‘Nel Theatro di Tutta L’Europa’

This study aims to make available to the scholarly community an important corpus of diplomatic correspondence relating to Venetian history in the late 17th century. It also hopes to promote further investigation of the letters by providing an accurate text, in-depth commentary, and a contextual study of patronage as a framework for understanding the documents.

The 330 letters presented here were sent from Venice to Hanover in 1669–79, and should be understood in the context of the strong political and cultural ties between the Guelph Dukes of Brunswick and the Venetian Republic. They were written during the reign of the Hanoverian Johann Friedrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who succeeded to the duchy in 1665 and continued the long-established political alliance with Venice as well as developing a personal affinity with the city.