Three Hungarian Diplomats’ Emissary Diaries – A Comparative Analysis of Emissary Diaries of János Rimay, Gáspár Tassy and Mihály Tholdalagi in the Context of the 1627 Peace Treaty of Szőny

Abstract

The article focuses on the examination of three emissary diaries related to the Peace Treaty of Szőny (1627). These sources differ considerably from the most widespread sources used in the diplomatic history. The diaries were published earlier but have not been systematically compared yet. These diaries approach the treaty from different perspectives even though they touch upon the same affair. The emissaries arrived to the peace talks with various mandates, resided in different places, and exchanged their correspondence with different persons, thus gaining access to the same pieces of information at different times and/or in different places. Therefore, it is reasonable to pose the following questions: what kind of information was known by whom in a given moment; which specific aspect of the peace talks was concerned; who could exert an influence on the process; and, respectively, how and for what purpose the pieces of information were retrieved from a participant; or how these pieces of information were used by those who belonged to the participant’s network of relations.