Personnel and Organization of the Viennese Court 1715-1806

Although the Viennese Court was one of the main players in Early Modern Europe, there is no deep going research on the organisational principles of the Viennese Court and its numerous staff. Detailed studies on the essential function of the Obersthofmeister (steward) and his office are still missing, as are prosopographical studies on the Court staff. Due to these reasons, the knowledge of the processes of decision-making at the Viennese Court is very rare. The presented project aims at closing these gaps by providing basic research. For this presented project, the team aims at using the Hofkalender (calendar listing the Court staff) and the Hofparteienprotokolle (supplication registers) as a basis for a database on the people working at the Viennese Court between 1715 and 1806. The database will contain roughly 11.000 people in 400 functions and will provide data for a systematic monograph on the Court staff. A pilot experiment was already done by Mag. Irene Kubiska (the structure of the Court staff 1715 -1740), where the feasibility of the project aims has been proven on a small scale. At the end of the project, we want to present a deeper knowledge of certain aspects of court life like e.g. the size of the Court, the social structure and gender relations of its staff, hierarchic orders and career patterns, the ways of distributing graces and the importance of social networks. Also, the internal processes of the Court administration should be brought to light. The upcoming editions of the 17th and 18th century Instruktionsbücher (job descriptions) provide the framework for the content analysis. The Hofparteienprotokolle give new insights on the Court as employer: they make the discursive strategies of the staff in their pursuit of financial support and pensions visible as well as they show the processes of admission, promotion, retirement or dismissal of the staff. Some concepts that are currently intensely debated in the historical sciences like confessionalisation, rationalisation, increase in professionalisation and specialisation can then (also for the central-European countries) be further discussed on a better-founded level. The project intents also to facilitate the comparison of the Viennese Court with other, better researched Early Modern Courts in Europe.

The main goal of this project was to give a survey of the staff and organisation of the Viennese court in the period of Absolutism and Enlightened Absolutism (1711-1806). It was our aim to present the structure of the organisation of court by means of lists on the one hand and by shaping the different types of functional units on the other hand. In total 6.229 different staff members are to be found in the lists of the royal household and 1.085 different types of functions are listed there in 18th century. For the first time in the history of Viennese Court it is possible to gain an overall survey of the noble and non-noble staff at court. Several different units and parts of the Viennese Court have to be named. The emperor and his wife had their own staff, but also the male and female archdukes and very important empress dowager had access to own court staff. The Viennese Court was dominated by men, only one percent of the court staff members consisted of women. Especially the court unit of empress and empress dowager offer a disproportionately large number of women.Embedded in the fast growing city the Viennese Court had to offer accommodation for its staff within the city walls. The extent of the staff was growing and growing although Charles VI and Maria Theresa, but also Franz II tried to reduce the staff. Even reform-conscious Joseph II failed in his efforts reducing the number of staff members at court. But the will to reform was not buried without having achieved a result, the significance of representation was lessened and on the other hand provision and administration gained in importance. Even some traditional aspects of court life were sorted out: Theatre, Court Music and Hunting were no longer part of the Viennese Court, from that time on outsourced services were purchased. Joseph II as an enlightened monarch took also resolute steps towards establishing a new pension system.Organising every-day-life at the Viennese Court was no easy task for a staff of 2.000 members, an enormous amount of planning and leadership was essential for running the Viennese Court. Especially in times of crisis and flight from Napoleon Wars the clock mechanism of the court administration becomes visible, emergency plans and lots of carriages and coaches had to be prepared.