Everyone who has spent time working on research projects has experienced the excitement, trials, and tribulations of falling down a literature review rabbit hole. Usually, these start in one of two ways. One way is that you start by learning a cool new fact that inspires you to check the bibliography and before you know it you have one or two dozen downloaded papers that have nothing to do with your research topic that you definitely have time to read. The other way, and perhaps more painful way, that this happens is that you come across a reference to a text that might just solve all of your problems if you could only find it. Sometimes these references are hard to find because they were cited incorrectly. Other times it’s because the text is so old that it is hard to find anyone who still has a copy. Sometimes you find the text you’re looking for only to discover that it is written in a language you are unable to read.
I was thinking about these research rabbit holes a lot while reading Agents of Empire, a book that was written because just over twenty years its author Noel Malcolm was reading a late 16th-century book that referenced a treatise by an Albanian author named Antonio Bruni. Not recognizing this name, Malcolm undertook an effort to find this text and eventually found it in the Vatican’s archives. After he had located the text at last he realized that he needed to do more than just transcribe it, he had to figure out who Antonio Bruni was. This kicked off two decades of research that took him all over the Mediterranean. What he found was not enough to reconstruct the life of Antonio Bruni, but Malcolm did succeed in creating a picture of Antonio Bruni’s extended family. A network of individuals who started as local elite in Venetian-controlled Albania and ended up scattered to the wind due to, in part, conflicts between Catholic Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Relatives of Antonio Bruni’s family found themselves in a diverse collection of roles ranging from Arch Bishop to Venetian Diplomat to spy and soldier.
The result is a glimpse at the Mediterranean during the late 16th century when nationality often mattered less than religious affiliation, the Pope still commanded armies, diplomats seemed almost certain to serve multiple masters, and family connections dominated politics. From taking part in the Battle of Lepanto to serving as an advisor to the voivod of Moldavia, members of Antonio Bruni’s family found themselves in positions of responsibility and influence everywhere they went. One of my favorite things about Agents of Empire is that throughout it Noel Malcolm addresses the limitations of the sources available to him and makes clear how much we don’t know about historical figures like these even with access to archives all over the Mediterranean.
For history buffs, this is a must-read. It’s a nice break from great man histories and grand-scale narratives that gives the reader a look at the lives of people who would not seem out of place if they were characters in Game of Thrones.
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