History of Early Modern Nobility

This article deals with the education of Rudolph Joseph Colloredo (1706-1788). His father Hieronymo tried to provide him with the best education. He believed his son could fight for the court functions due to the thorough law education in Salzburg and Leiden. The father´s conception of the education is mirrored in the travel instructions. The real course of the journey is reflected in private correspondence. The letters tell us Rudolph studied hard at the Benedictine university in Salzburg (1723-1725) and then he travelled to Leiden. But the intensive law course wasn´t finished; Hieronymo died in 1726 in Vienna and his son had to return home. The educational project wasn´t completed in the end but Rudolph didn´t discredit his family. He became the Reichvizekanzler (1746) and was promoted to the rank of prince (1763). The integration of the Colloredos to the society of the Habsburg court was finished.

TO THE HISTORY OF NOBLE SELF-GOVERNANCE IN THE KYIV PALATINATE: THE ZHYTOMYR DIETINE OF 1640

This article deals with detailed analysis of the Zhytomyr dietine of 1640: instruction to deputies and petition from the Kyiv palatinate on the Warsaw Diet of 1640 and decision of the Zhytomyr relational dietine, which took place after Diet. Content of these materials reflects a wide range of political, social and economic problems that local nobility want to resolve. Documents published in Appendix show demands of local nobility, enable to reconstruct the number of events, illustrate their positions and opinions on important local and state problems.
The Zhytomyr dietine successfully fulfills its self-government functions. In its activity, as in other regions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, tax problems played the main role and dominated in resolutions and instructions. The Kyiv nobility gives positive answers to king’s demands concerning state problems, as pay of taxes.
The main part of analyzed documents deals with agreeing of local problems, that disturb nobility of the Kyiv palatinate: debts to the state treasury, reconstruction and defense the Kyiv castle, release from army placements in regional cities (Kyiv and Zhytomyr), release of Kyiv merchants from payment of duties on Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s territory, regulation of army placements in winter time, provision of foods for military units, awarding honored soldiers etc.
Analyze of dietine documentation make possible to fix two levels of state-territorial identity of Kyiv nobility: 1) belonging to political nation of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; 2) belonging to their own region (palatinate). Thus, local identity has clear nature, characterized by all typical values of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Key words: history of parliamentarism, Diet, the Zhytomyr dietine, nobility, taxes, the Kyiv palatinate, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the 17th century.

The present publication collates the sources, namely, court records of the Volhynian Voivodeship, that highlight communication strategies during conflicts in the Volhynian szlachta milieu of the last 3rd of the 16th through the early 17th century.
The author focuses on the emergence of the judicial narrative, describes the methodology of working with court records, and offers her own esearch strategies that can be applied when analyzing sources of this type.

Esta pesquisa procura investigar dois processos: a formação e consolidação de uma elite local e a relação do poder local com a monarquia e sua administração periférica, na tentativa de destacar a profunda conexão entre esses dois desenvolvimentos. A área escolhida para estudo é a Bahia no século XVII, em razão de sua crescente importância dentro do mundo português ao longo do século, mas sempre em perspectiva comparativa, colocando-a dentro de um quadro atlântico mais amplo. Para isso analisou-se o desenvolvimento econômico da capitania, as especificidades de sua sociedade escravista, as características individuais e familiares dos membros da elite, suas formas de auto-identificação, sua relação com os governadores-gerais e a Coroa. As fontes utilizadas foram diversificadas, embora majoritariamente de natureza administrativa, e organizadas em diferentes bancos de dados. Procurou-se destacar o contínuo processo de “fazer-se” da elite nessas diversas dimensões, assim como a forte interdependência entre Coroa e elites.

François-Guillaume-Léon Du Tillot, thanks to its leading role in the government of the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla and the interest aroused in Europe by his reform activity during the seventh decade of the 18th century, wove multiple and complex relationships with the nobilities of the Italian peninsula. He made use of the grants of offices and dignities in the court, in the diplomacy and in the army of the infant duke of Parma to cement the loyalty of the ancient aristocracy, primarily those of the State, to the Bourbons and to consolidate his own personal power. At the same time, the foundation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Parma and the establishment of a prize for tragedies and comedies in Italian promoted the direct involvement of noblemen, even foreigners, in the political and cultural projects of the prime minister. In addition, the contacts with the ducal court provided to the members of the aristocracy the suited opportunity to take advantage of the close relationship between Parma and Paris, for example visiting, in the French metropolis, important personalities from the diplomatic, financial and intellectual world. Nevertheless, the drastic jurisdictionalistic measures of the government caused increasing misunderstanding and hostility of the noble class against Du Tillot, which played an important role in creating the political conditions to the fall of the minister, in 1771.

This article explores the significance of writing history for a late medieval Antwerp patrician family. In recent historiography, these families (in this case Van Halmale)  have not received the attention they deserve, in part because their social status is difficult to pin down. Although members of the family Van Halmale had knightly titles and performed deeds of arms on the battlefield and during tournaments, their noble status was not undisputed. Both a chronicle and a tournament diary written by different members of the Van Halmale family reflect the aspirations of a dominant social category in the late medieval towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Holland. Their writings reflect how these men perceived themselves and how they wanted their contemporaries and peers to perceive them. In that sense the writing of history was indeed a means for nobles (and would-be-nobles) to justify (or to claim) their privileged position. Their works helped them to express their identity as powerful aldermen, firmly rooted in an urban environment but with open minds for the world of princes and (inter)national politics.

Study on the civic iconography of the seggi (sedili, piazze) of early modern Naples; on the iconography of the horse in emblematic and political literature, within a social analysis of the Neapoltian ancient of horse-riding (rare books, etc.) and the social life of the Spanish and Neapolitan nobility.

In recent years scholars have increasingly challenged and reassessed the once established concept of the 'crisis of the nobility' in early-modern Europe. Offering a range of case studies from countries across Europe this collection further expands our understanding of just how the nobility adapted to the rapidly changing social, political, religious and cultural circumstances around them. By allowing readers to compare and contrast a variety of case studies across a range of national and disciplinary boundaries, a fuller - if more complex - picture emerges of the strategies and actions employed by nobles to retain their influence and wealth. The nobility exploited Renaissance science and education, disruptions caused by war and religious strife, changing political ideas and concepts, the growth of a market economy, and the evolution of centralized states in order to maintain their lineage, reputation, and position. Through an examination of the differing strategies utilized to protect their status, this collection reveals much about the fundamental role of the 'second order' in European history and how they had to redefine the social and cultural 'spaces' in which they found themselves. By using a transnational and comparative approach to the study of the European nobility, the volume offers exciting new perspectives on this important, if often misunderstood, social group.

Durante la segunda mitad del siglo XV y el primer tercio del XVI se atestigua en el contexto hispánico un importante fenómeno de mujeres autoras muy relevante en el campo espiritual. Esta renovación solió entenderse en clave de reforma constituyendo un fenómeno de características diferenciadas que podemos denominar "reformismo femenino". Fijamos la atención en el círculo cortesano femenino de la reina Isabel la Católica para analizar sus comportamientos religiosos en esta clave.

"The aim of the article is to reconstruct the educational practices at the Nassau court in Leeuwarden (Friesland), based on the example of Johan Willem Friso of Nassau-Dietz. It examines not only the educational programme, but also the tutors involved in the education of Johan Willem Friso, many of whom were Huguenots. The resaons for which the Nassau (and Orange) families chose for a Huguenot tutor are explored in this article.  The educational practices are discussed in light of the changes to interests and position of nobility in the Early Modern period, as well as of the particular position of the Stadtholder in Friesland and Holland. The article is based on correspondence, mostly kept in the Royal House Archives in The Hague."

„Das Waldviertel – Ein Burgenviertel?“ Diese lapidare Feststellung trifft voll und ganz auf das Waldviertel zu – nirgendwo sonst in Ostösterreich findet sich eine solche Dichte an Burgen und Adelssitzen. Die Marktgemeinde Gars am Kamp, am Ostrand des Waldviertels, am Übergang zum Weinviertel gelegen, umfasst auf einer Gesamtfläche von ca. 50,5 km² 14 Katastralgemeinden. Auf das gesamte Gemeindegebiet entfallen insgesamt 15 Ansitze, davon gelten sieben als fraglich oder heute nicht mehr vorhanden. Die meisten der mittelalterlichen Wehrbauten sind heute weitgehend abgekommen bzw. allenfalls als Ruinen oder Burghügel mit den Außenbefestigungen in Form von Wall und Graben erhalten. Gleichwohl finden sich in und um Gars einige der hervorragendsten Beispiele der mittelalterlichen Wehr- und Repräsentationsarchitektur Niederösterreichs.

http://www.zeitbruecke.at/buch_burgen.htm
http://www.zeitbruecke.at/formular.htm

Uno de los rasgos más llamativos de la vida religiosa de la Baja Edad Media fue el espectacular incremento de las mujeres consagradas a Dios, la diversificación de sus formas de vida y el gran peso de lo femenino en la simbología y el lenguaje religiosos. En estas páginas se analiza la complejidad del fenómeno partiendo de su característico vínculo con la ciudad por considerarlo factor decisivo. Se muestra el papel ejercido por las mujeres religiosas en la construcción y evolución del entramado sociopolítico urbano bajomedieval, tanto en una dimensión de libertad y autoridad que dio origen a nuevas formas de socialización e incidencia política femeninas, como de control por parte de los sistemas de poder institucionales y oligárquicos. El trabajo se centra en el contexto andaluz por la gran riqueza de sus manifestaciones religiosas femeninas considerando que ello tiene mucho que ver con la acción de las mujeres en la configuración de las nuevas cristiandades urbanas nacidas tras la reconquista. La amplitud del marco cronológico permite percibir su evolución y los cambios en el tránsito a la Edad Moderna.

The chapter deals with the life and fates of very important Silesian nobleman Christoph Wenzel of Nostitz. He was a very well educated Catholic and served in the highest land offices in Silesia. Emperor Leopold I used him as a diplomat and an expert who was familiar with Polish and Prussian conditions. Nostitz rebuilt several castles at his Silesian and Bohemian estates (Rokytnice v Orlických horách, Luboradz, etc.), created large collections, established Capuchin cloister in Świdnica and had two sons and two daughters.

The study deals with Count F. A. Sporck’s stay in Vienna and surrounding towns in the spring and summer 1727. On the grounds of investigations into his personal correspondence and a newly found calendar containing daily records taken by Sporck’s Hofmeister T. A. Seeman, the author attempts to explore Sporck’s opinions of the court, why he returned to Vienna after a long time, whether he suffered from social isolation at the court or who supported him in Vienna. At the same time the study deals with strategies employed by Sporck in order to win the favour of influential courtiers and seeks to answer the question whether he succeeded in this effort or was considered a weirdo.

The aristocracy from the Czech lands admired some things in the Northern Netherlands and its people, and hated others. Admiration (and perhaps envy) was inspired by the enormous economic successes of the local traders and merchants, ports full of boats, stores full of luxurious goods, outstanding lawyers in Leiden, clean and tidy towns and houses, the landscape with its many canals, avenues of trees, and an abundance of gardens. Words of praise always tended to be directed at the aesthetic form of these things, rather than their creators and the lifestyle they led. The Dutch mostly suffered condemnation at the pens of the Czech nobles, and in their words we can sometimes even read hatred for a nation which, in the view of the Central European nobility, did not respect the higher social status of the aristocrats and made life so complicated for the Catholics.

This article explores the world of the private Huguenot tutors in Western Europe in seventeenth and early eighteenth century. The main focus is on England and the United Provinces. Among others, we assess the reasons that made the Huguenot tutors were so "popular" at the time, what functions they held in the educational hierarchy of a noble household, what their actual educational programme was, what was required of them by the parents.

In this chapter, the author summarizes our knowledge of noble courts (courtiers, servants) in the early modern Czech lands. He analyzes the large ammount of works that appeared mainly around 2000 and comes to conclusion that then Czech scholars did not continue the research of this topic. However, the author stresses that our knowledge is still not sufficient, analyses the main problems of the research. He uses the case study of the court and servants of Christoph Wenzel von Nostitz at the end of the 17th century and shows less known context of the topic.