A Spanish eye on Italy: Spanish ambassadors in the sixteenth century

Over the course of the sixteenth century, the Spanish Habsburgs developed a diplomatic system in Italy which bound most of the independent Italian states to Spain, so that by 1559 only Venice and the Papal States remained truly independent from Spanish rule. To control these potential threats to its domination of the Italian peninsula, the Spanish monarchy needed a diplomatic instrument: the resident embassies. The ambassadors acted as diplomats and intelligence officers, and thus served as Spain's eyes on Italy (preventing Rome or Venice from jeopardizing the political stability of the peninsula), as well as in Italy (watching for any internal or external threats to Spanish control).; The dissertation focuses on four ambassadors: Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (ambassador to Venice 1539-46, and to Rome 1547-52), Don Luis de Requesens (ambassador to Rome 1563-68), Don Juan de Zuniga (ambassador to Rome 1568-79), and Diego Guzman de Silva (ambassador to Venice 1571-76). Chapter one describes Spanish diplomacy in Venice, where the ambassadors attempted to maintain the Venetians as allies against the Ottoman Turks. The next two chapters look at diplomacy in Rome, and the ambassadors' attempts to influence the Papacy. Chapter four analyzes the diplomatic effort involved with creating and sustaining a military alliance, or "Holy League," among Spain, Venice and the Papacy between 1570 and 1573. Chapter five examines how the Spanish ambassadors acted as intelligence officers, what kind of information they gathered, and how such information was utilized. In chapter six, I describe how the ambassadors often served as "cultural contacts" between Spain and Italy, channeling Italian artistic and religious artifacts back to Spain.; In conclusion, I suggest that the ambassadors often failed to establish control over Venice or the Papacy, for several reasons. These include the interference of French ambassadors, as well as lack of support from the Spanish monarchs, who sometimes ignored their ambassadors' advice, or made policy decisions which enraged their Italian allies. In the end, however, the most important factor was something completely out of the ambassadors' ability to change: the unwillingness of Venice or the Papacy to be controlled.