CRC 496 A9 - Visuality of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe. The Symbolic Staging in International Political Communication

Basic data for this project

Description

The diplomacy of the courts in late medieval Western Europe was enacted by means of symbolic acts. Meetings of rulers, receptions of diplomatic missions, peace and contract negotiations followed well-rehearsed procedural forms and the value systems and hermeneutic patterns of the European courtly culture. Staged political purposes made it possible to come to agreements on the subjects of negotiations through consensus. The sub-project researches function and significance of such symbolic stagings. After reviewing essential forms of diplomatic ritualisation and their visual representation, the focus in the final phase will shift to the requirements and limits of usage, manipulation and transition of diplomatic sign language. ‚Intercultural‘ diplomatic contacts will in the process be researched in the same way as targeted breaches of the rules and satirical persiflage of diplomatic rituals.