Abstract

Despite the increasing scholarly interest in gender and diplomacy, the ways in which masculinity impacted upon early modern ambassadors remains virtually unexplored. This article responds to this lacuna by examining early modern diplomacy through the lens of early modern notions of manhood. It first sets out key themes essential to the construction of early modern notions of masculinity before conducting a detailed discussion of how three works on ambassadors by Alberico Gentili, Jean Hotman, and Francis Thynne discussed specific manly attributes that were particular to the circumstances of embassy and constructed a notion of diplomatic manhood. The final section briefly analyses how several of these areas played out in practice, paying particular attention to an ambassador’s learning, physical activities, and household management. This article argues that we should take concerns about masculinity seriously as a factor influencing both ambassadorial behaviour and responses to ambassadors’ actions. The very nature of diplomatic service seemingly precluded one preeminent field in which men asserted their manhood—the martial arena—and other key components of masculinity could be difficult to maintain adequately during embassy for practical reasons. This led ambassadors to adopt compensatory strategies of various kinds in order to maintain their manly reputations at home and at their host court.

摘要

尽管学术界对性别和外交的兴趣日益浓厚，但男性气质如何影响早期现代大使的方式几乎仍未得到探索。本文通过早期现代男子气概的视角审视早期现代外交来回应这一空白。它首先列出了构建早期现代男性气质概念所必需的关键主题，然后详细讨论了阿尔贝里科·真蒂利 (Alberico Gentili)、让·霍特曼 (Jean Hotman) 和弗朗西斯·泰恩 (Francis Thynne) 的三部关于大使的作品如何讨论大使馆和构建了外交男子气概的概念。最后一节简要分析了其中几个领域在实践中的表现，特别关注大使的学习、体育活动和家庭管理。本文认为，我们应该认真对待对男性气质的关注，将其视为影响大使行为和对大使行为的反应的一个因素。外交服务的本质似乎排除了一个男性可以彰显男子气概的卓越领域——军事竞技场——而由于实际原因，男性气质的其他关键组成部分在大使馆期间可能难以充分维持。这导致大使们采取各种补偿策略，以保持他们在国内和东道国宫廷中的男子气概。外交服务的本质似乎排除了一个男性可以彰显男子气概的卓越领域——军事竞技场——而由于实际原因，男性气质的其他关键组成部分在大使馆期间可能难以充分维持。这导致大使们采取各种补偿策略，以保持他们在国内和东道国宫廷中的男子气概。外交服务的本质似乎排除了一个男性可以彰显男子气概的卓越领域——军事竞技场——而由于实际原因，男性气质的其他关键组成部分在大使馆期间可能难以充分维持。这导致大使们采取各种补偿策略，以保持他们在国内和东道国宫廷中的男子气概。