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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2009

Andrew Gillett
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
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Summary

This study sprang from several coincidences. I chanced to read Hydatius, Priscus, and Senarius' Epitaph (tucked away in the indexes of Mommsen's edition of Cassiodorus) at much the same time, and was struck not only by the importance of ‘diplomacy’ to all three texts, but also by the fact that while diplomatic communication was a prominent feature in modern literature on the Byzantine East, it was not much evident in studies of the early medieval West. At much the same time, we were all wakened each morning by radio news of the ‘shuttle diplomacy’ preceding the Gulf War of January–February 1991. These tense events suggested parallels with the repeated embassies in Hydatius, and with Senarius' boast of visiting eastern and western capitals twice within one year; more significantly, they focused the mind on the interconnectedness of communication and warfare. Some time later I began to research ‘diplomacy in the West’, but soon became convinced that the fragmentary nature of the sources precluded any meaningful ‘diplomatic history’ of the period, if the purpose of such a history was to gain insight into what our sources call the arcana and secreta of the imperial and royal courts. The most expansive sources tend to describe the policy intentions of the centres of power at best superficially and very rarely with any real claim to insider knowledge; what they are interested in is the importance of embassies to the careers of envoys themselves, or to their local communities.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

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  • Preface
  • Andrew Gillett, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Book: Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533
  • Online publication: 12 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511496318.001
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  • Preface
  • Andrew Gillett, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Book: Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533
  • Online publication: 12 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511496318.001
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Andrew Gillett, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Book: Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West, 411–533
  • Online publication: 12 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511496318.001
Available formats
×