottoman relations, this paper addresses the question of how and where early modern Habsburg diplomats were trained and prepared for their missions to the Sublime Porte. First of all, the required elements of knowledge and the necessary skills of the envoys are discussed, focusing on main actors of the Habsburg diplomatic corps sent to Constantinople in the first half of the seventeenth century. Furthermore, the study reveals the possible means of knowledge transfer that can be gained from the sporadic archival sources: the transfer of oral and written information at the Aulic War Council (the body responsible for the Habsburg´s eastern diplomacy); the use of information networks; the assistance of experienced colleagues; and the locally organized training supervised by the envoy in Constantinople at the time. The research outcomes are expected to widen our knowledge on the design and execution of Habsburg diplomatic missions in an Ottoman context, while they shed light on the formation of an experienced staff of personnel within the Aulic War Council in Vienna primarily responsible for the shaping of Habsburg-Ottoman relations