Book Chapter

The invisible trade: Commoners and convicts as early modern Venice’s spies

Abstract

Venice was home to one of the earliest centrally organized state intelligence services which was overseen by the Council of Ten. Intelligence was collected both ‘from above’ and ‘from below’. From above, the Ten relied on semi-professional informants such as ambassadors and governors, who picked up information through elite networks and social circles. From below, the Council employed a secret army of amateur spies, often with disreputable backgrounds and motives, who worked either for profit or to have criminal convictions overturned. This chapter discusses the meaning and function of a spy in the early modern period, raising questions about the lack of professionalization that placed spies in the shadows of warfare.

Attached files

Authors

Iordanou, Ioanna

Oxford Brookes departments

Oxford Brookes Business School

Dates

Year of publication: 2022
Date of RADAR deposit: 2022-09-07

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Related resources

This RADAR resource is the Accepted Manuscript of The invisible trade: Commoners and convicts as early modern Venice’s spies
This RADAR resource is Part of Shadow agents of renaissance war: Suffering, supporting, and supplying conflict in Italy and beyond [ISBN: 9789463721356] / edited by Stephen Bowd, Sarah Cockram and John Gagné Price (Amsterdam University Press, 2022).