This special issue has been motivated by the drive to contextualize the role of individuals of various backgrounds in early modern foreign relations. All contributions cover a broad geographic scope and stress the impact of non-European practices and stages for the study of early modern foreign relations. Four thematic articles follow diverse diplomatic actors, ranging from non-elite envoys to chartered companies, Catholic friars and ministers on ships, to foreign courts, and behind their desks. They provide insights into these individual actors' functions and achievements and raise questions about social belonging and knowledge channels. The introduction below portrays the development of an actor-oriented research angle in the field of New Diplomatic History over the past decades and addresses blurring concepts and over-generalizations. It attempts to redefine the heterogeneous group of early modern diplomatic actors as products of their involvement in political and material struggles, both at home and abroad.

The conference builds upon the recent ‘cultural turn’ in diplomatic studies that has seen more innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to a subject that was once viewed in heavily bureaucratic and constitutional terms. Scholars are increasingly appreciating the importance of ritual and other forms of symbolic communication in diplomatic practices and the role of diplomatic processes in cultural exchanges. Diplomats were important political brokers whose actions could have profound implications for international relations, but they played an equally important role in the transfer and adaptation of cultural ideas and artefacts through their activities as cultural agents, authors and brokers. The profound impact of diplomacy on culture in this period is, moreover, seen in the increasing prominence of representations of diplomacy in literature and a range of other media. The aim of this conference is to further our understanding of early modern diplomatic practices, of the dynamics of diplomatic exchanges both within and without Europe, and how diplomatic ideas and practices interacted with other cultural and political processes. The keynote lecture ‘Diplomacy as a Social Practice: Recent Research Perspectives’ was delivered by Professor Christian Windler (Bern). The conference featured two panel discussions: one on the impact of the ‘diplomatic moment’ and another on future directions in diplomatic studies. Papers and panels addressed aspects of diplomatic culture in Europe and the wider world including gender, gifts, material culture, the dissemination of information, archival practices, international law, cross cultural exchanges and translation, as well as the impact of diplomacy on literary writing and representations of diplomacy. The paper abstracts are available at: http://www.textualambassadors.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/abstracts1.pdf

In the past, the art history of the early modern period focused primarily on the research of works of art, artists, commissioners and collecting. The phenomenon of (art) agents, however, has recently begun to make its way into the field of study focused on European cultural centres. Issues concerning how the artwork is acquired and the role of agents and dealers in the mechanism of art patronage have become more apparent. The results of this quite demanding archival research, in which sociological, politological and economic aspects prevail over the historical interest, can provide us with valuable insights into the issue of patronage in the early modern, art dealing, the network of agents, their competencies and methods of communication, mechanisms of acquiring artworks, transport of the artworks, and patronage strategies. The agents’ letters are able to convey the colourful life of the patrons, the breadth of their interests, an awareness of current events and, last but not least, they provide new findings about individual artworks. In some cases, the letters can reveal the importance of agents who were not just mere executors of the artistic and collecting goals of their patron but who often participated in shaping and giving a character to their artistic and sponsorship activities. The presented study analyses the network of agents of the Olomouc bishop Karl von Lichtenstein-Castelcorno (1624–1695), primarily focusing on Giovanni (Jean) Petignier who was located in Rome. This agent mainly followed political and cultural events at the Holy See but occasionally fulfilled the bishop’s wishes in the area of patronage. More than seven hundred surviving letters enables us to follow the acquisitions of individual artworks – mainly albums of prints and books but also the commission of a large painting from Luigi Garzi (1638–1721). The correspondence provides a rich understanding of the relationship between agent and patron and the role agents played during the decision-making process when acquiring a work of art.

In 2008 the Early Modern Historian John Watkins called for a 'multidisciplinary reevaluation of one of the oldest, and traditionally one of the most conservative, subfields in the modern discipline of history: the study of premodern diplomacy.' Watkins drew attention to the fact that scholars interested in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, subalternity, and new modes of intellectual history have occasionally used diplomatic sources, but they have rarely investigated the diplomatic practices that created those sources in the first place. In the last ten years or so since that article, the historiography on medieval diplomacy has become a little more populated, yet there was one related discipline or lens through which to look at pre-modern diplomacy that Watkins forgot: namely, material culture.