Michele Argentini
Hi there!
I am Michele, one of the PhD students for DiplomatiCon. I grew up between Venice and Padua, and these cities also marked my academic path. I earned my bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Padua. Then, I moved to the University of Venice for my master’s degree in History from the Me. Here I graduated with a thesis about the overlooked conflict that happened in 1537-1540 between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, titled “La guerra turco-veneziana 1537-1540: la stretta di due imperi sulla Serenissima (The Turkish-Venetian War 1537-1540: The grasp of two Empires on the Serenissima)”. I analyzed the various stages of the military crisis, the financial innovations introduced by the Venetians to raise money for defending their maritime possessions, and the divergences between the city’s ruling councils and the disagreements within the patriciate. To be able to have further information about the political climate in Venice through the years of the war, I studied the diplomatic letters of the Mantuan ambassador residing in the city, Benedetto Agnello, who informed his duke with almost daily dispatches about what was happening in the councils and what were rumors circulating through the Venetian calli.
The study of these documents from the State Archives of Mantua sparked my curiosity on the figure of ambassadors, their role, and their correspondence, and made me want to further research on the matter. When I heard of the DiplomatiCon project and that it was looking for PhD students, I thought: “This is the perfect fit!”, it aligns perfectly with my interests but adds a fascinating twist: the relations with the Islamic side of the Mediterranean. I knew I had to apply. And here we are, starting from September 2023 I am part of the Liège-based team – which includes PhD students Marta Mansio Rubio, Queralt Penedès Fradera, and the postdoc Bogdan Smarandache. Under the supervision of Frédéric Bauden and Isabella Lazzarini my role in the project is within Work Package 2, the one devoted to Diplomatic Networks. In particular, I am focusing on the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Venice and the Mamluk Sultanate, from the late 14th century to the end of the Cairo Sultanate in 1517. In this period, the Serenissima held the most important position in the commerce with the Eastern Mediterranean, but the scope of my project, as is the scope of the bigger DiplomatiCon endeavor, is to detach from the trade-centered narrative and switch to diplomacy and the ways of interactions among the two sides of the Mediterranean.
The project will analyze the perspectives of both the diplomatic agents and the state actors, regarding the complex dynamics of relations between Venice and the Mamluks, about, for example, but not limited to, the issue of Cyprus, the relations with the Ottomans and other troublesome neighbors, and the opening by the Portuguese of the Ocean route for the spice trade, and how these developed through time. In my research I will highlight the intertwined nature, formal and informal, of Venetian agents, their roles, their connections, the extent of their networks and their ways of interaction.
To pursue my investigation, I will conduct extended research in the Archives and Libraries of Venice to collect information about the agents involved in the diplomatic exchanges between the two powers. Unfortunately, though, most of the documentation produced by the Venetian diplomatic agents themselves, such as dispatches, after-mission relations, etc., up until the first half of the 16th century was destroyed in two fires in 1574 and 1577 that interested the Ducal Palace, the location at the time of the chancellery and the archive. Therefore, other sources are needed to unveil the networks of the agents of Venetian diplomacy in the relations with the Mamluks. For the institutional part, there are multiple official records of the decisions of the ruling councils (Senato Misti/Secreta/Mar, Consiglio di X, etc.) that are paramount to study because they show the perspective of the state actors and illustrate the framework within which the agents had to operate. Private documents, like letters and notarial deeds, can be used in conjunction to help shed light on the people acting in situ, that is in the territories under Mamluk rule. These documents can be found in the collection of the Procuratori di San Marco, who as executors of wills in their documents merged the personal papers of the testators, and in private archives that over time found their way into the State Archives or in the Archive of the Library of Museo Correr. Finally, chronicles, diaries, and travel reports must also be included in the range of sources that will be used. All in all, the collection of information about the people involved in the diplomatic exchanges with the Mamluks, will be essential in composing a prosopographical study of the diplomatic agents from Venice operating in the Eastern Mediterranean.