One Emperor, One Shah, Too Many Ambassadors: Safavid Envoys in Prague (1600–1612)
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Giorgio Rota
Abstract
Between 1600 and 1612 the Imperial court at Prague was visited by five, perhaps six Persian embassies and by a Persian ambassador who had been originally sent to the King of France: this unusually high number mirrored the efforts of both Emperor Rudolf II and Šāh ʿAbbās I to achieve a military alliance against the Ottoman Empire.
The present essay deals less with the political negotiations or the geostrategic implications of these diplomatic missions than with the relationship between the envoys on the one side and the geography of the city and the court on the other: in other words, it takes into consideration the physical spaces in which the envoys performed their official or unofficial activities, as well as the officials and courtiers they came in touch with and, through the latter, more importantly, what I called the “proso-topography of the Imperial household and government,” that is, the offices held by these men and their respective practical and symbolic importance.
In order to do this, this article focuses on three different moments of the envoys’ presence in Prague: the ceremonial entry, the first audience with the Emperor, and “free time,” which however was not always entirely “free” but was often used to meet the envoys of the Catholic powers present in Prague, court officials or even the emperor in a more private and less official context.
Abstract
Between 1600 and 1612 the Imperial court at Prague was visited by five, perhaps six Persian embassies and by a Persian ambassador who had been originally sent to the King of France: this unusually high number mirrored the efforts of both Emperor Rudolf II and Šāh ʿAbbās I to achieve a military alliance against the Ottoman Empire.
The present essay deals less with the political negotiations or the geostrategic implications of these diplomatic missions than with the relationship between the envoys on the one side and the geography of the city and the court on the other: in other words, it takes into consideration the physical spaces in which the envoys performed their official or unofficial activities, as well as the officials and courtiers they came in touch with and, through the latter, more importantly, what I called the “proso-topography of the Imperial household and government,” that is, the offices held by these men and their respective practical and symbolic importance.
In order to do this, this article focuses on three different moments of the envoys’ presence in Prague: the ceremonial entry, the first audience with the Emperor, and “free time,” which however was not always entirely “free” but was often used to meet the envoys of the Catholic powers present in Prague, court officials or even the emperor in a more private and less official context.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
- Protagonists, Issues, and Spaces: Papal Policy at the Beginning of Rudolf IIʼs Reign (1576–1584) 29
- “i ministri […] sono tutti hormai disautorizati, ne communicano si può dir più co ʼl padrone”: Social Interaction, Communication Structures and Languages at the Prague Imperial Court from the Perspective of the Nuncios and the Roman Curia around 1600 57
- Negotiation Spaces of Apostolic Nuncios in Prague at the Turn of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A Topographic Reconstruction 77
- Hungarians and the Prague Nunciature 99
- Public or Private: The Display of Art in Rudolf II’s Imperial Residence at Prague Castle 119
- Diplomats and the Recreational Spaces of the Habsburgs in Prague: What Was There to See? 145
- Clients, Agents, and Intelligence Operatives of the Bavarian Dukes at the Court of Rudolf II 173
- Saxon Diplomats at the Court of Rudolf II (1609) 195
- An Empress and an Ambassador: The Settlement of Spanish Agents at the Court of Prague (1577–1581) 215
- One Emperor, One Shah, Too Many Ambassadors: Safavid Envoys in Prague (1600–1612) 233
- The Traces of English Diplomacy in Rudolfine Prague 259
- About the Authors
- Index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
- Protagonists, Issues, and Spaces: Papal Policy at the Beginning of Rudolf IIʼs Reign (1576–1584) 29
- “i ministri […] sono tutti hormai disautorizati, ne communicano si può dir più co ʼl padrone”: Social Interaction, Communication Structures and Languages at the Prague Imperial Court from the Perspective of the Nuncios and the Roman Curia around 1600 57
- Negotiation Spaces of Apostolic Nuncios in Prague at the Turn of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A Topographic Reconstruction 77
- Hungarians and the Prague Nunciature 99
- Public or Private: The Display of Art in Rudolf II’s Imperial Residence at Prague Castle 119
- Diplomats and the Recreational Spaces of the Habsburgs in Prague: What Was There to See? 145
- Clients, Agents, and Intelligence Operatives of the Bavarian Dukes at the Court of Rudolf II 173
- Saxon Diplomats at the Court of Rudolf II (1609) 195
- An Empress and an Ambassador: The Settlement of Spanish Agents at the Court of Prague (1577–1581) 215
- One Emperor, One Shah, Too Many Ambassadors: Safavid Envoys in Prague (1600–1612) 233
- The Traces of English Diplomacy in Rudolfine Prague 259
- About the Authors
- Index
