CEU eTD Collection (2024); Sikora, Ewelina: Table set for diplomats: food, drink, and politics in Poland-Lithuania's diplomatic relations (1674-1696)

CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
Author Sikora, Ewelina
Title Table set for diplomats: food, drink, and politics in Poland-Lithuania's diplomatic relations (1674-1696)
Summary This dissertation addresses the social, cultural, and political dimension of eating and drinking in Poland-Lithuania’s diplomatic landscape during the reign of Jan III Sobieski and Marie Casimire d’Arquien. I argue that hospitality centered around the table was essential for the practice of early modern diplomacy as it involved a wide range of diplomatic actors: kings and queens, dignitaries, ambassadors as well as lower ranking members embassy, envoys, residents, or messengers. By adopting an approach informed by new diplomatic history and cultural food and drink history, my dissertation offers an alternative perspective to the narrative focused solely on evaluating the success of foreign missions in political agreements. Instead, it concentrates on ubiquitous food and drink to paint a more nuanced picture of Polish-Lithuanian diplomacy in the seventeenth century. Taste and diplomatic hospitality serve as the conceptual framework that helps to define the relationship between food, drink, and diplomacy. Consequently, this approach allows me to establish connections between practices previously discussed in isolation, drawing insights from relatively under-researched Polish-Lithuanian examples.
Supervisor Hennings, Jan
Department History PhD
Full texthttps://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/sikora_ewelina.pdf

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