Emotions in Early Modern Diplomacy

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.