Table of Contents
Messengers of the gods: the foundations of diplomatic immunity -- Voice of empire: the tradition of ancient Rome -- Angels of peace: the legacy of Rome and the influence of Christianity -- Foxes at play: envoys and the establishment of permanent embassies in the renaissance -- The enemy within: the fractionalization of Christendom during the reformation -- Actors on a European stage: the absolute court as Theatrum Mundi -- The arena of the gladiators: the ephemeral triumph of natural law -- Emissaries of sedition: French revolutionaries and diplomatic privilege -- A superannuated elite? The triumph of functionalism in the nineteenth century -- Representatives of "civilization": the expansion of the European international order -- The early twentieth century: diplomats and the passing of an era -- Diplomats and the new barbarism -- A diplomatic analogy: international functionaries and their privileges.