Un mare connesso. Europa e mondo islamico nel Mediterraneo (secoli XV-XIX), eds. by Jake Dyble, Alessandro Lo Bartolo ed Elia Morelli (Roma: Carocci, 2024), pp. 255-273, 2024
The study of espionage in the Early Modern Mediterranean presents significant challenges due to t... more The study of espionage in the Early Modern Mediterranean presents significant challenges due to the continuous movement of people in various directions and for diverse reasons. Spies, with their ambiguous roles, are particularly difficult to identify among the many (more or less) official agents operating in the Mediterranean. This challenge becomes even more complex when considering Safavid Persia’s involvement in espionage, despite its apparent distance from the Mediterranean. This chapter aims to address the presence of Safavid spies in the Mediterranean by analyzing the case of Giovanni, an Armenian merchant from Isfahan, who was captured by the navy ofthe Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the early 17th century. This analysis not only explores an unexamined subject but also raises the contentious issue of identifying foreign agents during the Early Modern Era.
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https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=3292445&journal_code=SI
Keywords: Faḍlī Bayg; Safavid Persia; Grand Duchy of Tuscany; Šāh ʿAbbās; Ferdinand I; Michelangelo Corai; diplomacy; early modern period
Book Chapters
ENG: This contribution provides an overview of the conduct of the English adventurer Anthony Sherley in the first major Persian embassy (1599-1602) dispatched to Europe by the Safavid ruler ʿAbbas I. The diplomatic mission, conceived to forge a military league against the Ottomans alongside Catholic states, failed in its objective, partly due to Sherley’s behavior. He managed the embassy not as a task linked to the political ambitions of the sovereign who had appointed him, but as a means to self-promotion and the construction of his ‘diplomatic credibility’, even though the dissemination of specially produced printed texts. Through the analysis of both manuscript and printed sources, the contribution highlights the more personal aspects of Sherley’s diplomacy and how these were aimed at shaping and disseminating a specific image of himself.
Volume in OA: https://www.storiamediterranea.it/portfolio/de-madrid-a-isfahan-familias-y-diplomacia-intercultural-en-el-mediterraneo-de-la-primera-edad-moderna-siglos-xvi-xviii/
*This contribution was written while my research was still in progress, and I did not yet have the opportunity to examine all the necessary documentation. After further research, I can state with certainty that Grand Duke Ferdinando I did not receive any embassy or ambassador from Shah Abbas in the years 1588 and 1590. Therefore, footnote 8 and the sentence in the text related to it are to be considered erroneous.*
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https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=3292445&journal_code=SI
Keywords: Faḍlī Bayg; Safavid Persia; Grand Duchy of Tuscany; Šāh ʿAbbās; Ferdinand I; Michelangelo Corai; diplomacy; early modern period
ENG: This contribution provides an overview of the conduct of the English adventurer Anthony Sherley in the first major Persian embassy (1599-1602) dispatched to Europe by the Safavid ruler ʿAbbas I. The diplomatic mission, conceived to forge a military league against the Ottomans alongside Catholic states, failed in its objective, partly due to Sherley’s behavior. He managed the embassy not as a task linked to the political ambitions of the sovereign who had appointed him, but as a means to self-promotion and the construction of his ‘diplomatic credibility’, even though the dissemination of specially produced printed texts. Through the analysis of both manuscript and printed sources, the contribution highlights the more personal aspects of Sherley’s diplomacy and how these were aimed at shaping and disseminating a specific image of himself.
Volume in OA: https://www.storiamediterranea.it/portfolio/de-madrid-a-isfahan-familias-y-diplomacia-intercultural-en-el-mediterraneo-de-la-primera-edad-moderna-siglos-xvi-xviii/
*This contribution was written while my research was still in progress, and I did not yet have the opportunity to examine all the necessary documentation. After further research, I can state with certainty that Grand Duke Ferdinando I did not receive any embassy or ambassador from Shah Abbas in the years 1588 and 1590. Therefore, footnote 8 and the sentence in the text related to it are to be considered erroneous.*
Presentazione del volume
Rereading travellers to the east.
Shaping Identities and Building the Nation in Post-unification Italy
Firenze University Press 2022
a cura di Beatrice Falcucci, Emanuele Giusti e Davide Trentacoste
saluti:
Renato Pasta (Università di Firenze)
Interviene con i curatori:
Valentina Pedone (Università di Firenze)
Biblioteca delle Oblate, Sala conferenze Sibilla Aleramo
L'autore Carlo Benedetti discuterà con Beatrice Falcucci, Emanuele Giusti e Davide Trentacoste curatori del volume Rereading Travellers to the East.
Shaping Identities and Building the Nation in Post-unification Italy (Firenze University Press, 2022)
MEDITERRANEAN (1492-1923) AND IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE
HAIFA CENTER FOR MEDITERRANEAN HISTORY (HCMH)
TRAVELLING MATTERS: REREADING, RESHAPING, REUSING OBJECTS ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN
HAIFA, HCMC, 8TH SEPTEMBER 2022
In the last two decades, objects have become increasingly relevant to historical studies as the primary focus of research discussing cross-cultural relations. Objects are produced, used, modified, preserved and destroyed according to historically specific political and cultural settings, thus providing researchers with information and insights about their original background. However, they can also throw light on a large array of cross-cultural encounters when their mobility is put to the fore. Objects can move by being bought, gifted, bartered and sold, borrowed or stolen, collected and dispersed, just as they can be modified, repaired, reshaped, repurposed and destroyed in the process. The Mediterranean, as a barrier and as a meeting place for different polities and communities, and as the setting of conflicted experiences of cultural, political, economic and social transformation, easily lends itself to this kind of historical analysis.
The workshop “Travelling matters: rereading, reshaping, reusing objects across the Mediterranean” intends to tackle objects as sources and subjects of the history of cross-cultural encounters in innovative ways. Primarily, we intend to discuss objects flowing in all directions, thus avoiding the kind of narrowing perspectives embedded in the study of one-way routes, such as that which goes from the North to the South or from the East to the West. Moreover, the category of objects as we understand it should be as large as possible, including items such as food, drugs, books, manuscripts, maps, antiques, human remains and relics (as objects to study, ancestors to bury or to worship), clothing, minerals, plants, fossils, tools and scientific instruments, objects of use and objects in precious materials. The materiality and mobility of such items should be underscored along with the practises and knowledges with which they are intertwined. Secondly, we wish to concentrate on the “second-handedness” of displaced objects: in other words, how and why moving objects acquire new functions and new meanings as they are displaced and with what consequences for the relations between the communities involved? How and why displaced objects can be lost or forgotten just so that they can later re-emerge and be repurposed? What kind of relationship can be established between such repurposing on the one side, and political or cultural change on the other? In which ways do these processes affect and are affected by the historical shaping of individual and collective identities? What kind of emotional investments in the objects (thoughts, feelings, and behaviours) accompany their possession, their peregrinations, their reclaims? Were the objects used for nation-building, trying to create a national identity, or on the contrary for affirming local and regional identities in tension with the national and centralising one? Both these perspectives demand a broad chronology, extending from antiquity to the present-day, and for the intersection between different time frames, from the relatively narrow scale of individual objects being displaced across the Mediterranean to the much larger one of the histories of their reinterpretation and repurposing.
20-21/05/21
https://rereadingtravellers.wordpress.com/
20-21/05/21
https://rereadingtravellers.wordpress.com/
https://www.euronewsproject.org/2023/07/31/a-special-ambassador-from-persia/
12 PM Eastern Standard Time (New York Time).
Abstract.
The diplomatic relations between the Medici Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Safavid Persia are a fascinating subject of study in the context of the deepening relations between Europe and what was then known as the ‘Levant.’ Although these relations did not result in any practical political or commercial consequences, an analysis of the Medicis’ ‘Persian diplomacy’ still sheds light on the diplomacy practices of the early modern period and provides insights into how Europe and Persia perceived and interacted with each other. In this article, my aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the origin, development, and conclusion of these relationships.
If these events are relatively well-known, less so are the various diplomatic and information avenues explored by the Grand Dukes when trying to decide whether or not to engage their forces in these military operations with an uncertain outcome. Here, it is proposed to examine a little-known document concerning a diplomatic and military reconnaissance in Syria carried out by the Tuscans in 1606 when the Grand Duke Ferdinando I st commanded one of his military professionals, the engineers named Giovanni Altoni, to visit the region to assess whether and how it might be possible to intervene in support of anti-Ottoman uprisings.
The Life and Legacy of Ferdinando I de' Medici: Prince (1549-62), Cardinal (1562-87), and Grand Duke (1587-1609).
International Workshop organized by The Medici Archive Project, 3 February, Palazzo Alberti, Firenze
Beyond The Truth: Misinformation and Credibility in Early Modern Diplomacy.
EUI, Florence, 12th-14th October 2022
Parfois même, il pouvait être extrêmement compliqué d'établir des relations pouvant garantir la coopération diplomatique et militaire. C'est le cas, par exemple, des relations qui existaient entre les États catholiques et la Perse safavide entre les XVIe et XVIIe siècles. Une collaboration à laquelle les Safavides et les Catholiques ont consacré beaucoup de temps, et qui n'a finalement abouti qu'à de simples proclamations d'amitié et de vagues promesses de collaboration militaire de leur alliance.
Dans ces négociations, plutôt que le manque réel de volonté de l'une des deux parties, la distance entre le royaume de Perse et les États catholiques était un problème insurmontable. La géopolitique de la région méditerranéenne a également aggravé la situation. En effet, outre la distance déjà considérable à vol d'oiseau, entre les alliés potentiels se trouvait l'énorme masse de l'Empire ottoman qui empêchait de fait les connexions directes et ne pouvait être contournée vers le nord que par la route de Moscou, ou en contournant l'Afrique vers le sud. De ce fait, cela a considérablement augmenté la distance et les temps de communication qui, même sans les Ottomans, auraient été considérables.
L’idea di fondo che sottende a queste linee guida altro non è che la convinzione, legittima, che la Prima Modernità abbia rappresentato un turning point di notevole importanza, riprendendo e ingigantendo dinamiche di connessione e contatto - dentro e fuori dall’Europa - fino ad allora rimaste sommerse o appena accennate. In questo contesto l’Italia della Prima Età Moderna ha rappresentato un crogiuolo non indifferente: culla della cultura Rinascimentale, sede del Papato e infine integrata nelle dinamiche mondiali sottoposte all’egida della corona spagnola, la Penisola ha saputo configurarsi - più o meno consapevolmente - come centro motore di una nuova forma di diplomazia (intesa nella sua più ampia accezione) attenta e interessata, per finalità politiche, religiose, culturali o economiche, alla mediazione con nuove e vecchie realtà: dalle più vicine e conosciute alle più distanti e ignote.
L’idea che sta alla base di questo panel diventa così quella di affrontare l’analisi di un tema, come quello della diplomazia, con tutte le sue numerose declinazioni, proprio inserendosi in questa “nuova” temperie: non più limitando ai soli soggetti Sovrani lo studio di pratiche diplomatiche e di mediazione, ma integrando anche quegli individui o gruppi di individui la cui dimensione primaria non era - o non avrebbe dovuto essere - di stampo politico. Cardinali, Ordini religiosi, ma anche eruditi, letterati ed élite nobiliari: tutti soggetti diversi che rappresentarono, tra l’ultimo decennio del XV secolo e la seconda metà del XVI, ognuno con i propri obiettivi e modelli, gli strumenti di un mondo in movimento, mutato e in continuo cambiamento: un mondo connesso.
Intervento il giorno 23 nel panel: L’ombra dell’Islam nell’Europa di Antico Regime: note sulla costruzione di un’immagine politica dell’“altro”. Con un intervento dal titolo: Convinzioni religiose e rappresentazione politica dell’Impero ottomano, il caso di Jean Chesneau.
L’atelier de juin 2024 a pour objectif de présenter le matériau de l’historien des mondes turco-iraniens aux périodes médiévale et moderne. La thématique choisie porte sur la vie privée des sociétés du monde turco-iranien, de l’Anatolie à l’Asie centrale, et la façon dont les documents de la pratique – archives, lettres, feuilles de comptes, et d’autres encore – permettent à l’historien d’appréhender les activités du quotidien. En quoi les documents dévoilent-ils la sphère intime, la vie privée des populations (pratiques alimentaires ou vestimentaires, relations familiales, pratiques économiques, etc.) ? Quels sont les biais et limites des documents pour aborder ce sujet ? À travers des exemples précis, fondés sur l’étude de documents en langues originales, seront abordées les questions méthodologiques et épistémologiques liées à cette thématique : présentation de bases de données et de programmes de recherche, réflexion sur l’accessibilité des sources, limites entre sphères privée et publique.
Les communications et discussions se feront en anglais ou en français. La connaissance du persan ou d’autres langues de la région est appréciable mais ne constitue pas un prérequis.
https://cermi.cnrs.fr/reading-sources-in-area-studies-privacy-uncovered-daily-life-in-the-turco-iranian-world-through-archival-documents-8th-18th-centuries/
18 November 2021, Université Aix Marseille
25 November 2021, Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3
An example of this is undoubtedly the report, kept in Florence, on the journey made by a certain Alessandro Picolomini from Hormuz to Aleppo in 1586, where the author does not focus so much on the journey as on what the traveller met along the way, providing valuable information on the geopolitical situation of the Persian Gulf and Persia and its western boundaries.
Ciclo di seminari ReRhis: Forme e Questioni di Aletrità Religiosa nell’Italia Moderna, 5 April 2023 (University of Florence).
21-25 August 2023, Leiden University
It is a well-known fact that the history of the Safavid period after 1629 has been often dismissed as a period of political and cultural decline hardly of interest in itself, and that the period 1666- 1722 (corresponding to the reigns of the last two Safavid Shahs, Šāh Soleymān and Šāh Solṭān Ḥoseyn) is a sort of black hole, also on account of the relatively small number of Persian written sources available. This has of course concerned the history of the foreign relations of Safavid Persia as well. Thanks in particular to numerous publications by Rudi Matthee (see for instance his Persia in Crisis, 2011) there is now a growing awareness that this is not the case. In its turn, and again on account of the nature of the sources, the field of the study of the diplomatic relations of Safavid Persia has been dominated until very recently by two notions that somehow complement each other: first, that the main diplomatic partner of the Safavids was Christian Western Europe and, secondly, that the period after the Ottoman-Safavid peace treaty of Zohab/Kasr-ı Şirin (1639), being a period without wars, was also a period both without history and without the sources to document it. These sources however exist: one just need to locate them in the Turkish archives, and they show that the Ottoman Empire remained also after 1639 the main diplomatic partner of the Safavids, just as it had been before that year. Similar considerations can be made in the case of the Russian Empire too: Safavid-Russian relations developed slowly and relatively late but they steadily grew in importance together with the growth of the imperial ambitions of the Tsars: the result is a vast mass of documents of various nature preserved in the Russian archives, which are still to a very large extent untapped. At the same time, and despite the decline paradigm, during this period the Safavid court was not only able to maintain its contacts with its traditional “friends” but was also able to find new partners, both in Europe and in Central Asia (as, for instance, the publication in 2014 by Floor, Javadi and Kachalin of the Farhang-e Nāṣeri, a six-language Safavid dictionary written in the final decades of the 17th century, shows). Finally, in order to be able to understand the complexity of Safavid imperial diplomacy fully, one should be aware of the fact that several vassal states of the Safavids, located on the periphery of the empire, were ruled by governors who actually were the scions of the traditional local ruling or royal families, and who at times felt legitimated to entertain independent diplomatic relations with foreign powers. These relations were not always aligned with those of the Safavid court: for obvious geopolitical reasons, this phenomenon was particularly frequent and momentous in the Caucasus and in Kurdistan. The present panel is meant to be a further contribution to this “new Safavid diplomatic history”. It both brings to bear the above-mentioned new awareness created by the most recent scholarship on the field and, at the same time, offers the audience a glimpse on the current research of the panel participants, including historical sources yet to be published. Selim Güngörürler (“Safavid Iran’s Foreign Policy Shift After 1639”) will deal with, indeed, the paradigm shift that took place in Persia after that year and that concerned the very nature of its relations with the Ottoman Empire (which is why its chronological starting point is beyond the general temporal frame of the panel). He will also set the stage better to understand the cold response given by the Safavid rulers to European proposals of an alliance against the Ottomans after 1639 as well as the next two papers. Davide Trentacoste (“Late Italian-Safavid Diplomacy in the Decades Between the 17th and the 18th Centuries: the Tuscan Case”) and Giorgio Rota (“A Late 17th-Century Papal Diplomatic Offensive Towards Safavid Persia”) will focus on two traditional partners of the Safavids, the Papacy and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which maintained their contacts with Persia until the collapse of the Safavid dynasty in 1722. Trentacoste will thus deal with an Italian state that, despite its limited means, had a very ambitious foreign politics that included, indeed, Persia and that today shares with the latter a scholarly narrative of decline which is difficult to reconcile with a reality made of lively diplomatic relations. Rota will take into examination two Papal missions that visited the Safavid court in 1699 and 1700-1701: he will discuss, among other things, two Safavid royal letters that allow interesting remarks on Persian knowledge of European geography and political affairs in those years, and its possible channels. The two papers are connected by the figure of the Capuchin Father Felice Maria da Sellano, a missionary and a diplomatic envoy, and are to be seen as “companion papers”, as it were, dealing with different sides of outwardly similar diplomatic missions. Lukáš Rybár (“Dagestan and the Military Campaign of Peter the Great to Safavid Iran in 1722-1723”) will focus on the “Russian diplomacy” of two Muslim rulers from Safavid Dagestan, the Shamkhal of Tarku and the Utsmi of Qarā Qaytaq (two of those vassal states with a sometimes independent foreign politics mentioned above), on the eve of the Russian invasion of 1722, showing what was the reality of the political life (and of the necessity to remain afloat in times of turmoil) of small border potentates caught between much larger imperial powers, beyond the theory and appearance of the official religious solidarity and political allegiances. Finally, last but not least, Goodarz Rashtiani’s presentation (“Self-Proclaimed Representative: Israel Ori and the Attempt to Convince Europe and Russia to ‘Free’ the Armenians of the Caucasus”) ideally reconnects to the first paper of the panel and shows how ideas of a “holy effort” of the Christian powers on behalf of Eastern Christians were still alive at the beginning of the 18th century and could also have Safavid Persia as a target, and not only the Ottoman Empire as usual. Rashtiani’s presentation will highlight other aspects of the Safavid foreign relations too. For instance, it will show how the issue of the Caucasian Christians led to the formation of the initial European projects to enter this region: although this particular plan was never implemented, in the end it became a pretext for Russia's pragmatic policy in the Persian Caucasus and the eventual annexation of the latter. It will deal with the person of Israel Ori, one of the latest among several diplomatic interlopers whose presence characterise the history of the Safavid period, that is, private persons who more or less of their own will tried to play a role in the foreign relations of the time in the service of a country or an idea (in Ori’s case, Armenian independence) but also to improve their own social and financial status: Ori in particular can be seen as a trait d’union with the historiographical category of the 18th-century adventurer. And finally, it will bring together the two poles of the “Christian foreign politics” of Safavid Persia, that is, Western Europe and Russia.
The present panel will examine the three conflicts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, notably the 1578-1590 war, with the objective of providing new perspectives based on original sources. Although these wars have been extensively chronicled by both Ottoman and Safavid court historians, and subsequently discussed in secondary literature, we endeavour to shift focus by relying on hitherto little-studied texts written by soldiers, spies, friars and travellers, in order to develop novel insights and research questions on the broader conflict between the two states. As such, this panel is conceived in the framework of the ‘Reading Sources in Area Studies’ program developed at CeRMI (Paris) and IREMAM (Aix-en-Provence) since 2021, which intends to make a broader case for the use of non-courtly chronicles to write a history of Turco-Iranian encounters, connections and conflicts.
https://gismomm-congres.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/Boussole_Planches.pdf
L’impatto tra il vecchio e il nuovo mondo crea nuove conoscenze, interazioni di svariata natura e differente portata in ogni attività economica dei principali centri europei. Con la scoperta dell’America, una terra florida considerata l’Eldorado, si accentua il contatto con “l’altro”, talvolta “ingenuo” e “primitivo”, ma anche “infedele” e “nemico”.
Anche i Gonzaga, che già da oltre un secolo si rapportavano con l’Asia e con l’Africa, si aggiornano sulla conoscenza del continente americano e il gusto dell’esotico entra prepotentemente nella collezione di Palazzo Ducale con la ricerca di nuovi materiali e nuove tecniche artistiche. Nei giardini gonzagheschi compaiono piante e fiori esotici insieme agli animali: pappagalli e scimmie, sono acquistati per la riserva creata a bosco della Fontana e i tacchini sono destinati ai banchetti dei duchi. Nuove acquisizioni botaniche e zoologiche, nonché nuove conoscenze di medicina e farmacologia, fanno il loro ingresso nella corte mantovana, come del resto le nuove tecniche artigianali apprese attraverso il ricco carteggio oggi raccolto nelle Banche Dati Gonzaga.
Durante il webinar streaming gratuito – previa iscrizione su www.tinyurl.com/2kbrncx6 – interverranno con i curatori Andrea Canova (Università Cattolica, Sedi di Milano e di Brescia) e Daniela Sogliani (Fondazione Palazzo Te) gli studiosi: Alessandro Tripepi (Università degli Studi di Milano), David Salomoni (Università di Lisbona), Laura Madella (Università di Parma), Francesco Morena e Davide Trentacoste (Università di Teramo).
E' qui indicato il link del video di Presentazione del volume degli Atti del Convegno di studi https://www.centropalazzote.it/i-gonzaga-tra-oriente-e-occidente/
Circulation of people, commerce, diplomacy and Realpolitik of élites and marginal elements in the “Habsburgianate” cultural continuum between the Mediterranean basin, the Pontic Space and the Maritime Silk Road (1492-1700).
02/06/2022
Austria Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
Prime notizie della Persia nel Ducato di Firenze: la relazione su una vittoria persiana sugli ottomani nel 1548
Benché nella prima fase del suo regno fosse concentrato principalmente sul consolidamento del suo stato, il duca di Firenze Cosimo I (r. 1537-1574) mantenne sempre un vivo interesse per le questioni orientali. Una particolare attenzione era rivolta alla situazione militare del sultano ottomano, le cui fortune in guerra potevano avere conseguenze di ampia portata anche sulla politica mediterranea degli stati cattolici, e in particolare di quelli più piccoli e ambiziosi come la Toscana. Infatti, per potere emergere come uno dei protagonisti più attivi nel contesto mediterraneo, era indispensabile riuscire a farsi spazio fra attori molto ingombranti, come appunto l’impero ottomano ma anche come l’impero di Carlo V o la Francia di Francesco I. Per fare questo, quindi, il duca stabilì un’estesa e solida rete informativa fatta di spie, mercanti, diplomatici e agenti più o meno “segreti”, capace di far giungere a Firenze una notevole quantità di notizie da tutte le parti del mondo, sempre però con un occhio di riguardo verso gli accadimenti d’Oriente. Attraverso l’analisi di una breve relazione, inedita, inviata a Cosimo per aggiornarlo sull’andamento della guerra fra ottomani e persiani, e riguardante una vittoria di questi ultimi, intendo porre l’accento sulla questione della circolazione delle informazioni nel Mediterraneo, la loro raccolta e soprattutto sulla loro affidabilità.
Early news of Persia in the Duchy of Florence: the report of a Persian victory over the Ottomans in 1548
Although in the first phase of his reign he was mainly focused on the consolidation of his state, the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I (r. 1537-1574), always maintained a keen interest in Eastern issues. Particular attention was paid to the military situation of the Ottoman Sultan, whose fortunes in war might have also far-reaching consequences for the Mediterranean policy of the Catholic states, and in particular the smaller and increasingly ambitious ones like Tuscany. In fact, in order to emerge as one of the most active players in the Mediterranean context, it was indispensable to be able to gain a role among major players, such as the Ottoman Empire, but also the empire of Charles V or the France of Francis I. To accomplish this, the Duke established an extensive and solid information network, made up of spies, merchants, diplomats and more or less “secret agents”,capable of bringing to Florence a considerable amount of news from all parts of the world, but always with an eye to events in the East. Through the analysis of a brief, and previously unpublished, report sent to Cosimo to inform him of the progress of the war between the Ottomans and the Persians, and concerning a victory bythe latter, I intend to highlight the issue of the circulation of information in the Mediterranean, its gathering and above all its reliability.
L’intervento intende illustrare come, grazie soprattutto al forte interessamento che il duca Vincenzo I nutriva nei confronti del Levante, anche la città di Mantova fu capace di svolgere quel ruolo di ‘cerniera’ fra Europa e Oriente, il quale, troppo spesso, viene attribuito solo alle grandi città portuali, come Venezia o Genova, o alle capitali dei grandi imperi coloniali, come Lisbona o Madrid.
https://4e-congres-gis.sciencesconf.org/
Dans l’Archive d’Etat de Florence sont conservés de nombreux documents concernant les relations avec la Perse provenant de la chancellerie de trois Grand-ducs de Toscane de la dynastie des Médicis ayant régné entre 1587 et 1670. Ces documents (lettres originales et leurs traductions du persan, documents diplomatiques divers en italien, rapports des résidents toscans à l’étranger) n’ont pas encore été suffisamment exploités dans cette perspective, alors qu’ils constituent un corpus nouveau qui enrichit significativement l’études des relations internationales de la Méditerranée orientale.
Cette communication va donner un aperçu des relations diplomatiques entre la Toscane et la Perse, leurs enjeux et leur évolution, et va proposer des éléments d’explication pour comprendre la spécificité de la politique persane et levantine menée par la Toscane par rapport à d’autres acteurs méditerranéens.
En junio de 1607, la flota toscana, compuesta de unos veinte navíos y dos mil doscientos
hombres, atacó la fortaleza de Famagusta en Chipre con el objetivo de convertirla en la
base para una futura ocupación de la totalidad de la isla, la cual estaba en manos
otomanas desde 1570. El ataque fue un completo fracaso: la flota toscana, que había
sido dividida en dos partes, no logró reunirse y los habitantes griegos de la isla, que
según los servicios de inteligencia toscanos debían de haberse rebelado, no lo hicieron.
Además, la guarnición otomana estaba avisada del ataque, lo que diluyó cualquier
intento de ataque sorpresa. Dejando de lado los problemas logísticos del encuentro de
las flotas, parece evidente que el fracaso de la empresa se debió a un fallo completo de
lo que hoy llamaríamos “servicios de inteligencia”: la información que obraba en manos
de los toscanos resultó no ser enteramente correcta y fueron incapaces de mantener en
secreto la operación proyectada. Mientras tanto, los servicios de inteligencia venecianos
supieron gestionar la información que poseían de un modo más acertado, tomando
ventaja de la situación.
A través del análisis de este caso, al artículo sigue la estrella de los estudios más
recientes sobre el intercambio de informaciones en el mundo mediterráneo de la
primera Edad Moderna, mostrando, una vez más, la importancia de esas redes. El
objetivo de este breve estudio, basado especialmente en documentación de archivo, no
es analizar el asalto toscano a la isla, sino identificar los fallos de los servicios de
inteligencia toscanos que llevaron al fracaso del ataque. Por otra parte, a través del
análisis de los documentos será también posible añadir algunos elementos al
conocimiento del que se dispone sobre la red levantina del Gran Ducado de Toscana.
ARTÍCULO COMPLETO DISPONIBLE EN EL SIGUIENTE ENLACE:
https://revistas.uam.es/historiaautonoma/article/view/12139
CROSSROADS IN EARLY MODERN ITALY: ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN FOREIGN TRAVELERS AND LOCAL INHABITANTS
In recent years an ever-growing number of studies has highlighted the importance of mobility for transnational exchange, in political, economic, social, and cultural terms. This has had a significant impact on the field of early modern studies.