Consular Complications: The Appointment and Rejection of Swedish Consuls in Eighteenth-Century Spain

Abstract

The early modern consul was an important economic and diplomatic institution. By the end of the eighteenth century, the number of consuls had increased drastically. However, previous research has failed to appreciate how bilateral relations between states could have a significant impact on how one state’s consular service expanded. Appointments could get rejected or take a long time to secure, not least because the sender state wanted to avoid provoking tensions with the receiving state. In this article, the author explores these themes through the appointment of Swedish consuls in Spain in the eighteenth century. The article shows that the Spanish reticence to accept Swedish appointments had a severe effect on the Swedish consular service in Spain in terms of the speed and scope of its expansion. The Swedish diplomatic corps played a key role in trying to sway the Spanish authorities, and when that failed they circumvented the Spanish state’s rejections of consular appointments by authorizing agents. These agents must also be treated as part of the expansion of the early modern consular service. Their existence begs the question of what a consul really was and if we have underestimated the number of consuls in the eighteenth century.