Research Links
Venice had a network of spies and diplomats in every court of Europe. Upon their return, they were required to deliver reports to the Venetian Senate. These reports were so invaluable for understanding the state of the world that they were often smuggled out and sold to rich clients for a high price.
Many survive to this day, and they have been compiled into historical volumes that make for extremely interesting reading, and are some of the most important sources for the history of the 1500s and 1600s. But most have never been translated into English.
AI is finally getting good enough to translate old documents like this (not as good as an expert, but good enough when nothing else is available), so I wrote a short program to translate the Venetian reports. The results are surprisingly good. With some light editing and the addition of footnotes, they make for really compelling reading.
So I'm making a Substack and putting the earliest surviving report on the Ottoman Empire (from 1534) up as the first post. I'll keep any AI-translated stuff completely free, as it would feel wrong to paywall that, but if you'd like to support me by subscribing, I'll be posting some of my own historical/political/cultural thoughts behind the paywall eventually.
Anyway check it out, I think you'll really enjoy reading these reports. The first one covers (among other things) the scheming of Grand Vizier Ibrahim, and the Venetian diplomat's correspondence with the famous corsair Barbarossa:
