Renaissance Diplomacy

Modern diplomacy began in the fifteenth century when the Italian city-states established resident embassies at the courts of their neighbors. By the sixteenth century, the forms and techniques of the new continuing diplomacy had spread northward to be further developed by the emerging European powers. "The new Italian institution of permanent diplomacy was drawn into the service of the rising nation-states. and served, like the standing army of which it was the counterpart, at once to nouri...