An Interrogation of Venetian Couriers from 1723

Abstract

The paper studies one typical interrogation (costituto) from early eighteenth-century Venetian couriers who walked the republic’s overland connection from Cattaro to Istanbul. In considering how time and space are reported in the included primary source, this article looks at how these modes of spatial and temporal representation relate to the structural realities of early modern long-distance traveling, thereby recovering the early modern road with its infrastructure and courier networks as a dynamic locus of contemporary politics.

Keywords

• couriers
• Veneto-Ottoman
• early modern communication
• mobility
• Cattaro
• Montenegro