The Congress of Carlowitz (1698/99) : Supra-cultural Diplomatic Norms and Practices of Peacemaking at the End of the Seventeenth Century / Konstantinos Poulios.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Poulios, Konstantinos, author.

Series:

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books online, Collection 2026.

Legal History Library ; 82/29.

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books online, Collection 2026

Legal History Library ; 82/29

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Sremski Karlovci, Peace of, 1699.

Early Modern History.

History.

Law--History.

Law.

Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918.

Turkey.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (518 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Supra-cultural Diplomatic Norms and Practices of Peacemaking at the End of the Seventeenth Century

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill | Nijhoff, 2026.

Language Note:

English and French

Summary:

This book delivers the first comprehensive analysis of the Peace Congress of Carlowitz (1698/99), challenging traditional Eurocentric views on early modern diplomacy. It demonstrates that peacemaking norms and practices were largely ‘supra-cultural’—transcending cultural and religious divides across Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Carlowitz emerges as a significant multi-religious congress that introduced pioneering practices, particularly in ceremonial regulations. By confronting cultural essentialism, provincialising the Westphalian congress-model paradigm, and demythologising Carlowitz as a decisive political turning point—notably marking the adoption of a Western European-style diplomacy by cultural ‘outliers’ such as the Ottoman Empire and Muscovy—this study offers fresh insights into the complexity and polycentric nature of early modern multilateral diplomacy.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

List of Figures and Tables

Abbreviations

Notes on Transliteration, Names, Dates, Translation and Specific Terminology

Introduction

1 Early Modern Peace Congresses: a Widespread, Supracultural Phenomenon

2 A Western/Central European Apanage

3 The Carlowitz Congress Historiographic State-of-the-Art

4 Challenging Eurocentrism

5 Confronting Cultural Essentialism, Provincialising Westphalia and Demythologising Carlowitz

6 Approaching an Early Modern Congress: a Methodological Guide

7 ‘The Carlowitz Congress Theatre of Peace’: the Libretto

Prelude

1 Alexandros Mavrocordatos

2 The Failed Vienna Congress and the Concept of the ‘Honourable Peace’

3 War and Peace in the 1690s

Act I The Preliminaries (Late December 1697–Early October 1698)

Dramatis Personae

Narration Part I: Embarking on the Road to Peace

1 The First Steps

2 A Mini Interlude: the Concept of Uti Possidetis

3 The Play Resumes

Narration Part II: a Mistrust Caused by Distance

Narration Part III: Laying Down the Foundation of Peace

1 First Scene: Adrianople

2 Second Scene: Vienna

3 Third Scene: Following Peter I’s ‘Grand Embassy’

4 Fourth Scene: Adrianople

5 Fifth Scene: Warsaw

6 Sixth Scene: Vienna

Interlude I: Mediation

1 Mediation, Arbitration, Bons Offices

2 The Evolution and Proliferation of Peacemaking by Mediation in the Seventeenth Century

3 Mediators and Mediating Undertakings during the Sixteen Years’ War

4 Smooth the Negotiation but Do Not Intervene in It? The (Fluid) Position and Duties of a Mediator

5 Efforts to Win Over the Mediators and Complaints of Their ‘Partisanship’

6 An Impartial Peace-Maker: the Self-Fashioning of a Mediator

7 The Tangible Material and Symbolic Benefits of a Mediator

8 The Various Types of Mediation at the Carlowitz Congress

Narration Part IV: on the Way to the Congress

1 Quarrels among the Mediators

2 The Ottoman Response to the Imperial-Venetian Instrument of the Foundation of Peace

3 The Tsar in Vienna and the Developments in the Allied Camp

4 Searching in the Archives

5 The Final French ‘Mediation Gambit’

6 Apprehension on the Ottoman Side: Prevarications in Vienna

7 The Arrangement of the Final Details

Act II The Congress Begins (October–Middle November 1698)

Narration Part I: the Arrival of the Delegations

1 ‘We Have Gathered Here in the Plain of Carlowitz’

2 ‘All Is Quiet around Carlowitz’

3 The First Ceremonial Visits

4 The Exchange of the Plenipotentiaries’ Credentials

5 The Drafting of the Congress Regulation

Interlude II: the Ceremonial

1 What Is the Ceremonial

2 Terminology

3 Ceremonial Regulations in Seventeenth-Century Peace Congresses Prior to Carlowitz

4 The Pioneering Ceremonial Ordering of the Carlowitz Congress

5 The Carlowitz Participants’ Hierarchical Conception of the ‘Society of Polities’

6 Status Projection Instances and Means

7 The (Disputed) Ceremonial Equality of the Principal Members of an Embassy

8 The Ceremonial Forms Retained during the Talks

9 The Ceremonial of the Signing of the Instruments of the Peace Treaties

10 The Farewell Visits

11 Ceremonial Strife during the Congress: a Short Prelude

12 ‘Worse than a Fight of Cats and Mice’: the Fierce Muscovite–Commonwealth Ceremonial Dispute

13 The ‘Tents Incident’ No. 2

14 Who Is to Sit First at the Table with the Ottomans?

15 ‘Faked’ Ceremonial Disputes?

Narration Part II: the Arcana Congressus

1 The Secret Negotiations between Voznitsyn and the Ottoman Delegation

2 Polish Secret Dealings

3 Venetian Anxieties

4 Count Marsigli’s Moves

5 And the Mediators …

6 The Spy

Interlude III: Being a Plenipotentiary Ambassador

1 Clarifying the Terms

2 Portraits of the Carlowitz Plenipotentiaries

3 The Supra-cultural Traits of an Ambassador

4 Crash-Courses for Newly Appointed Plenipotentiaries

5 The Various Social Roles of an Early Modern Ambassador

6 Striving for Partaking in the Glory of Peace

7 More and Less Innocent ‘Gifts’

8 The Daily Routine and Obligations of a Plenipotentiary Ambassador

9 Ambassadorial Self-Portrayal

10 How Plenipotentiary Was a Plenipotentiary?

Act III The Central Phase of the Congress (13 November– 20 December 1698)

Narration Part I: Sur la manière de négocier entre les plénipotentiaires

1 How to Set About the Congress Negotiations and in Which Mode to Pursue Them?

2 The Fate of Transylvania Is Sealed

At the Negotiating Table I: Territorial Claims, Possession and Border Making

1 The Territorial Aspirations of the Participants of the Carlowitz Congress

2 ‘Uti Possidetis Sequel’: the Congress Playing Out

3 Who Possesses What?

4 Borders: Some Preliminary Thoughts

5 The Terms

6 ‘Natural’ and Artificial Boundaries

7 Border-Making Tools

8 No-Man’s Land and the Issue of Fortresses

9 Controlling the Borderlands

10 A ‘Closing’ of the Frontier?

At the Negotiating Table II: Smaller South-Eastern European Polities as Discussion Topics during the Congress

1 Ragusan Manoeuvrings

2 What Is to Be Done with the Tatars?

Interlude IV: the Physical and Social Environment of the Congress

1 The Practical Choice of the Plain of Carlowitz

2 Transforming the ‘Wilderness’

3 A Multicultural Social Environment

4 The Congress’s ‘Public Opinion’

5 Instances of Ensemble Social Interaction

6 The ‘Other’

Narration Part II: Peace Is Ostensibly Drawing Near … at Least for Most

1 The Imperials

2 Venice

3 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

4 Muscovy

5 New Rapproachments in the Allied Camp

6 The Ottomans

Interlude V: the Composition of an Embassy

1 ‘The More the Better’: the General Structure and Size of a Congress Embassy

2 Family Members

3 Noblemen

4 The Secretary

5 Interpreters

6 Special Advisers

7 Physicians and Priests

8 Postmen, Cooks, Provisioners, Hajduks, Servants and Others

Narration Part III: Meanwhile in Vienna …

1 ‘You Take It, or You Leave It’

2 Francesco Loredano at the Imperial Court

Act IV The Grand Finale (20 December 1698–5 February 1699)

Narration Part I: ‘The Ultimate Great Obstacle for Peace’

1 Setting the Stage for the Final Act

2 The Unsuccessful Restart of the Ottoman–Venetian Talks

At the Negotiating Table III: Peace or Truce/Armistice? The Duration of the Treaties

1 Religion: the ‘X Factor’?

3 Temporal Validity of the Agreements

4 Which Type of Agreement to Pick?

Narration Part II: the Deadline

1 Ruzzini Remains Firm: the Imperials Actively Intervene

2 Voznitsyn’s Moves

3 Apprehension at the Imperial Court

4 Time Is Running Out

Narration Part III: the Finale

1 Reconciliation in Public Display: the Signing Ceremonies

2 When Is Peace Considered Concluded?

3 The Last Days of the Congress

Conclusions

Archival Material

Published Sources

Bibliography

Webpages

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-45849-2

9789004458499

OCLC:

1569123223

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004458499 DOI