11 - A Cosmopolitan Ambassadress on the Road : Anna Colonna, Marquise of Los Balbases

Summary

Abstract

Born in Chiusa, Italy, Anna Colonna, marquise of Los Balbases (1631–1686), married Pablo Spinola Doria, marquis of Los Balbases, and joined him on his political and diplomatic destinations across Europe, in the role of a true ambassadress. She was a crucial component to the success of her husband's itinerant career from Milan to Paris. This chapter investigates Colonna's travels with the marquis and her contribution to the diplomatic work and self-promotion strategies deployed by him as they moved to and from numerous European courts. Although little known in diplomatic history, Anna Colonna was an important transcultural and political agent who instrumentalized her aristocratic upbringing and adapted herself to the difficult circumstances of each of her moves to support her family name.

Keywords: Anna Colonna, Pablo Spinola Doria, ambassadresses, diplomatic women, transcultural agent, early modern women

In recent years, diplomatic history has undergone a major renewal led by the historiographical movement known as New Diplomatic History that has opened many new multidisciplinary research possibilities. The focus on issues dealing with political communication, social networks, ceremonials, protocols, and cultural issues, among others, has considerably broadened the field. Two crucial elements of this renewal have been the field's transnational expansion—currently one of the most dynamic historiographical perspectives, especially when referring to political networks such as the Spanish Monarchy—and its revisionary perspective on gender, which has shed needed light on the diplomatic roles played by women.

These two aspects will be of primary significance when studying the case of the Italian noblewoman, Anna Colonna (1631–1686), who assumed the politically important role of ambassadress together with her husband. A descendant of the ancient Roman house of Colonna, she was the daughter of Isabella Gioeni Cardona y Córdoba, princess of Castiglione, and Marcantonio V Colonna, prince of Paliano. She became the third marquise of Los Balbases after her marriage to Pablo Spinola Doria (1632–1699), grandson of the famed Genoese military commander, Ambrosio Spinola, whose military achievements for the Spanish crown gained him the title of first marquis of Los Balbases.

The Colonna family possessed immense material and, especially, symbolic and cultural capital in the form of contacts, titles, etc., all of which made Anna Colonna a very important asset to her husband's family.