Diplomatic Classics provides convenient access to the thought of some of the most important figures writing on diplomacy when modern diplomacy was taking shape in the interval between the end of the Middle Ages and the French Revolution. Lengthy passages from two works, De Vera's Le Parfait Ambassadeur and Pecquet's Discours sur l'art de négocier, appear in English translation for the first time. In the main, the selections have been chosen to highlight the contributions for which the individual writers are best known (for example, the attack by Commynes on 'summitry'), though some have also been picked with a view to modern interests (for example, De Vera's views on women in diplomacy). In the interest of clarity, selections from some of the 14 texts represented have been grouped together under thematic sub-headings, and all are fully introduced, annotated and accompanied by recommendations for further reading.

Author's Preface and Acknowledgements
Series Preface
Introduction
Commynes: The Memoirs
Machiavelli: Advice to Raffaello Girolami
Guicciardini: The Ricordi
Gentili: Three Books on Embassies
Hotman: The Ambassador
Bacon: Of Negotiating
De Vera: The Perfect Ambassador
Grotius: On the Right of Legation
Richelieu: Political Testament
Wicquefort: The Embassador and His Functions
Callières: The Art of Negotiating with Sovereign Princes
Bynkershoek: Jurisdiction over Ambassadors
Pecquet: Discourse on the Art of Negotiating
Vattel: The Law of Nations
Index

G.R. BERRIDGE is Emeritus Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester and a Senior Fellow of DiploFoundation. He was for many years general editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Diplomacy series, and Associate Editor for twentieth century diplomatists of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.