George Stepney, 1663-1707: Diplomat and PoetGeorge Stepney was one of the most remarkable men of the end of the seventeenth century. He was considered one of the eight poets worthy of emulation, while 'no Englishman ever understood the affairs of Germany so well, and few Germans better.' A member of the Kit-Cat Club, and respected by Halifax and Marlborough, he - a commoner - was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey by two dukes, two earls and two barons. Despite his importance for students of the period, and the fascination of his story in its own right, the only study of his life to date has been an article in The Huntingdon Library Quarterly from 1946. Miss Spens's biography is therefore a major contribution to scholarship which will prove invaluable to the international academic community. Diplomatic history has tended to focus on the monarchs and princes rather than on the handful of professional diplomats whose job it was to 'lie abroad for their country', of whom Stepney stands as an unusually well-documented example. Besides arousing the enthusiasm of specialists this volume will complement works on figures as diverse as William III and John Dryden. The fruit of over ten years' research in major archival collections throughout Europe, George Stepney provides new and valuable material on a key period of political and military history. |
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Page 282
... Mediators found Rákóczy more determined than ever not to relinquish his disputed title of Prince of Transylvania ; and he insisted that Deputies from that country should participate in the peace congress . More sinister was the fact ...
... Mediators found Rákóczy more determined than ever not to relinquish his disputed title of Prince of Transylvania ; and he insisted that Deputies from that country should participate in the peace congress . More sinister was the fact ...
Page 287
... Mediators that he would be pleased to see all three at Schinta . They went there on 18 July and talked to him without ceremony in his sister's apartment , as they had formerly done in his Lady's . The discussion was about the methods of ...
... Mediators that he would be pleased to see all three at Schinta . They went there on 18 July and talked to him without ceremony in his sister's apartment , as they had formerly done in his Lady's . The discussion was about the methods of ...
Page 288
... Mediators agreed not to deliver this answer to the Hungarian Deputies until the following day , still hoping against hope that a courier would arrive from Vienna . But no news came to Tyrnau , and so the Mediators delivered their final ...
... Mediators agreed not to deliver this answer to the Hungarian Deputies until the following day , still hoping against hope that a courier would arrive from Vienna . But no news came to Tyrnau , and so the Mediators delivered their final ...
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Common terms and phrases
affairs appointment army August Baron Benebourg Blathwayt Bruynincx Cardonnel Charles Montagu Cleves Colt command correspondence Count Frise Count Kaunitz Count Wratislaw Cresset Danckelmann diplomat dispatch Dresden Duke Dutch Earl Elector of Bavaria Elector of Brandenburg Elector of Saxony Elector Palatine Electress Ellis Emperor England favour France Frankfurt French George Stepney Goertz Hague Hamburg Hanover Harley Hedges Heinsius Het Loo Holland horses Hungarian Hungary ibid imperial court instructions James Johnston journey July n.s. Kaunitz King William King's Landgrave later Letters to Stepney Lexington London Lord March n.s. Marlborough Max Emmanuel Mediators ministers negotiations Palatine Pressburg Prince Eugene Prince Louis Queen Rákóczy received Rechteren Rhine Schöning secretary sent Spanish Netherlands Stepney continued Stepney in Dresden Stepney in Vienna Stepney Papers Stepney reported Stepney wrote Stepney's Letter Book Trade treaty troops Tyrnau Vernon Whitehall wished Wratislaw writing Wyche Zell