1st Edition

Languages of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World Europe and the USA

Edited By Gleb Kazakov, Vladislav Rjéoutski Copyright 2026
328 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

328 Pages 13 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book outlines major trends in language use by early modern diplomats, mainly in the European context, through a series of case studies and overviews of regional diplomatic traditions. During the early modern period, linguistic practices in European diplomacy changed drastically, as the decline of Latin and German as diplomatic languages paved the way for the rise of French as a... Read more

List of Figures

About the Authors 

I Introduction 

1.       Languages of Diplomacy in the Early Modern World. An Introduction

Gleb Kazakov and Vladislav Rjéoutski 

II German-Speaking States and the Growing Role of French in European Diplomacy 

2.       German and French in the Diplomacy of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1700–1730

Gleb Kazakov 

3.      The ‘Linguistic Turn’ in Diplomacy in Prussia under Frederick II

Tatjana Trautmann 

4.       Languages in the Diplomatic Correspondence between France and Territories of the Holy Roman Empire

Nina Pösch 

III Linguistic Policies, Language Practices, and Diplomatic Careers 

5.       Models and Practices of Language Use at the Peace Congresses of the Seventeenth Century

Guido Braun 

6.      “Write in no Foreign Language but Solely and Only in Swedish”: Languages of Internal Communication in Swedish Diplomacy, c. 1700–1792

Sophie Holm 

7.      An Empire on the Wane? Language Use and Linguistic Policy in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Diplomacy

Vladislav Rjéoutski 

8.       Language and Career: Karl and Ivan Simolins in the Diplomatic Service of the Russian Empire

Maria A. Petrova

 9.       Language Choice in Eighteenth-Century Diplomatic Ciphers from Europe

Michelle Waldispühl and Beata Megyesi 

IV Languages in Contacts between European and Non-European Powers 

10.   Linguistic Practice in Dutch Diplomacy in Taiwan, 1624–1662

Christopher Joby 

11.   The Eloquence of Ottoman Diplomacy: How Ottomans Acquired and Used Languages in the Eighteenth Century 

Irena Fliter 

12.   Language and Legitimacy: The Entry of American Diplomats into the Francophone World of Diplomacy, 1775–1800

Ellen R. Welch and Jonathan Singerton 

Index

Biography

Gleb Kazakov is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Eastern European History, Historical Institute, Justus Liebig University of Gießen, Germany. He is the author of Die Moskauer Strelitzen-Revolte 1682: diplomatische Spionage, Nachrichtenverkehr und Narrativentransfer zwischen Russland und Europa (Stuttgart, 2021) (The Moscow streltsy revolt of 1682: Diplomatic espionage, circulation of news and transfer of narratives between Russia and Europe).

Vladislav Rjéoutski is Gerda Henkel Fellow at the German Historical Institute in Paris, France, he served as principal investigator of the DFG-funded research project on the languages of diplomacy in eighteenth-century Russia. He is co-author (with Derek Offord and Gesine Argent) of The French Language in Russia: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Literary History (2018).