Federico da Montefeltro, architect of all undertakings of Ferrante: the diplomatic policy of Edward IV of York between Naples and Rome, 1474–5

Abstract This article re-dates Federico da Montefeltro’s investiture into the Order of the Garter to early 1475 and reframes it as Aragonese-brokered diplomacy rather than courtly ornament. Combining Milanese dispatches with Urbino correspondence and curial acts, it reconstructs Ferrante I’s winter progress and the itinerary of the English envoys Bartholomew Rivers and John Sante. Reading through New Diplomatic History, the Garter appears as a sovereign gift whose statutes, oath and spectacle converted prestige into obligation and co-ordinated an anti-French strategy linking Naples, Rome and England. Aligning the rite with Federico’s Order of the Ermine and papal ducal creation reveals a single package of legitimation and military commitment. The re-dating clarifies Naples’s brokerage of Yorkist policy and recovers the military logic of Edward IV’s Italian admissions. By treating chivalric orders as diplomatic technology, the article moves beyond pageantry to show how ritualized exchange structured obligation, orchestrated movement and bound elites across courts.