Constantinople Confidential: News and Information in the Diary of Jean-Louis Rigo (c.1686-1756), Secretary of the Dutch Embassy in Istanbul

Over the last decades, the focus of diplomatic history has shifted from political relations to the cultural and social history of diplomacy. New Diplomatic History looks at topics such as rituals, borders, networks and families of diplomats. For this kind of research, Ottoman-European diplomacy has been at the centre of attention. This essay aims to bring to light a unique source, which has never been studied extensively. Jean-Louis Rigo, secretary of the Dutch embassy, kept for a period of nearly thirty years (1727-1744 and 1747-1756) a diary about life and diplomacy in Istanbul. The value of... Mehr ...