BOOK REVIEW: Dante Fedele, Naissance de la diplomatie moderne (XIIIe-XVIIe siècles). L’ambassadeur au croisement du droit, de l’éthique et de la politique (American Journal of Legal History)

(image source: Oxford)

The American Journal of Legal History published my review of dr. Dante Fedele’s excellent Naissance de la diplomatie moderne. A book worth reading for any researcher in early modern and medieval diplomacy or international law.

First paragraph:

This volume is the final form of the Doctoral thesis of Dante Fedele (Research Fellow, KULeuven), written in French under the supervision of Michel Senellart and defended at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon in 2014. Fedele has accomplished an impressive synthesis of literature on diplomacy, stretching from the Middle Ages to Louis XIV. Contextual approaches are currently on the rise.1 However, the present work is both a relativisation and a defense of doctrine as the dominant language of diplomacy.2 The juxtaposition of ethical, political and legal lenses offers novel insights.

Read more on the journal's website.
DOI: 10.1093/ajlh/njy015