ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the various forms of diplomatic representation of the Florentine Republic toward the King of Hungary in the pre-Medici period and to compare the Florentine case, to the extent possible, with other north Italian examples. It looks at the language and the frequency of state letters which the Florentine chancery addressed to the Hungarian monarchs. The chapter analyzes the regularity and the composition of dispatching diplomatic contingents aimed at reaching the court while in Hungary. It intends to assess the relative importance of the Florentine community in Hungary, which represented the Republic on a permanent basis. Since the Kingdom of Hungary, indeed, became an important political ally to pre-Medici Florence, an analysis of the diplomatic relations between the two states might shed a new light on some aspects of Florentine diplomatic practices. Through the example of Hungary, the chapter also addresses more generalized questions regarding the pre-Medici diplomacy.
