La Diplomacia Portuguesa durante el Antiguo Régimen. Perfil sociológico y trayectorias

Abstract

This article uses a comparative approach to describe the sociological outline of Portuguese diplomacy during the Old Regime. Based on a prosopographic database of the two hundred and thinty seven individuals who headed up the diplomatic missions of the Lusitanian Crown between 1640 and 1834, the article describes the (social and institutional) criteria for selection of those royal servants, and their trajectories before and after their diplomatic service. The database material studied shows that, as in other sectors of the royal administration, the aristocracy also played an important role in the diplomatic sphere. However, the data collected also reveals a somewhat surprising fact: that there were no hegemonic ways of accessing the diplomatic career – it was possible to reach this sector by having served in any of the branches of the administration (the army, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the church), and we even found many diplomats who had not done prior service in any central institution. This situation of a relative lack of definition in recruitment does not applied to other Crown institutions and points to the markedly political nature of a significant number of diplomatic staff. Finally, the information analysed also shows that the diplomatic service was the anteroom to several prominent careers in politics, especially in the eighteenth century – the majority of the secretaries of state of the King’s government came out of the diplomatic ranks. This article uses a comparative approach to describe the sociological outline of Portuguese diplomacy during the Old Regime. Based on a prosopographic database of the two hundred and thinty seven individuals who headed up the diplomatic missions of the Lusitanian Crown between 1640 and 1834, the article describes the (social and institutional) criteria for selection of those royal servants, and their trajectories before and after their diplomatic service. The database material studied shows that, as in other sectors of the royal administration, the aristocracy also played an important role in the diplomatic sphere. However, the data collected also reveals a somewhat surprising fact: that there were no hegemonic ways of accessing the diplomatic career – it was possible to reach this sector by having served in any of the branches of the administration (the army, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the church), and we even found many diplomats who had not done prior service in any central institution. This situation of a relative lack of definition in recruitment does not applied to other Crown institutions and points to the markedly political nature of a significant number of diplomatic staff. Finally, the information analysed also shows that the diplomatic service was the anteroom to several prominent careers in politics, especially in the eighteenth century – the majority of the secretaries of state of the King’s government came out of the diplomatic ranks. This article uses a comparative approach to describe the sociological outline of Portuguese diplomacy during the Old Regime. Based on a prosopographic database of the two hundred and thinty seven individuals who headed up the diplomatic missions of the Lusitanian Crown between 1640 and 1834, the article describes the (social and institutional) criteria for selection of those royal servants, and their trajectories before and after their diplomatic service. The database material studied shows that, as in other sectors of the royal administration, the aristocracy also played an important role in the diplomatic sphere. However, the data collected also reveals a somewhat surprising fact: that there were no hegemonic ways of accessing the diplomatic career – it was possible to reach this sector by having served in any of the branches of the administration (the army, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the church), and we even found many diplomats who had not done prior service in any central institution. This situation of a relative lack of definition in recruitment does not applied to other Crown institutions and points to the markedly political nature of a significant number of diplomatic staff. Finally, the information analysed also shows that the diplomatic service was the anteroom to several prominent careers in politics, especially in the eighteenth century – the majority of the secretaries of state of the King’s government came out of the diplomatic ranks. This article uses a comparative approach to describe the sociological outline of Portuguese diplomacy during the Old Regime. Based on a prosopographic database of the two hundred and thinty seven individuals who headed up the diplomatic missions of the Lusitanian Crown between 1640 and 1834, the article describes the (social and institutional) criteria for selection of those royal servants, and their trajectories before and after their diplomatic service. The database material studied shows that, as in other sectors of the royal administration, the aristocracy also played an important role in the diplomatic sphere. However, the data collected also reveals a somewhat surprising fact: that there were no hegemonic ways of accessing the diplomatic career – it was possible to reach this sector by having served in any of the branches of the administration (the army, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the church), and we even found many diplomats who had not done prior service in any central institution. This situation of a relative lack of definition in recruitment does not applied to other Crown institutions and points to the markedly political nature of a significant number of diplomatic staff. Finally, the information analysed also shows that the diplomatic service was the anteroom to several prominent careers in politics, especially in the eighteenth century – the majority of the secretaries of state of the King’s government came out of the diplomatic ranks. vv