Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on August 23, 2022).

This book is about the secret history of Europe. Drawing on the latest research by experts in the field, it opens up the hidden world of the Dangerous Trade: the spying and secret operations that made and broke European nations between 1500 and 1800. Espionage, blackmail and bribery were the Trade's regular tools; assassination, provoking civil war and black propaganda were the ones used for 'special' occasions. But who were the practitioners of these dark arts? How were they recruited? What did they achieve? By exploring the lives of spies and secret agents such as Giacomo Casanova, Nathaniel Hooke, Melchor de Macanaz and many more, the book reveals the unknown story that underlies the making of modern Europe.

In English.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The 'Dangerous Trade' in Early Modern Europe -- 1 Diego Guzm�an de Silva and Sixteenth-century Venice: A Case Study in Structural Intelligence Failure -- 2 Oxenstierna's Spies: Sir James Spens and the Organisation of Covert Operations in Early Seventeenth-century Sweden -- 3 'Woeful Knight': Sir Robert Walsh and the Fragmented World of the Double Agent -- 4 Nathaniel Hooke and the Dynamics of Covert Operations in Eighteenth-century France -- 5 The Fallen Politician's Way Back In: Melchor de Macanaz as Spy and Secret Negotiator -- 6 Giacomo Casanova and the Venetian Inquisitors: A Domestic Espionage System in Action in Eighteenth-century Europe -- Notes -- Index

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