The Vienna Court Society under the Emperor Leopold I

For some time investigations of the princly court have been of general scientific interest, however focusing on different priorities. The discoursive treatment shows increasing thematical and temporal desiderata of research as far as the imperial court of Vienna is concerned. In addition to this a deficit of thorough investigations and of listing of court members becomes apparent, when trying to define court and royal household as well as the personal integration or delimination. The aim of this project is to study for the first time the complete Habsburg household during the reign of emperor Leopold I. and to compile the complex personal structures prosopographically. The novelty of this project is that all different social groups will be studied without exemption, which means that also the non-aristrocratic group is included. This is the great thematical distinction to the project "Der Wiener Hof und sein Klientel- und Patronagesystem", which concentrates only on the noblemen and -women in the immediate vicinity of the Habsburg monarchs Ferdinand II. and Ferdinand III.; to determine the ties and connections they had inside and outside their group. The synopsis of 50 years under the reign of Leopold I. helps to meet current interests of historical research. It will be possible to examine the relation of power between the monarch and his subjects, the relevance of patronage and clientele as well as the importance of the court as an instrument of integration and its political factor. As basis of this project serve 25 hand-written and printed royal household lists, including details of expenditures, addresses of incumbents and instructions concerning the descripition of functions at court, which will be analysed empirically for the first time. In a second step these pieces of information will be enlarged with the help of further sources such as "Hofzahlamtsbücher" in order to reveal careers and matters of prestige. Examples of the last will illustrate clientele and include lower ranks too. "Adelsakte" contain biographical data just as records of the coroner`s inquest and wedding registers. Optionally the evaluation of Paul Harrer`s "Häuserverzeichnis" to refer to the "Hofquartierspflicht" is intended. The aim of the project is on the one hand a general and systematic description of the court and household of Leopold I. for the purpose of collective biographies and to explain networks. On the other hand the fundamental materials and results will present the development of court bureaucracy and offices and how court works. The results of this basic research will offer prospects on the wide range of new scientific priorities not only for social history, but also for different partial branches of history.