Agents of empire
Subtitle: Spanish ambassadors in sixteenth-century Italy
By: Michael J. Levin.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Ithaca, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9780801443527
Subjects: Ambassadors -- Italy -- Venice -- History -- 16th century.; Ambassadors -- Italy -- Papal States -- History -- 16th century.; Spain -- Foreign relations -- Italy -- Venice.; Venice (Italy) -- Foreign relations -- Spain.; Spain -- Foreign relations -- Italy -- Papal States.; Papal States -- Foreign relations -- Spain.; Spain -- Foreign relations -- 1516-1700.
Description: "Historians have long held that during the decades from the end of the Habsburg-Valois Wars in 1559 until the outbreak in 1618 of the Thirty Years' War, Spanish domination of Italy was so complete that one can refer to the period as a "pax hispanica." In this book, based on extensive research in the papers of the ambassadors who represented Charles V and Philip II, Michael J. Levin instead reveals the true fragility of Spanish control and the ambiguous nature of its impact on Italian political and cultural life." "While exploring the nature and weaknesses of Spanish imperialism in the sixteenth century, Levin focuses on the activities of Spain's emissaries in Rome and Venice, drawing us into a world of intrigue and occasional violence as the Spaniards attempted to manipulate the crosscurrents of Italian and papal politics to serve their own ends. Levin's account uncovers the vibrant world of late Renaissance diplomacy in which popes were forced to flee down secret staircases and ambassadors too often only narrowly avoided assassination."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 1997.
Table of contents: title: Diplomacy in Venice; title: Diplomacy in Rome under Charles V; title: Philip II and the papacy, 1556-1573; title: Philip II and the papacy, 1573-1598; title: Special problems and ordinary duties in Rome; title: The ambassadors as intelligence officers; title: The ambassadors as cultural contacts.