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The Preparation of Embassies and the Protocols Followed by Royal Portuguese Ambassadors in the Late Middle Ages

2019; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.26300/nfna-t755

1645-6432

Maria Cristina Almeida e Cunha, Paula Pinto Costa, Duarte Maria Monteiro de Babo Marinho,

Historical Education and Society

EnglishDiplomatic correspondence and the information transmitted through letters of instruction, which gavediplomatsthe necessary support for the performance of their duties, have become a highly important subject in the study of medieval diplomacy. In documents of this type, we can find some quite remarkable and valuable information about what could or could not be said in diplomatic contexts, outlining the rituals, attitudes, and procedures that a diplomat was required to adopt in the course of his international mission. Together with the letters of instruction, diplomats also carried with them letters of credence (commonly known ascredentials). These werethe documents that the various monarchs gave to their legitimate representatives, and which were designed to be presented at the courts visited by each diplomatic mission. These letters were essential for guaranteeing the correct conduct of negotiations, since, besides presenting the diplomats and expressing the wish that they be afforded credence in their role, these documents also explained the purpose of their missions. Thus ,letters of instruction and credence are fundamental tools that enable historians to complete the picture of external relations through the description that they provide of other aspects of communication and symbolic representation, which sometimes tend to go unnoticed in different types of documents. In order to better understand certain fundamental aspects of this analysis, we complemented the information obtained from the aforementioned documentation with data from other documentary sources that indicate some of the protocols that were used in dealings with princes and kings of other realms, as well as the specific characteristics that some of the royal counsellors should have. portuguesA correspondencia e troca de informacoes, atraves das cartas de instrucao que davam o suporte necessario a atuacao de um diplomata, constitui um tema da maior relevância para o estudo da diplomacia medieval. Neste tipo de documentos encontram-se informacoes bastante singulares sobre o que podia ou nao ser proferido nesses contextos: os rituais, as atitudes e os procedimentos que um agente diplomatico deveria assumir na sua missao internacional. A par das cartas de instrucao, os diplomatas tambem se faziam acompanhar por cartas de crenca (tambem designadas por credenciais), documentos entregues pelos diversos monarcas aos seus representantes legitimos, a fim de serem apresentadas no destino de cada missao diplomatica. Estas cartas eram imprescindiveis a boa execucao das negociacoes, pois, alem de apresentarem os diplomatas e manifestarem a vontade de que se lhes fizesse crenca, tambem expunham os propositos das proprias missoes. Deste modo, as cartas de instrucao e de crenca sao instrumentos fundamentais para que o historiador possa complementar o quadro das relacoes externas, atendendo a outras vertentes mais do foro da comunicacao e da representacao simbolica e que por vezes passam despercebidas noutras tipologias documentais. Com o proposito de melhor compreender os aspetos fundamentais envolvidos nesta analise, completamos os dados da documentacao ja referida com os de outras fontes documentais que indicam alguns formularios especificos a usar em atos enderecados aos governantes de outros reinos, bem como as carateristicas que alguns dos conselheiros regios deveriam ter.