Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Practices of the Florentine Republic at the Boundary of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Institutional Discourse (Problems of Historical and Modern Communication)

Abstract

The article analyzes the theoretical foundations and tasks of historical communicology, communication problems in historical literature. The main attention is paid to the clarification of the communicative culture and culture of communication in Europe of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The features of communication processes, institutional and diplomatic practices in the European Reformation are considered. At the turn of the Middle Ages and early Modern Times there is an objective process driven by the launch of the institutional design of foreign policy and diplomatic services of the leading countries in Europe. Accordingly, there is the relationship between the original concepts and priorities: «Europe», «foreign policy», «diplomacy», «communication» and so on. To that issues related to contemporary and evaluation for various state-legal forms and types of government, institutional political processes, characteristics of reality and ideals create tasks and in covering practice power models diplomacy, diplomacy institutions, humanistic traditions of diplomatic tools and more. The objective of this research is to analyze the foreign policy, political and diplomatic experience of Europe both as an outstanding historical occasion for the political, diplomatic and institutional development of Europe and as the formation of its system of international relations in the Middle Ages and early Modern Times. Particular attention is paid to the institutional development of communication, diplomatic tools, negotiations, protocol standards, etiquette and ceremonial of the key European countries. The article describes the diplomatic activities Florentine diplomats and, in particular – Bonaccorso Pitti, the diplomat, the politician, the merchant, the traveler, the gambler, the author of the Chronicle. The author of article concludes that B. Pitti, as a diplomat, had an understanding of the international political situation and solved difficult of diplomatic questions due to personal qualities, culture, knowledge of languages, customs. It was the Pittis stratum‖ that absorbed Francesco Petrarch's new ideas about man and society and filled them with strength and practices that helped humanists formulate the ethics of the new time (humanistic diplomacy). The article studies the peculiarities of organizing diplomatic missions in the Middle Ages by one of the most dynamically developing city-states of Tuscany – Florence. Behavioral practices and ritual gestures of Florentine diplomats are revealed through personal perception of their diplomatic missions, of communication links, as presented in the chronicle narrative and the biographies.