The Congress of Carlowitz (1698/99)

Konstantinos Poulios, Ph.D. (2024), European University Institute, is a postdoctoral researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He specialises in early modern diplomatic history and peacemaking practices. His research interests encompass early modern conflict resolution mechanisms, with a focus on peace congresses and third-party mediation in south-eastern Europe, the diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and Christian European states, early modern diplomatic archival practices, and the intersection of diplomatic and intellectual history.

Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Notes on Transliteration, Names, Dates, Translation and Specific Terminology

Introduction
 1 Early Modern Peace Congresses: a Widespread, Supracultural Phenomenon
 2 A Western/Central European Apanage
 3 The Carlowitz Congress Historiographic State-of-the-Art
 4 Challenging Eurocentrism
 5 Confronting Cultural Essentialism, Provincialising Westphalia and Demythologising Carlowitz
 6 Approaching an Early Modern Congress: a Methodological Guide
 7 ‘The Carlowitz Congress Theatre of Peace’: the Libretto

Prelude
 1 Alexandros Mavrocordatos
 2 The Failed Vienna Congress and the Concept of the ‘Honourable Peace’
 3 War and Peace in the 1690s

Act I The Preliminaries (Late December 1697–Early October 1698)

Dramatis Personae

Narration Part I: Embarking on the Road to Peace
 1 The First Steps
 2 A Mini Interlude: the Concept of Uti Possidetis
 3 The Play Resumes

Narration Part II: a Mistrust Caused by Distance

Narration Part III: Laying Down the Foundation of Peace
 1 First Scene: Adrianople
 2 Second Scene: Vienna
 3 Third Scene: Following Peter I’s ‘Grand Embassy’
 4 Fourth Scene: Adrianople
 5 Fifth Scene: Warsaw
 6 Sixth Scene: Vienna

Interlude I: Mediation
 1 Mediation, Arbitration, Bons Offices
 2 The Evolution and Proliferation of Peacemaking by Mediation in the Seventeenth Century
 3 Mediators and Mediating Undertakings during the Sixteen Years’ War
 4 Smooth the Negotiation but Do Not Intervene in It? The (Fluid) Position and Duties of a Mediator
 5 Efforts to Win Over the Mediators and Complaints of Their ‘Partisanship’
 6 An Impartial Peace-Maker: the Self-Fashioning of a Mediator
 7 The Tangible Material and Symbolic Benefits of a Mediator
 8 The Various Types of Mediation at the Carlowitz Congress

Narration Part IV: on the Way to the Congress
 1 Quarrels among the Mediators
 2 The Ottoman Response to the Imperial-Venetian Instrument of the Foundation of Peace
 3 The Tsar in Vienna and the Developments in the Allied Camp
 4 Searching in the Archives
 5 The Final French ‘Mediation Gambit’
 6 Apprehension on the Ottoman Side: Prevarications in Vienna
 7 The Arrangement of the Final Details

Act II The Congress Begins (October–Middle November 1698)

Dramatis Personae

Narration Part I: the Arrival of the Delegations
 1 ‘We Have Gathered Here in the Plain of Carlowitz’
 2 ‘All Is Quiet around Carlowitz’
 3 The First Ceremonial Visits
 4 The Exchange of the Plenipotentiaries’ Credentials
 5 The Drafting of the Congress Regulation

Interlude II: the Ceremonial
 1 What Is the Ceremonial
 2 Terminology
 3 Ceremonial Regulations in Seventeenth-Century Peace Congresses Prior to Carlowitz
 4 The Pioneering Ceremonial Ordering of the Carlowitz Congress
 5 The Carlowitz Participants’ Hierarchical Conception of the ‘Society of Polities’
 6 Status Projection Instances and Means
 7 The (Disputed) Ceremonial Equality of the Principal Members of an Embassy
 8 The Ceremonial Forms Retained during the Talks
 9 The Ceremonial of the Signing of the Instruments of the Peace Treaties
 10 The Farewell Visits
 11 Ceremonial Strife during the Congress: a Short Prelude
 12 ‘Worse than a Fight of Cats and Mice’: the Fierce Muscovite–Commonwealth Ceremonial Dispute
 13 The ‘Tents Incident’ No. 2
 14 Who Is to Sit First at the Table with the Ottomans?
 15 ‘Faked’ Ceremonial Disputes?

Narration Part II: the Arcana Congressus
 1 The Secret Negotiations between Voznitsyn and the Ottoman Delegation
 2 Polish Secret Dealings
 3 Venetian Anxieties
 4 Count Marsigli’s Moves
 5 And the Mediators …
 6 The Spy

Interlude III: Being a Plenipotentiary Ambassador
 1 Clarifying the Terms
 2 Portraits of the Carlowitz Plenipotentiaries
 3 The Supra-cultural Traits of an Ambassador
 4 Crash-Courses for Newly Appointed Plenipotentiaries
 5 The Various Social Roles of an Early Modern Ambassador
 6 Striving for Partaking in the Glory of Peace
 7 More and Less Innocent ‘Gifts’
 8 The Daily Routine and Obligations of a Plenipotentiary Ambassador
 9 Ambassadorial Self-Portrayal
 10 How Plenipotentiary Was a Plenipotentiary?

Act III The Central Phase of the Congress (13 November– 20 December 1698)

Dramatis Personae

Narration Part I: Sur la manière de négocier entre les plénipotentiaires
 1 How to Set About the Congress Negotiations and in Which Mode to Pursue Them?
 2 The Fate of Transylvania Is Sealed

At the Negotiating Table I: Territorial Claims, Possession and Border Making
 1 The Territorial Aspirations of the Participants of the Carlowitz Congress
 2 ‘Uti Possidetis Sequel’: the Congress Playing Out
 3 Who Possesses What?
 4 Borders: Some Preliminary Thoughts
 5 The Terms
 6 ‘Natural’ and Artificial Boundaries
 7 Border-Making Tools
 8 No-Man’s Land and the Issue of Fortresses
 9 Controlling the Borderlands
 10 A ‘Closing’ of the Frontier?

At the Negotiating Table II: Smaller South-Eastern European Polities as Discussion Topics during the Congress
 1 Ragusan Manoeuvrings
 2 What Is to Be Done with the Tatars?

Interlude IV: the Physical and Social Environment of the Congress
 1 The Practical Choice of the Plain of Carlowitz
 2 Transforming the ‘Wilderness’
 3 A Multicultural Social Environment
 4 The Congress’s ‘Public Opinion’
 5 Instances of Ensemble Social Interaction
 6 The ‘Other’

Narration Part II: Peace Is Ostensibly Drawing Near … at Least for Most
 1 The Imperials
 2 Venice
 3 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
 4 Muscovy
 5 New Rapproachments in the Allied Camp
 6 The Ottomans

Interlude V: the Composition of an Embassy
 1 ‘The More the Better’: the General Structure and Size of a Congress Embassy
 2 Family Members
 3 Noblemen
 4 The Secretary
 5 Interpreters
 6 Special Advisers
 7 Physicians and Priests
 8 Postmen, Cooks, Provisioners, Hajduks, Servants and Others

Narration Part III: Meanwhile in Vienna …
 1 ‘You Take It, or You Leave It’
 2 Francesco Loredano at the Imperial Court

Act IV The Grand Finale (20 December 1698–5 February 1699)

Dramatis Personae

Narration Part I: ‘The Ultimate Great Obstacle for Peace’
 1 Setting the Stage for the Final Act
 2 The Unsuccessful Restart of the Ottoman–Venetian Talks

At the Negotiating Table III: Peace or Truce/Armistice? The Duration of the Treaties
 1 Religion: the ‘X Factor’?
 2 Terminology
 3 Temporal Validity of the Agreements
 4 Which Type of Agreement to Pick?

Narration Part II: the Deadline
 1 Ruzzini Remains Firm: the Imperials Actively Intervene
 2 Voznitsyn’s Moves
 3 Apprehension at the Imperial Court
 4 Time Is Running Out

Narration Part III: the Finale
 1 Reconciliation in Public Display: the Signing Ceremonies
 2 When Is Peace Considered Concluded?
 3 The Last Days of the Congress

Conclusions
Archival Material
Published Sources
Bibliography
Webpages
Index

This book will be particularly relevant for students and specialists interested in early modern diplomatic history, southeastern European history, and the history of international law.