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ABSTRACT
This article analyses the practice of early modern Venetian consuls through the prism of the contemporary concept of consular diplomacy. The idea in question identifies changes to present-day practice concerning consular protection that make consular work more similar to a “true” diplomacy based on negotiations and cooperation. While aware of the risk of potential anachronisms, I argue that the concept of “consular diplomacy” can be applied – with some reservations – to the reality of the seventeenth-century Venetian diplomatic apparatus. By analysing the final reports and dispatches sent by foreign representatives of Venice in the Ottoman Empire, the article shows how far Venetian consular assistance was entangled with conflict prevention and concern for Venetian prestige. The cases selected for analysis mostly present activity by Venetian representatives concerning “supranational” protection granted to subjects of foreign monarchs, such as slaves and missionaries.
Disclosure statement
I declare that no potential competing interest is to be reported.
Notes
1. This part of the sentence clearly alludes to the title of two important publications exemplifying the tendency in question, i.e., Ebben and Sicking, Beyond Ambassadors; as well as Tremml-Werner and Goetze, “A Multitude of Actors,” 407–22.
2. Volpini, “La trattatistica,” 35–45.
3. This is how this perception was defined by Ebben and Sicking, “Introduction,” 6.
4. Ebben, “Your High and Mighty,” 89–90.
5. Ebben and Sicking, “Introduction,” 7; Leira and Neumann, “The Many Past Lives,” 225.
6. See, for example, Bartolomei, “De la utilidad comercial,” 247–58; Bartolomei, “Débats historiographiques,” 49–59.
7. Most of the sources referred to are preserved in the State Archives of Venice (Archivio di Stato di Venezia). Quotations from archival sources will be indicated by the following abbreviations: ASVe – State Archives of Venice; BAC – fonds Bailo a Costantinopoli; CCXC – fonds Capi Consiglio X Costantinopoli, Cons. Alep. – fonds Senato, Dispacci Consoli Aleppo; Delib. Cost. – fonds Senato, Deliberazioni Costantinopoli; Disp. Cost. – fonds Senato, Dispacci Costantinopoli; VSAM – fonds V Savi alla Mercanzia; f. – string (filza), fasc. – fascicle, r. – register (reggistro); disp. – dispatch, fol(s). – card(s).
8. Van Gelder and Lamal, Cultural and Public Diplomacy.
9. Lamal and Van Gelder, “Addressing Audiences Abroad,” 371 and 379.
10. Ibid., 374–5 and 377–9.
11. Helmers, “Public Diplomacy,” 409–12.
12. Lamal and Van Gelder, “Addressing Audiences Abroad,” 372 and 379.
13. Helmers, “Public Diplomacy,” 401–2.
14. Rudolph, “Entangled Objects,” 9. See also her more general conclusion on using the notion of diplomacy: “There are substantial differences between early modern and modern diplomacy, exactly as there are striking continuities between both periods.” Ibid., 8.
15. Antunes, “Early Modern Business Diplomacy,” 26. While the article referred to is rather focused on the quasi-diplomatic activity of early modern enterpreneurs – and only partly dedicated to consuls – its author confirms an existence of economic and business diplomacy practices in early modern times, admitting at the same time that the very “concepts of economic diplomacy and business diplomacy have been alien concepts to Early Modern historians” usually studying these phenomena “under the guise of other historiographical conceptual parameters”.
16. Watkins, “Premodern Non-State Agency,” 29.
17. On the emergence and early modern development of the consular institution, see, apart from other works cited throughout this article, the collection by Ulbert and Le Bouëdec, La fonction consulaire; and the extensive bibliography: Ulbert, “L’histoire,” 79–336. On the particular context of the parallel existence of the consular institution to that of diplomatic envoys – for a longer part of the history of both – see especially Leira and Neuman, “The Many Past Lives,” 225–46.
18. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (United Nations, Treaty Series. Vol. 500: 95–222, registered under No. 7310) was signed in Vienna on April 18, 1961 and entered into force on April 24, 1964. The convention now has 193 parties (being almost a universal treaty). The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (United Nations, Treaty Series. Vol. 596: 261–467, registered under No. 8638) was signed in Vienna on April 24, 1963 and entered into force on March 19, 1967. This treaty binds 182 parties.
19. E.g., in the US case, diplomatic and consular services were merged into one structure in 1924, see Hamilton, “The Transformation of Consular Affairs,” 149. The pattern described, i. e., a merger of the consular with the diplomatic service, may be considered typical of 19th-20th-century developments of the institution of consuls. See Leira and Neumann, “Judges, Merchants and Envoys,” 17.
20. For instance, these challenges might concern the status and division of tasks between diplomats and consuls in an embassy (Should the ambassador be the consul’s superior in every sphere of the latter’s competence, including issuance of consular documents? What is the role of ambassadors in emergency situations involving consular protection on a large scale? Are contacts with the diaspora of sending state nationals an exclusive area of consular competence?).
21. The term “Cinderella service” alludes to the title of a history of the British consular service: Platt, The Cinderella Service, while the expression “poor cousins of ambassadors and ministers” was taken from Leira and Neumann, “The Many Past Lives,” 223.
22. Okano-Heijmans, “Change in Consular Assistance,” 1.
23. See, e.g., EU Directive 2015/637 of April 20, 2015 on coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented citizens of the Union in third countries and repealing Decision 95/553/EC (European Union, Official Journal “L” no. 106, April 24, 2015, 1–13, “EUR-Lex”). In particular see Art. 9 that indicates situations (literally: “types of assistance”) legally defined as consular protection.
24. Watkins, “Premodern Non-State Agency,” 34.
25. The perception of Venetian diplomacy as a kind of organised structure being part of the Republic’s bureaucratic system is commonly shared by historians of Venice and was recently expressed by Trampus, “Le diplomate,” 119–20.
26. From 1588 the official name of the Venetian polity was The Most Serene Republic of Venice (Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia). Earlier it was called “Community of Venetians” (Commune Veneciarum). In the article the name “Republic of Venice” (and its popular description as “Serenissima”) will be used for stylistic reasons for the whole early modern period of the Venetian state’s existence. Furthermore, following the practice of Italian-language researchers, the adjective “Marcian” (marciano), i.e., “of St. Mark”, the patron saint of Venice, will be used as a synonym for “Venetian”.
27. “Il carico di bailo […] mi pare in sè ristringere due uffici: l’uno di ambasciatore, l’altro di console” (my omission). The quotation is drawn from Firpo, Costantinopoli, 582. All translations from primary sources into English are mine.
28. Quoted in: Dursteler, “The Bailo,” 4.
29. Steensgaard, “Consuls and Nations,” 25–36.
30. This did not concern only Venetian consuls: a similar case regarded Dutch consuls, see Ebben, “Your High and Mighty,” 96. Moreover, consular jurisdiction over members of the consul’s “nation”, based on capitulations – while less related to the cases referred to in the present article – was another important feature distinguishing consuls posted in the Ottoman Empire from those based in Europe – or, more precisely, in the lands of “Christian princes” (Bartolomei, “De la utilidad comercial,” 254). It is also a good opportunity to stress here that it does not seem completely right to define the states governed by Latin/Western Christian rulers – i.e, the imagined political and cultural community composed of most of the European continent in early modern times – simply as “Europe”. This is particularly misleading when referring to texts produced by Venetian diplomats concerning the Ottoman Empire, which partly consisted of European lands. The diplomats of the Republic were aware of this feature of the Ottoman realm and described it as partly located “in Europe” or even defined Constantinople as the most densely populated city “of Europe”. See also Chmiel, “How Did Venetian Diplomatic Envoys,” 211–27.
31. This expression is borrowed from Helmers, “Public Diplomacy,” 414.
32. A concise synthesis dedicated to the figure of the bailo is Dursteler, “The Bailo,” 1–29.
33. This word means “bailo’s mission”: both in the sense of his posting and of his residence.
34. I decided to use the original, Italian/Venetian plural form for bailo, i.e., “baili”, throughout the article.
35. Among the newest works on consuls and consulates in the early modern Mediterranean – adopting rather a historical or legal than IR-based perspective – there are two dedicated volumes of Cahiers de la Méditerranée – 93 (2016) and 98 (2019). On seventeenth-century Venetian consuls in the Ottoman Empire and their networks, see in particular: Pedani, “Consoli veneziani,” 175–206; Pedani, “Venetian Consuls,” 7–21; Maréchaux, “Consuls vénitiens,” 145–58; and recent publications by Signori, such as “Reti consolari veneziane,” 19–34.
36. Faroqhi, “The Venetian Presence,” 345–84.
37. Pedani, “Consoli veneziani,” 177–8. Moreover, the consul in Malta was traditionally nominated by the Grand Master of the Military Order residing in the island.
38. Ibid., 178; cf. also Dursteler, “The Bailo,” 5. Interestingly, the consuls in Aleppo and Cairo were called “major consuls” (“consoli maggiori”), in contrast to their counterparts with seats in other towns (“minor consuls”, “consoli minori”). See for instance a mention in documents preserved in ASVe, VSAM, envelope 27, fol. 29r (April 22, 1709). Thus, to sum up, the Venetian network of consuls in the Ottoman Empire might be divided into four groups: apart from the bailo (the first consul) and the major consuls in Aleppo and Cairo/Alexandria, the third group includes consuls in Cyprus, Chios, Smyrna and Tripoli – elected by the Cinque Savi alla Mercanzia, not necessarily from among the patricians, whose functions were mostly concentrated on trade; and the last group of consuls, locally recruited, were usually posted in places of less importance for Venice (e.g., Melos, Naxos, Patras, Rhodes). This classification is reported by Maréchaux, “Consuls vénitiens,” 147–50.
39. The bibliography on Venetian dragomans in the bailate is extensive. See, above all, the recent book by Rothman, Dragoman Renaissance and her previous works on the topic (Rothman, “Interpreting Dragomans,” 771–800; and Rothman, Brokering Empire, 165–88). See also articles by Lucchetta, “Sui dragomanni di Venezia,” 215–22; Gürkan, “Mediating Boundaries,” 107–28 (in particular: 111–6); Pedani, Venezia porta d’Oriente, 160–4; and – more generally – Gautier, “Les drogmans,” 85–103.
40. The role of consuls in commercial issues was underlined by Consul Alessandro Malipiero in Aleppo (1596): “l’uffizio del console è di aver principal cura e protezione del negozio della mercanzia, che viene trattato dai mercanti veneziani in quelle parti” (“the office of the consul is to have principal care and protection of commerce handled by Venetian merchants in those parts”). The quotation is drawn from Berchet, Relazioni dei consoli veneti, 79. See also: Steensgaard, “Consuls and Nations,” 14.
41. For a general picture of this topic see Davis, “Slave Redemption in Venice,” 454–87 and Pelizza, “‘Restituirsi in libertà,’” 341–83.
42. Some baili – such as Giovanni Correr in 1578 – noted that captivity was usually followed by conversion to Islam, as almost all slaves transported to the Asian parts of the Ottoman Empire “turned Turk” (“quasi tutti se ne fanno turchi”), i.e., changed their religious identity, see Pedani, Costantinopoli, 234. More generally, on so-called “renegades”, i.e., converts to Islam, their porous identity, and their perception in early modern Europe, see the works mentioned in note 57.
43. To recall only a number of examples of such instructions taken from one volume of commissions (ASVe, Delib. Cost. r. 22) see fols.: 49v (April 6, 1633), 75v (June 7, 1633), 85r (July 9, 1633), 110r (September 28, 1633), and 214r (June 7, 1634).
44. Many documents of this kind from the seventeenth century have been preserved in ASVe, BAC 297.
45. ASVe, BAC 297, fasc. 11, fol. 10v, dated September 10, 1633. A similar case is represented by a document (ASVe, BAC 297, fasc. 12, fols. 5v–6r, dated April 14, 1636) issued for a “Spanishman”. Technically, this document was a travel certificate (patente) drawn up on the basis of the Ottoman cards of liberty previously granted by the sultan’s administration.
46. ASVe, BAC 295, fasc. 439, fol. 5r (March 4, 1597). See also Dursteler, “The Bailo,” 8; Minchella, Frontiere aperte, 146–50.
47. ASVe, Delib. Cost. r. 18, fol. 34r (April 21, 1627): “terms of friendship that the Republic has with other Princes of Christendom” (“termine di amicitia, che tiene la Repubblica con tutti li principi di Christianità”); “it is also our duty to do it [ransom slaves – my clarification] for reasons of religion” (“siamo ancò tenuti à ciò fare, per causa di religione”).
48. For instance, a certificate of July 4, 1615 (ASVe, BAC 297, fasc. 6, fol. 18v) confirms that friar Giovanni Piccinini “performed many acts of charity and spiritual acts with great religious zeal, preaching with a great assemblage of people” (“ha fatto opere di carità, et essercitij spirituali con molto zelo di religione predicando con gran concorso di popolo”).
49. Faroqhi, “The Venetian Presence,” 364–5; Clines, “Fighting Enemies,” 70–2; Ruiu, “Conflicting Visions,” 261–2; Chmiel, Rethinking the Concept, 143–51.
50. National Library of St Mark, Venice, manuscript It VII 1193 (8883), fol. 175r (Pietro Avitabile to Bailo Alvise Contarini, March 1, 1640).
51. ASVe, BAC 297, fasc. 14, fols. 5r–5v (October 10, 1639).
52. ASVe, Cons. Alep. f. 3, fol. 24r (disp. 6, December 23, 1628): “Cabil [the name of the thief – my clarification] voleva rapir ancor l’honore e la reputatione ad alcuni de miei della mia natione, la quale come fra Christiani vien pregiudicata più della vita.”
53. This was the case of a deceased merchant operating in the Levant, Bernardo (Bernard) Anguelman from Hamburg, who was married to a Venetian woman and father of a son residing in Venice. Anguelman made both French and Venetian consuls executors of his will. They cooperated efficiently in this case as appears from an exchange of letters between them. See ASVe, Cons. Alep. f. 4, fol. 178r (disp. 5, March 16, 1630).
54. ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 112, fol. 81r (disp. 110, April 19, 1631). This can be said in the light of the assessment prepared by the bailo and concerning the Dominican and Franciscan missionaries present within his jurisdiction. Ottavio da Riva, coming from Brescia, was praised for his exemplary “good life and manners” (“buona vita e costumi”) and granted financial support by the Republic: a pension paid to certain missionaries in the Ottoman Empire.
55. The closure of Catholic sites of worship was a recurring motif in diplomatic dispatches and reports, since countering this policy of the Ottoman authorities was an important task to be undertaken by the baili. For instance, the secretary of the Venetian mission Angelo Alessandri, reported in 1637 on the seizure of three churches in Constantinople over the previous ten years, see Pedani, Costantinopoli, 678. Similarly, instructions to oppose any Ottoman attempts regarding seizure of sites of worship were repeatedly given to subsequent baili, see e.g., instructions for Bailo Giovanni Cappello: ASVe, Delib. Cost. r. 19, fols. 96r–v (October 16, 1629).
56. ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 112, fols. 135v–136r (disp. 116, May 6, 1631).
57. ASVe, Disp. Cost. r. D22, fol. 3v (disp. 5, February 1, 1630) and fol. 14v (disp. 19, April 2, 1630). The literature on conversions – even only in the Venetian-Ottoman context – is particularly rich; to quote some recent works: Dursteler, Renegade Women; Minchella, Frontiere aperte, 36–60; Ortega, Negotiating Transcultural Relations; Rothman, Brokering Empire, 87–162; see also Scaraffia, Rinnegati.
58. ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 110, fol. 368r (disp. 42, June 1630).
59. Ibid., fol. 474r (disp. 50, July 30, 1630).
60. ASVe, Delib. Cost. r. 19, fol. 210v (August 10, 1630) and fol. 219v (September 2, 1630).
61. ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 112, fol. 359v–360r (disp. 145, September 14, 1631). It should be observed that conversions among clergymen acting in the Ottoman Empire were not isolated cases; see Minchella, Frontiere aperte, 74–7.
62. ASVe, Cons. Alep. f. 3, fol. 39r (disp. 11, August 7, 1629): “honorato mercante e buon suddito di Vostra Serenità”, “guidato per la sua cattiva fortuna”.
63. Ibid., fol. 40r: “With the prosperous outcome of the negotiation I returned one of their number to the merchant community, which was comforted at having him back; and all other foreigners were much amazed at such good fortune.” (“Con questa prospera riuscita di Negotio me n’ho fatto ritorno consolata la Natione per haver reacquistato il Compagno, et gl’altri forastieri tutti stupisconno di tanta fortuna.”).
64. Ibid.: “But I know whence comes such a good result: it is from the distinguished Majesty of this Most Serene Republic that makes the public dignity shine among these barbarians, by having me adorned with this robe” (“Ma io, che sò da dove proviene questo buon effetto, cioè dall’autorevole Maestà di cotesta Serenissima Republicha, che facendomi comparir ornato di questa veste, anco fra questi barbari fa risplender la pubblica dignità”).
65. Ibid., fol. 35r (disp. 9, May 4, 1629): “la Bandiera di Vostra Eccelenza trionfa sopra il vascello il giorno, e la notte.”
66. Ibid.: “Di questo fatto ho subito raguagliato gl’Eccelentissimi Signori Bailo di Costantinopoli, et Ambasciator in Londra, per pervenire le informationi sinistre, che potessero esser portate da questo console inglese.”
67. Swart, “Defeat, Honour and the News,” 8–10 (including quotation from Erik Oxenstierna, 10). On Venetian values: Bouwsma, Venice and the Defence.
68. To quote only one example among many: in 1590, while reflecting in his final report on factors that might contribute to the reputation of Venice as perceived by the Ottomans, Bailo Lorenzo Bernardo identified two of them: friendship with other “Christian princes” (especially with the king of Spain) and good Venetian preparedness for possible war with the Ottoman Empire. See Pedani, Relazioni, 378.
69. ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 108, fols. 378r–381r (disp. 204, August 7, 1629).
70. Firpo, Costantinopoli, 723. The same bailo mentioned in the report his efforts to take care of private assets and indemnities for Venetian merchants and to restore to slaves their freedom (ibid.).
71. Instruction by Pietro Della Valle to missionaries (Rome, 1628), see Andreu “Carteggio inedito di Pietro Della Valle,” (1950), 93.
72. Letter from Pietro Della Valle to Giuseppe del Giudice (Rome, June 10, 1630), see Andreu, “Carteggio inedito di Pietro Della Valle,” (1951), 27 and letter from Pietro Della Valle to Pietro Avitabile (Rome, December 10, 1627), see “Carteggio inedito di Pietro Della Valle,” (1950), 90.
73. “Per propria riputatione” (ASVe, Disp. Cost. f. 108, fol. 379v, disp. 204, July 7, 1629).
74. There was, in fact, an additional reference to the prestige of the Republic in the Bailo Venier’s dispatch. He observed (ibid., fol. 381r) that the news of the Frenchmen’s case was known by many “with great respect to Your Serenity [the doge – my addition], without putting the public reputation at risk” (“saputasi da molti con gran decoro di Vostra Serenità senza ch’io habbia posto ad alcun minimo rischio la pubblica riputazione”).
75. For a more general picture of Venetian espionage: Preto, I servizi segreti; Iordanou, Venice’s Secret Service. Several cases of espionage and assassins working on commission for Venetian diplomats are described in Minchella, Frontiere aperte, 146–8.
76. ASVe, CCXC 7, fols. 28r–28v (April 8, 1606).
77. Ibid., “mala pianta che era per produrre pessimi frutti”.
78. Ibid., “huomo di pessima natura, et scelerati pensieri”; “danni de Christiani”.
79. The document (ibid.) starts with the formula: “Whomsoever this letter reaches, we certify” (“A qualunque perveniranno le presenti ne facciamo fede”).
80. Ibid., “havendo essi con evidentissimo pericolo delle loro vite estirpato una mala pianta”.
81. Lamal and Van Gelder, “Addressing Audiences Abroad,” 368.