Chair of Early Modern History Florian Pfeiffer, M.A.

Historisches Seminar
Grabengasse 3-5 | Room 220A
69117 Heidelberg

Phone number: 06221/54-2442
E-Mail: florian.pfeiffer@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de

Mailing address
ZEGK | Historisches Seminar
Grabengasse 3–5
69117 Heidelberg

Office hours
Grabengasse 3-5 | Room 220A
By appointment via email

Since 04/2019
Research assistant at the Chair of Modern History (Early Modern Period) at Heidelberg University

2015–2017
Franco-German Master's program (M.A.) in History at Heidelberg University and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Paris (EHESS)

2011–2015
Bachelor's degree in Historical Cultural Studies (B.A.) at the University of Passau

Functions and scope of action of lower-ranking diplomatic actors at the court of Louis XIV.

Diplomacy and foreign relations in the age of Louis XIV are considered to be comparatively well researched in many respects. Since the early 1990s at the latest, the field of research has opened up methodologically and diversified thematically under the marked influence of cultural history. Numerous studies have examined, among other things, contemporary foreign relations, the development of theories on negotiation and ambassadorship, peace congresses, practices of communication and representation, intercultural exchange, and the role of selected actors. However, with a few exceptions, lower-ranking diplomatic actors such as agents and residents have received comparatively little attention. Many of their reports and correspondence still await in-depth scholarly examination in the archives.

Against this background, this dissertation project examines the role of lower-ranking diplomatic actors at the court of Louis XIV and compares selected case studies on the basis of the following research questions. What function did lower-ranking diplomats fulfill in the triad of representation, information, and communication? What networks and access did they establish to decision-makers and resource distributors? What did their frequently observed activities in the service of several princes or states entail? How did they differ from ambassadors, and what role did they play in times when diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level were broken off?

• Kryptographie in der Kommunikationspraxis niederrangiger Gesandter in Paris im Zeitalter Ludwigs XIV.
  Heidelberg, 11.4.2024, Internationale Tagung "Kryptographie in Theorie und Praxis im deutsch-französischen Kontext (1300-1800)"
• „Kleine“ Diplomaten, große Bedeutung? Zwei niederrangige Gesandte am Hof Ludwigs XIV.
  Heidelberg, 24.5.2023, Neuzeit-Kolloquium des Historischen Seminars der Universität Heidelberg
• "[J]e n'ay pas manques de parler a Mons^r de Torcy": Rapports d'Élisabeth-Charlotte au monde politique et diplomatique au travers de son contact avec le diplomate Daniel de Martine.
  Versailles, 10.11.2022, Internationale Tagung „Von Heidelberg nach Versailles. Elisabeth-Charlotte von der Pfalz, ‚Liselotte‘ (1652–1722–2022)“

Articles:

• Der Wettstreit um die Weimarische Armee und Karl Ludwigs Gefangenschaft in Frankreich 1639/1640, in: Königskinder. Exilerfahrungen und Lebenswege der Pfälzer Wittelsbacher im Europa des 17. Jahrhunderts, hg. v. Sven Externbrink/Susan Richter, Heidelberg 2024 (Heidelberger Abhandlungen zur Mittleren und Neueren Geschichte. Neue Folge, Bd. 28), S. 81–116.

Reviews:

• Rezension zu: Indravati Félicité: Le Saint-Empire face au monde. Contestations et redéfinitions de l’impérialité, XVe–XIXe siècle, Paris 2024 (CNRS Éditions), in: Francia-Recensio 2025/1, 

  https://doi.org/10.11588/frrec.2025.1.109493

• Rezension zu: Elisabeth Ruffert: Das Gesandtschaftszeremoniell des brandenburgisch-preußischen Hofes um 1700, Berlin 2022 (Quellen und Forschungen zur brandenburgischen und preußischen Geschichte, Bd. 55), in: Francia-Recensio 2023/3, 

  https://doi.org/10.11588/frrec.2023.3.99914

• Rezension zu: Lisa Sanner, »Als wäre das Ende der Welt da«. Die Explosionskatastrophen in der BASF 1921 und 1948, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2015 (Veröffentlichungen des Stadtarchivs Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Bd. 42), in: Francia-Recensio 2018/1, 

  https://doi.org/10.11588/frrec.2018.1.45926

Winter semester 2025/26:
Proseminar: Court masters, scholars, and experts: The development and circulation of knowledge and personnel at German courts in the Baroque era

Summer semester 2025:
Excursion: Weikersheim Palace: Exploration and research of a 17th- and 18th-century imperial count's palace and garden ensemble

Winter semester 2024/25:
Proseminar: Life and death in the Thirty Years' War

Summer semester 2024:
Excursion: Rastatt Palace: Representation of power, warfare, and peace diplomacy in the 18th century

Winter semester 2023/24:
Proseminar: Interdependence – Negotiation – Change: European diplomacy from 1713 to 1740

Summer semester 2023:
Practice class: In the shadow of the ambassadors? Imperial diplomacy at the court of Louis XIV.

Winter semester 2022/23:
Source exercise: The Rhine Confederation of 1658. Junction of internal and foreign policy lines of conflict in the Old Empire.

Winter semester 2021/22:
Proseminar: Diplomacy and espionage in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Winter semester 2020/21:
Source exercise: Le parfait ambassadeur. Diplomatic treatise literature of the 17th century.

Summer semester 2020:
Proseminar: The European state system in the 17th century.

Winter semester 2019/20:
Practice class: Cultural history of diplomacy in the early modern period.