Today we want to introduce the next author of the #emdiplomacy#handbook: Jean-Claude Waquet. He is Directeur d’études émérite, Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, at the École pratique des hautes études. He published extensively on #emdiplomacy, e.g. François de Callières. L’art de négocier en France sous Louis XIV.
So who could be better to talk about the development of #earlymodern#French#diplomacy. (2/6)
He argues that #French#diplomacy continuously changed over the centuries, which can be seen as a sign of modernisation.
While #emdiplomacy was originally regarded as part of a more general service to the king, it slowly developed into a more specialised field of activity. From this the need to a much more profecient education of #emdiplomats arose. (3/6)
However, these changes were not introduced against, but within the existing system, often by those in charge. Therefore, elements of a more professionalised system co-existed with patronage relations. Waquet argues that we should speak of “a gradual internal transformation rather than of a permanent conflict between old and new”. (4/6)