Book I Diplomacy in General, 4 The Language, Forms, and Means of Diplomatic Intercourse

4.1 Latin, being the written language not only of the Roman Empire, but also of its successor the Holy Roman Empire and of the Roman Catholic Church, was not surprisingly the written language of most early European diplomacy. It had the advantage of being a neutral language but the drawback of being little understood in that period beyond the ranks of the clergy.1 From the Renaissance onward, instructions to diplomatic representatives began to be framed in the language of the envoy’s own country, though the use of Latin was common until the eighteenth century.2...