Diplomatic Activities of Councillors to the German Princes During the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648

. In this article the author examines the development of the European diplomatic service during the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648. There was no diplomatic post on the payroll of German princes in the seventeenth century, so it was left to court counsellors to represent the monarch on the foreign policy stage and gather relevant information from outside their dominions, which would influence the choice of international policies. A diplomatic career required a number of factors, among them ancestry, education, and breadth of vision. Practically all of the councillors who represented their patron on the international stage were noblemen, with a few exceptions where a burgher was entrusted with diplomatic functions. All of them were university educated, knew foreign languages and had spent several years abroad travelling. The core responsibilities of counsellors-diplomats included gathering information, which was constantly shifting during the war, and negotiating potential political alliances. Among the duties of diplomatic counsellors, foreign policy activities relating to dynastic marriages occupied a special place. One of the most important qualities of the councillors-diplomats, as repeatedly emphasised in their eulogies, was a pronounced patriotism. The councillors-diplomats themselves saw their diplomatic service as an integral part of their service to the Fatherland. Their patriotism played an important role in shaping German national ideas during the Thirty Years' War, and gradually became an integral part of service in the diplomatic corps.