Professions, absolutism and the role of widows

This article explores the role of widows in the transfer of occupations from one man to the next. The growing Civil Service is especially focused on, with its conflicts between bureaucratic demands, personal and family considerations, and the absolutist state. Within the Civil Service, as well as within public services connected to private business, succession was modelled after practices in the peasant society and in the urban trades, where a widow could continue in business and hand it over to a new husband, a son-in-law or a son. This solved the problem of support for the widows, by making the next man in office responsible. However, it created other problems, which in turn made the development of public pensions necessary.