Afterword: Beyond Western Europe

Mainly drawing on evidence from Scandinavia, the Holy Roman Empire, the British Isles, France, Spain, and Italy, Rebellion and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe aimed to offer insights into how diplomatic actors emerged as key information brokers, interpreters, and engineers of revolts during the “general crisis” of the seventeenth century. While they closely observed each other’s practices, it has become clear that diplomatic engagement with internal conflicts was far from formalized, institutionalized, and uniform. How information about uprisings, revolts, and civil wars circulated across borders strongly depended on the networks and choices of individual ambassadors, the local particularities of the armed conflicts in question, and the communication strategies of the authorities involved. Further evidence from diplomatic actors and regions not represented in this book would unquestionably yield deeper insight into the interrelations between rebellions and diplomacy in early modern Europe. The aim of this afterword, therefore, is to address some key regions and themes that exceeded the scope of this collection of essays but which merit closer investigation.