Studi di archivistica, bibliografia, paleografia

Series | Studi di archivistica, bibliografia, paleografia
Volume | «Con licenza de’ Superiori»
Chapter | Wikileaks nel Seicento: corrieri svaligiati e lettere intercettate durante la Guerra dei Trent’anni

Wikileaks nel Seicento: corrieri svaligiati e lettere intercettate durante la Guerra dei Trent’anni

Abstract

Traiano Boccalini and Ferrante Pallavicino wrote famous fictions centred on mugged couriers and opened mailbags. Actual such cases were frequent during the 30 Years War. This chapter discusses the letters of Alvise Vallaresso, Venetian ambassador in London 1622-1624. They were opened in post-masters’ offices; robbed from couriers by thieves or enemy soldiers; seized together with the ambassador’s personal archive while on the way back to Italy at the end of his mission. As in fiction, groups of readers then read and discussed letters together – including ambassadors, secretaries, ministers and the emperor himself. Such is the frequency of these events that we need to speak not of mishaps but of standard practices.


Open access

Submitted: May 22, 2023 | Published Oct. 23, 2023 | Language: it

Keywords Alvise Vallaresso • Fulgenzio Micanzio • Ferrante Pallavicino • Post-Thirty Years War • Black cabinets • Letter writing • Information

Copyright © 2023 Filippo de Vivo. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-727-2/011


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