The Grand Tour of Mercantilism: Lord Fauconberg’s Italian Mission (1669–1671)

The extraordinary mission of Lord Fauconberg to some Italian states is a pivotal moment in early modern diplomacy, and a most evocative case study of the relationship between Restoration England and Europe in the last decades of the seventeenth century. This essay will provide a close analysis of the mission and its protagonists, aiming at a re-evaluation of English diplomacy through cross-referencing English and Italian documentary evidence, but with a special attention to the Italian side of the story. By analysing how the Republic of Venice and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany – the major Italian trade partners of England –– perceived and interpreted English trade policy, it provides an original analysis of Caroline diplomacy and trade in the early Restoration era.