Abstract

The author considers some aspects of the life and work of French ambassadors abroad in relation to performing the tasks of representing the royal authority in the second half of the 17th — early 18th centuries, and focuses on two main issues: what were the criteria for selecting the candidates for the post of a diplomatic representative and how the ambassadors used the space of their residence in order to ensure a worthy representation of the king of France. Historians mainly concentrate on the courtly (“internal”) diplomatic ceremonial, while in the historiography its “external” component has not yet been considered in its entirety. This can be explained by the fact that the study of the “external” diplomatic ceremonial is fraught with a number of methodological difficulties, such as, for example, distinguishing it from the ceremonial practice of foreign courts. By the “external” diplomatic ceremonial, the author means a set of norms, methods and principles of conduct that guided the French side when it participated in ceremonies held at foreign courts and also in ceremonies organized by French diplomats abroad. It was these ceremonies — receptions, dinners, celebrations organized by ambassadors — that became one of the objects of research in the article. The second half of the 17th century was a period when France reached its heyday in terms of political superiority on the world stage and unprecedented cultural flourishing. French diplomatic thought came to domineer in Europe at that time, and the norms of court etiquette, in its halcyon days, were a model for many European courts. It can be argued that the study of the diplomatic ceremonial of courtly society at its zenith allows us to come closer to understanding the phenomenon of the royal court as a special entity in the socio-political system of France. Moreover, it takes to a new level of tasks — the definition of the place of the French court in the political system of European courts, further analysis of diplomatic ceremonies of other European countries and interpretation of the role of the ceremonial in diplomacy of the second half of the 17th — early 18th centuries.