In this essay, I examine the information network that Venetians established in Mamluk Egypt between the 15th and the early 16th centuries. The case study is based on two groups of commercial letters from Venetian agents, one from 1419 and the other from the early 1500s. Despite the eighty-year gap, common themes do emerge. Using the approach supported by the ‘New Diplomatic History,’ I argue that the daily interactions between the agents and members of the Egyptian network resemble an informal, second-level diplomacy between non-state actors. In fact, merchant and diplomatic networks often overlapped in practice; I illustrate this in the context of the 1503 mission of Venetian ambassador Benedetto Sanudo.
University of Liège, Belgium - ORCID: 0009-0009-2161-8460
Titolo del capitolo
Si hanno lettere dal Chaiero. Venetian Merchants and Information Gathering in Mamluk Egypt, 15th-16th Century
Autori
Michele Argentini
Lingua
Inglese
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1117-8.05
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Diplomatic Networks in the Medieval Mediterranean
Sottotitolo del libro
Individuals, Groups, and Interactions
Curatori
Isabella Lazzarini, Roser Salicrú i Lluch
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
208
Anno di pubblicazione
2026
Copyright
© 2026 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1117-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1115-4
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1117-8
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1120-8
Collana
Reti Medievali E-Book
ISSN della collana
2704-6362
e-ISSN della collana
2704-6079