Diplomacy as a lifestyle. Nordic and Russian diplomats as links between their countries and the Romanian area (17th – 19th centuries)

Abstract

Building large political structures was always closely connected with a fragile balance between military conflicts and peace. Thus, especially in the modern period, diplomats played an extremely important role in managing crisis situations and/or maintaining the status quo. Moreover, they represented the most visible facet of interstate relationships. During the 17th – 19th centuries, Europe’s tumultuous history, characterised by frequent wars, many of which against the Ottoman Empire, gave the diplomats’ services an inestimable value. In this context, Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia usually represented only intermediary points on the route towards the diplomats’ final destination, namely the Turks’ Empire. The present study aims at revealing the multiple forms of interaction between the Nordic (chiefly Swedish) and Russian diplomats, on the one hand, and the Romanian rulers, on the other hand. In order to achieve this goal, general historical information was intertwined with numerous testimonies pertaining to this special category of foreign travellers, the result being a picturesque depiction of certain typicalities of the diplomatic ceremonial.