Abstract
Thehistoryofemotionsisaboomingfield.Voluminoushandbooksandcompendiumsas well as handy introductionshave startedto appear,signallingthe arrival of thesub-fieldat thecore of thediscipline.¹It is nothardto identifyemotionsin thesources thatallowus access to thepast;theyareeverywhere. It is muchless easy,however,tocon-nectpastemotionsandtheirinterpretationto thetraditionalcorefieldsandthemesofhistoricalresearch. Howdoesthe studyofemotionsaffect–rather thanjust illustrate–interpretationsin the fieldsof social, economic,or politicalhistory?Given the difficultyof thistask,theconvergenceof thehistoryof emotionswithmoretraditionalfieldsofresearch hasbeenslow.The historyof politicsis acasein point.Itishardlycontrover-sialthatemotionsareinvolved in politics,nowandthen.Butto what extentdo theyhave explanatorypotentialfor afieldthatremainsfundamentallyinterestedin theex-planationof events?Dedicatedstudiesatthe intersectionof thehistoryof emotionsandpoliticalhistory areclearlyonthe rise andareableto provideilluminatingan-swersto this question,butto datetheyremainfew.²Thisis even morethecaseinthemorespecialisedfieldof diplomatic history–it is no coincidence, afterall, thatit hasbeendubbed“oneof themost conservative”³fieldsof historicalresearch.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Early Modern European Diplomacy |
| Subtitle of host publication | A Handbook |
| Editors | Dorothée Goetze, Lena Oetzel |
| Place of Publication | Berlin |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
| Chapter | 40 |
| Pages | 749-766 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9783110672008 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9783110671933 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Dec 2023 |