Girolamo Lucchesini was a diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

 of the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

.

Lucchesini was born at Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

, the eldest son of Marquis Lucchesini.

In 1779 he went to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 where King Frederick the Great

Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

 gave him a court appointment, making use of him in his literary relations with Italy. King Frederick William II

Frederick William II of Prussia

Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...

, who recognized his gifts for diplomacy, sent him in 1787 to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 to obtain the papal sanction for the appointment of a coadjutor to the bishop of Mainz

Bishop of Mainz

The Diocese of Mainz is a diocese of the Catholic church in Germany. It was created in 1802 with the abolition of the old Archbishopric of Mainz. The diocese is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Freiburg; its district is located in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse...

, with a view to strengthening the German Fürstenbund

Fürstenbund

The Fürstenbund was a union of German minor princes in the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1785 under the leadership of Frederick II of Prussia, to oppose the ambition of Emperor Joseph II to add Bavaria to the Habsburg domains....

. In 1788 he was sent to Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, and brought about a rapprochement with Prussia and a diminution of Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 influence at Warsaw. He was accredited ambassador to the king and Poland

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

 on April 12, 1789.

Frederick William was at that time intriguing with the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, then at war with Austria

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

 and Russia. Lucchesini was to rouse Polish feeling against Russia, and to secure for Prussia the concourse of Poland in the event of war with Austria and Russia. All his power of intrigue was needed in the conduct of these hazardous negotiations, rendered more difficult by the fact that Prussian policy excluded the existence of a strong Polish government.

A Prusso-Polish alliance was concluded in March 1790. Lucchesini had been sent in January of that year to secure the alliance of Saxony

Electorate of Saxony

The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...

 against Austria, and in September he was sent to Sistova, where representatives of the chief European powers were engaged in settling the terms of peace between Austria and Turkey, which were finally agreed upon on August 4, 1791. Before he returned to Warsaw the Polish treaty of which he had been the chief author had become a dead letter owing to the engagements made between Prussia and Austria at Reichenbach

Treaty of Reichenbach (1790)

The Treaty of Reichenbach was signed on July 27, 1790 in Reichenbach between Frederick William II of Prussia and Austria under Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II...

 in July 1790, and Prussia was already contemplating the second partition of Poland. He was recalled at the end of 1791.

In July 1792 he joined Frederick William in the invasion of France. He was to be Prussian ambassador in Paris when the allied forces should have reinstated the authority of King Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France

Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

. He was opposed alike to the invasion of France and the Austrian alliance, but his prepossessions did not interfere with his skilful conduct of the negotiations with Kellermann after the allies had been forced to retire by Dumouriez's

Charles François Dumouriez

Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon.-Early life:Dumouriez...

 guns at Valmy

Valmy

Valmy is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.-Geography:The town stands on the west flank of the Argonne massif, mid-way between Verdun and Paris, near Vouziers.-History:...

, nor with his success in securing the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadts assistance against France.

In 1793 he was appointed ambassador to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, with the ostensible object of securing financial assistance for the Rhenish campaign. He accompanied Frederick William through the Polish campaign of 1793 to 1794, and in the autumn returned to Vienna. His anti-Austrian bias made him extremely unpopular with the Austrian court, which asked in vain for his recall in 1795.

In 1797, after a visit to Italy in which he had an interview with Napoleon at Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, these demands were renewed and acceded to. In 1800 he was sent by Frederick William III. on a special mission to Paris. Despatches in which he expressed his distrust of Bonapartes peaceful professions and his conviction of the danger of the continuance of a neutral policy were intercepted by the first consul, who sought his recall, but eventually accepted him as regular ambassador (1802). He consistently sought friendly relations between France and Prussia, but he warned his government in 1806 of Napoleon's intention of restoring Hanover to George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

 and of Joachim Murat

Joachim Murat

Joachim-Napoléon Murat , Marshal of France and Grand Admiral or Admiral of France, 1st Prince Murat, was Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and then King of Naples from 1808 to 1815...

's aggressions in Westphalia

Westphalia

Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...

. He was superseded as ambassador in Paris in September just before the outbreak of war. After the disaster of Jena

Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...

 on October 14 he had an interview with Geraud Duroc

Geraud Duroc

Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc, 1st Duc de Frioul was a French general noted for his association with Napoleon.-Life and work:...

 near Wittenberg to seek terms of peace. After two unsuccessful attempts at negotiation, the first draft being refused by Napoleon, the second by Frederick William, he joined the Prussian court at Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

 only to learn that his services were no longer required. He then joined the court of Elisa, grand duchess of Tuscany, at Lucca and Florence, and after Napoleon's fall devoted himself to writing.

He published in 1819 three volumes, Salle cause et gli effetti della confederazione rizenana, at Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, but revealed little that was not already available in printed sources. His memoirs remained in manuscript. His despatches are edited by Bailleu in Preussen und Frankreicli (Leipzig, 1887, Publikationen aus den preussischen Staatsarchiven).