Research project, financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (October 2009 to September 2012)

Since the 1980s, the concept of absolutism has largely been deconstructed as a paradigm of ruling practices in early modern monarchies. However, research on power relations in the 17th and 18th centuries still perceive exterior politics mainly as a sphere successfully monopolised by the princes. Thus, foreign relations are generally conceptualised as relations between sovereign states in the context of an international system at least for the period after 1648. Our research project, in contrast, focuses on the scope and limitations of the monopolisation of foreign relations by central state authorities in the period from the Peace of Westphalia to the French Revolution. Therefore, methodological approaches, which in the last years have largely been used in relation to questions of inner state-building, are applied to the study of foreign relations. Structural conditions of communication, transnational networks, culturally conditioned modes of perception, and discourse strategies are analysed from an actor-centred perspective, i.e. from the viewpoint of the persons and groups involved. Focus is placed on periods of change in which the self-evident was reflected by the actors and which therefore allow us to reconstruct established practices and processes of re-negotiation of norms. Geographically, the project centres on France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Swiss Confederacy which are generally assumed to be the area where the Peace of Westphalia had the greatest impact on the political organisation of foreign relations of the late 17th and 18th centuries.

In order to research processes of state-building in foreign relations, the four subprojects will particularly focus on the complementary and partially overlapping dimensions of networks, perceptions and communicative practices.

First, focus is placed on mutual ties between the different actors involved in foreign relations. Local and transnational personal networks of envoys or magistrates as well as the networks of actors without a formal diplomatic position, such as high-ranking noblemen or mercenary officers will be considered. The research question will address the character of both the relationships and the material, symbolic, or informational resources which were exchanged through them. The question of how actors dealt with multiple loyalities and the decreasing legitimacy of foreign relations with other sovereign entities will be of particular interest.

The second focus rests on the question of the perception of different political cultures held by diplomatic actors and on the possibilities of interaction which they enabled. Within the context of relations between political entities which had different power structures and different status within the European order of states, this question will be of particular relevance. Research will focus on the question to what extent the adoption of models of international interactions, such as sovereignty or neutrality, changed the view on the politically foreign cultures, and how this created new possibilities of interaction between political entities within a differentiating political system.

The third main question of the project is placed on the structural conditions and on effective practices of communication between the actors involved in foreign relations. Focus will rest on the information generated through personal networks, the discursive or symbolic representations of interstate or personal ties, and the processes of interaction in diplomatic negotiations. The question regarding the scope and proceeding enforcement of explicitly state-run codes and channels of communication instead of those considered private or non-national will be of particular interest.

Subprojects

The above-mentioned questions will be analyzed in four subprojects on one secular and two ecclesiastical estates of the Holy Roman Empire, the thirteen cantons of the Swiss Confederacy, and the principality of Neuchâtel. All subprojects will particularly focus on the relationship with the French Crown, which is taken into account in the context of competing networks of other powers. Diplomatic correspondence as well as letters from family archives which allow us to reconstruct the more informal aspects of foreign relations will serve as main empirical sources.

A) France and the Ecclesiastical Imperial Estates of Cologne and Mainz in the Second Half of the 17th Century

Tilman Haug

Subject matter of the project are the relations between the French Crown and the ecclesiastical electorates of Cologne and Mainz during the first decades after the Peace of Westphalia.

On the one hand, the project analyses networks of personal relations to office holders, confidents or „agents“ surrounding the princes under a perspective of cross-border patronage. On the other hand, contemporary concepts and mechanisms of asymmetrical foreign relations between unequal Princes will be studied. The project is also concerned with mechanisms to cope with problems caused by multiple loyalties and the clients' private interests. How could trust be established and maintained in relationships frequently troubled by conflicts of interest? To what extent did perceptions of the other affect the conduct on both sides in such relations? Furthermore, the subproject will look at conflicts and interdependences between the „ethics of patronage“ and macro-political norms and procedures.

B) France and the Bavarian Court in the Second Half of the 17th Century

Julia Schwarz

The project analyses the foreign relations between France and the Bavarian court under the reign of elector Ferdinand Maria (1651–1679). Due to the influence of electoral princess Maria Anna and Hofmarschall Graf Maximilian Kurtz, the Ferdinand Maria's policy was in favor of the Habsburg monarchy at the beginning of his reign. In this context blood relations as well as the permanent diplomatic mission of the court of Vienna played an important role. Afterwards a French-Savoyan faction around Hofmarschall Hermann Egon von Fürstenberg and electoral princess Henriette Adelaïde from Savoy gained dominant influence. The cooperation culminated in the conclusion of a Bavarian-French contract in 1670 and was strengthened in 1679 by the marriage alliance between the sister of elector Max Emanuel and the French Dauphin. Furthermore, Bavaria was the only court in the Holy Roman Empire with a high-nobility envoy.

C) France and the Thirteen Swiss Cantons in the Early 18th Century

Andreas Affolter

The project analyses different levels of foreign relations between France and the Swiss Confederacy during the embassy of Claude-Théophile de Bésiade, Marquis d’Avaray (1716–1726). Thus, the focus lies on the one hand on the relations between the sovereign authorities of the Swiss republics and the French court, on the other hand on d’Avaray’s Swiss social network, the analysis of which is made possible on the basis of the ambassador’s vast correspondence with numerous Swiss magistrates and officers. The subproject will examine in what way the diverse political cultures of the Swiss republics – that is their conception of their own states, religious denomination, city state or rural community – influenced the organisation of their foreign relations. Comparing these relations will allow an analysis of the different developments of State formation and foreign relations in the early 18th century and of the factors influencing these developments.

D) Foreign Relations as Communicative Practise: The Principality of Neuchâtel and the Franco-Prussian Relations in the 18th Century

Nadir Weber

In 1707, the principality of Neuchâtel passed from French high nobles to the Prussian kings. The project examines how the extensive political autonomy of the principality and the strong ties of its elites to France influenced the practice of the transboundary relations with its neighbours and the relations between the French and Prussian monarchies. The practices of foreign relations are analysed on three different analytical levels: a macro-level of the sovereigns and their diplomatic interactions, a meso-level of intermediary powers and their involvement in relations of power and neighbourhood, and a micro-level of tied individuals or families. The focus on the interdependencies and interactions between the different levels of action will allow us to understand the functionality of foreign relations in the 18th century as a communicative practise.