Representatives and Proctors

Abstract

Diplomatic representatives and proctors were responsible for managing and shaping the written and oral communication among polities and were to different degrees involved in actual diplomatic missions. The changing domestic and international political circumstances and conflicts that characterized the first decade of Edward III’s reign between 1327 and 1339 led to the increasing specialization of administrative and diplomatic personnel in England and in other leading European polities. We therefore ought to focus on ‘teams of representatives and agents’ with complementary specializations rather than on individuals. In this chapter I exemplify through the means of relevant case studies how between 1306 and 1360 the Anglo-papal diplomatic discourse was managed owing to teams of agents and representatives, firstly focusing on the English representatives at the papal curia and then moving on to papal envoys in England.