15th-16th century; Venice; Mamluk Sultanate; Cairo; Alexandria; Michele Foscari; Benedetto Sanudo; Angelo Michiel; information networks; New Diplomatic History
Abstract :
[en] In this essay, I examine the information network that Venetians established in Mamluk Egypt between the 15th and the early 16th centuries. The case study is based on two groups of commercial letters from Venetian agents, one from 1419 and the other from the early 1500s. Despite the eighty-year gap, common themes do emerge. Using the approach supported by the ‘New Diplomatic History,’ I argue that the daily interactions between the agents and members of the Egyptian network resemble an informal, second-level diplomacy between non-state actors. In fact, merchant and diplomatic networks often overlapped in practice; I illustrate this in the context of the 1503 mission of Venetian ambassador Benedetto Sanudo
Disciplines :
History Classical & oriental studies
Author, co-author :
Argentini, Michele ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Transitions - Unité de recherches sur le Moyen Âge et la première Modernité
Language :
English
Title :
"Si hanno lettere dal Chaiero". Venetian Merchants and Information Gathering in Mamluk Egypt, 15th-16th Century
Publication date :
November 2026
Main work title :
Diplomatic Networks in the Medieval Mediterranean. Individuals, Groups, and Interactions
Author, co-author :
Lazzarini, Isabella
Salicrú Lluch, Roser
Publisher :
Firenze University Press, Florence, Italy
Collection name :
Reti Medievali E-Books
Collection ISSN :
2704-6362
Pages :
51-71
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Name of the research project :
DiplomatiCon: A Connected History of Medieval Mediterranean Diplomacy
