The Viennese Court: Elites Power and Representation

Vienna, as we know it today, its appearances and tourist attractions, is strongly influenced by buildings, gardens and collections closely linked to the development of the 19 th century Viennese Court. We know a lot about the Court during the baroque era as well as during the reign of Maria Theresia, but there is only little that we know about the Austrian Imperial Court especially at the beginning of the 19th century. Did it follow the same rules as 100 years before? Did the people come from the same families and the same countries of the monarchy? Did the sovereign like Kaiser Franz II./I. and Kaiser Ferdinand I. use the same ceremonies for representation, did the same people attend these ceremonies like at the times of Kaiser Karl VI. three generations before? Which role did the sovereign and the Court play in the Habsburg Monarchy? In times of social and economic changes, did they represent more than a reminiscence of old times? Given, that Europe was mainly reigned by monarchs until 1918 we can assume that sovereign and court were more than relicts of a glorious past, but that they played a certain role in the slowly changing political system of the so-called bourgeois age. This project wants to find answers to these and similar questions. The main focus will be put on Europes unstable times during the Napoleonic Era and the years until 1835. The French Revolution had called princely reign in question in general, but the Habsburgs never found themselves seriously threatened in their sovereignty. We would like to know if something changed in the support of the nobility from the several countries nevertheless. To answer this question, we would like to contribute with the most comprehensive list possible of all officials of the Viennese Court up to 1835. This is to be made freely accessible as part of a larger database on Viennese Court personnel. The festive acts of hereditary homage, when a new sovereign ascended the throne, as well as weddings served to strengthen the bond between sovereign, dynasty and the people. We will again rise the question if, in the face of change after the revolutions, the Congress of Vienna, in a time where trains were built and factories were founded, things changed at the Court as well: Are there new forms of mutual support and loyalty, new festivities, discourse about the new times? This project wants to find answers to these and similar questions. We want to be able to draw a more precise picture of the role the Viennese Court played within the Habsburg Monarchy in the times between the French Revolution and the Biedermeier period.

Vienna's current appearance and a significant part of its tourist attractions are characterised by buildings, gardens and collections that are associated with the courtly society of the 19th century. In contrast to the Viennese court of the Baroque period and the time of Maria Theresa, however, little is known about the imperial Austrian court, especially in the first half of the 19th century. Did it function according to the same rules as 100 years before? Did the Habsburgs of this period, above all Emperor Franz II/I and Emperor Ferdinand I, use the same ceremonies for representation, did they have the same audience in mind as Emperor Charles VI three generations earlier? The project's research focussed on the period between 1790 and around 1830, a time in which the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars initially called monarchies into question. However, neither these turbulent decades in Europe nor the subsequent period, when railways were built and factories established, appear to have significantly changed the rule of the Habsburgs, let alone endangered it. This permanence is also evident in the examination of homage ceremonies on the occasion of the accession to power and imperial weddings, splendid productions in which the relationship between ruler, dynasty and people was traditionally portrayed in a festive form and solidarity was reaffirmed. Despite some innovations and modifications, the mostly very detailed sources show a clear continuity across the Napoleonic period. We also asked whether changes in personnel at the Viennese court could be recognised: Were the same families from the same countries of the monarchy present here as in the time of Maria Theresa? In order to answer this question, we worked on compiling as comprehensive a list as possible of all officials at the Viennese court up to 1820. The newly recorded data supplements existing directories, and all of them can now be accessed and searched online for the first time. This means that anyone interested can easily access them and see who held which office at the Viennese court between 1657 - this data was collected through a co-operation project - and 1820. Here too, the names show great continuity, especially in the highest court offices. New aristocratic families were added time and again, and in the period around 1800, people of middle-class status also appear in the lists of orders for the first time. Overall, however, the traditional courtly elites remained among themselves for a long time as far as access to the court and the rulers was concerned.