Measuring Regular Noble Presence at Court: The Example of Vienna, 1670–1740

Abstract

The number of courtiers in attendance on the monarch at any one time is often illusory. Contemporary accounts tell of empty corridors while statistics from printed sources often refer to hundreds of courtiers crowded into tight spaces. Using the Imperial court of Vienna as a case study, this article examines a variety of sources, from private correspondence to floorplans, to generate an effective number of courtiers for the period 1670 to 1740. In so doing, this study also shines new light on the degree of flexibility or freedom of the court nobility to choose its own attendance strategies, ranging from near constant attendance in the service of the sovereign to almost no presence at all.

Notes

1 As recent as 1999, John Adamson remained quite cautious on the question of courtly numbers: Adamson, ed., The Princely Courts of Europe. Ritual, Politics and Culture under the Ancien Régime, 1500–1750 (London, 2000), p. 12. See more recently, Jeroen Duindam, Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe's Major Dynastic Rivals, 1550–1780 (Cambridge, 2003), in particular chapter 3; Frédérique Leferme-Falguières, ‘Le monde des courtisans. La haute noblesse et le cérémonial royal aux 17e et 18e siècles' (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Paris I, 2004); Alexandra Beauchamp, ed., Les entourages princiers à la fin du Moyen Age. Une approche quantitative (Madrid, 2013); Eric Hassler, La Cour de Vienne 1680–1740. Service de l'empereur et stratégies spatiales des élites nobiliaires dans la monarchie des Habsbourg (Strasbourg, 2013).

2 Charles de Montesquieu, baron de Secondat et de la Brède, Voyages (Paris, 2003), p. 352.

3 Volker Bauer, Die höfische Gesellschaft in Deutschland von der Mitte des 17. bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhundert: Versuch eine Typologie (Tübingen, 1993), pp. 61, 65.

4 Montesquieu, Voyages, p. 357.

5 Norbert Elias, Die höfische Gesellschaft: Untersuchungen zur Soziologie des Königtums und der höfischen Aristokratie (Frankfurt, 2002).

6 Nicholas Henshall, The Myth of Absolutism: Change and Continuity in Early Modern European Monarchy (London, 1992); Jeroen Duindam, Myths of Power: Norbert Elias and the Early Modern European Court (Amsterdam, 1994); Ronald G. Asch and Heinz Duchhardt, eds, Der Absolutismus – ein Mythos? Strukturwandel monarchischer Herrschaft in West- und Mitteleuropa (ca. 1550–1700) (Köln, 1996); Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Saint-Simon ou le système de cour (Paris, 1997); Fanny Cosandey and Robert Descimon, L'absolutisme en France. Histoire et historiographie (Paris, 2002).

7 See some points for consideration in Adamson, The Princely Courts of Europe, pp. 15-19. On the question of ceremonial, see Frédérique Leferme-Falguière, Les courtisans: une société de spectacle sous l'Ancien Régime (Paris, 2007). On the question of patronage and aristocratic networks, see also Duindam, Vienna and Versailles, pp. 248-51; Leonhard Horowski, Die Belagerung des Thrones: Machtstrukturen und Karrieremechanismen am Hof von Frankreich (1661–1789) (Ostfildern, 2012); and the case studies on the Condé and the Guise: Katia Béguin, Les princes de Condé: rebelles, courtisans et mécènes dans la France du Grand Siècle (Seyssel, 1999); and Jonathan Spangler, The Society of Princes. The Lorraine-Guise and the Conservation of Power and Wealth in Seventeenth-Century France (Farnham, 2009).

8 Petr Mat'a, ‘Der Adel aus den böhmischen Ländern am Kaiserhof 1620–1740. Versuch, eine falsche Frage richtig zu lösen’, in Václav Bůžek and Pavel Král, eds, Šlechta v habsburské monarchii a císařský dvůr (1526–1740) (České Budějovice, 2003), pp. 191-203; Mark Hengerer, Kaiserhof und Adel in der Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts. Eine Kommunikationsgeschichte der Macht in der Vormoderne (Constance, 2004).

9 This brings up also the theme of the rejection of the court by segments of the provincial nobility: Otto Brünner, Adeliges Landleben und europäischer Geist. Leben und werk Wolf Helmhards von Hohberg (1612–1688) (Salzburg, 1949); Helmuth Kiesel, ‘Bei Hof, bei Höll’. Untersuchungen zur literarischen Hofkritik von Sebastian Brant bis Friedrich Schiller (Tübingen, 1979).

10 See the case study by Katrin Keller, ‘Der Hof als Zentrum adliger Existenz? Der dresdner Hof und der sächsische Adel im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert’, in Ronald G. Asch, ed., Die europäische Adel im Ancien Regime (Vienna, 2001), pp. 207-33; Hassler, La cour de Vienne, chapters 3 and 6.

11 Thomas Winkelbauer, Ständefreiheit und Fürstenmacht. Länder und Untertanen des Hauses Habsburg im Konfessionnellen Zeitalter, vol. I (Vienna, 2003), pp. 191-6; Karl Vocelka, Glanz und Untergang der höfischen Welt. Repräsentation, Reform und Reaktion im Habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat (Vienna, 2001), p. 308.

12 See Mark Hengerer, ed., Abwesenheit beobachten. Zu Kommunikation auf Distanz in der Frühen Neuzeit (Münster, 2013); Rudolf Schlögl, Anwesende und Abwesende. Grundriss für eine Gesellschaftsgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (Constance, 2014).

13 Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Handschriften Sammlung, Codex 7418: ‘Beschreibung der Röm Kaÿ May Hofstatt in Wien… Anno 1676’.

14 E. G. Rinck, Leopold des Grossen Röm. Kaysers wunderwürdiges Lebens und Thaten aus geheimen Nachrichten eröffnet (Cologne, 1713): this offers the only other figure we have for this period, 1670 to 1740.

15 Hengerer, Kaiserhof und Adel, pp. 35ff.

16 Some chamberlains had been able to start their careers more precociously due to secondary employments as Mundschenk (‘cup-bearer’). See notably Mark Hengerer, ‘Hofzeremoniell, Organisation und Grundmuster sozialer Differenzierung am Wiener Hof im 17. Jahrhundert’; and Jeroen Duindam, ‘Ceremonial Staffs and Paperwork at Two Courts: France and the Habsburg Monarchy ca. 1550–1720’, in Klaus Malettke, Chantal Grell and Petra Holz, eds, Hofgesellschaft und Höflinge an europäischen Fürstenhöfen in der Frühen Neuzeit (15.–18. Jh.) (Münster, 2001), pp. 337-68; 369-87.

17 Mark Hengerer, ‘Adelsintegration am Kaiserhof (1618–1665). Zeremoniell, Personal, Finanzen, Netzwerke. Ein Dissertationsprojekt’, Früheuzeit-Info 9 (1998), pp. 274-9.

18 Kaiserlicher, Königlicher und Erzherzoglicher Staats- und Standeskalender, then Kaiserlichen und Königlichen/wie auch Erz Herzoglichen/und dero Residenz-Stadt/Wien Staats und Stands Kalender (Vienna): years consulted: 1702–1740. For a general introduction, see Volker Bauer, Repertorium territoriale Amstkalender und Amsthandbücher im Alten Reich. Adress-, Hof-, Staatskalender und Staatshandbücher des 18. Jh. (Frankfurt, 1997).

19 The lists from 1670 and 1705 seem to be the only ones that are exhaustive. The lists of chamberlains published in the almanac correspond in general to salvos given for nominations at the time of dynastic events, which carefully evaded producing any ordered inventory of courtiers.

20 Hengerer, ‘Adelsintegration am Kaiserhof’, pp. 274-9; idem, Kaiserhof und Adel, pp. 98ff, 510ff.

21 Jeroen Duindam, ‘Problems and Prospects for a “New” History of the Court: The Habsburg Hofstaat in Perspective’, in Bůžek and Král, eds, Šlechta v habsburské monarchii, p. 57.

22 Andreas Pečar, Die Ökonomie der Ehre. Der höfische Adel am Kaiserhof Karls VI. (1711–1740) (Darmstadt, 2003).

23 See Volker Bauer, ‘Informalität als Problem der frühneuzeitlichen Geschichte. Überlegungen vornehmlich anhand der deutschprachigen Hofforschung’, in Reinhardt Butz and Jan Hirschbiegel, eds, Informelle Strukturen am Hof. Dresdner Gespräch III des Hofes (Berlin, 2009), pp. 41ff.: the three retained criteria are presence, belonging to the court, and the society of the court.

24 A term borrowed from Boris Bove and which qualifies the constituted residential area of the principal residence of the sovereign, generally situated in a capital city or the city of residence and suburban residences which are included in the system of courtly movements, in this instance, the grosso modo of Vienna and Lower Austria.

25 Österreichische Staatsarchiv [Henceforth OeStA], Hof-, Haus und Staatsarchiv [HHStA], OMeA, Hofzeremonial Protokolle Akten (HZP) 5-17. Certain events are equally documented in the Wienerische Diarium [WD].

26 OeStA, HHStA, OMeA ZPA 6, fols 221-2: eleven chamberlains belonging to the household of the King of the Romans are listed for the sleigh processions of 24 January 1703.

27 An epistolary exchange (in French) between Ferdinand Bonaventura Harrach and his son Aloys Thomas Reymund refers to difficulties of recruitment, notably during the summer: ‘je ne scais si Mr le Prince de Salm dispensera que vous demeuriez absent 6 ou 7 semaines come vous desirez, ayant fort peu des Gentilshomes de la chambre du Roy, qui puissent ou veuillent servir’ (OeStA, Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv [AVA], Vienna, Familienarchiv [FA] Harrach, K 73, 21 September 1692).

28 WD, 1709–1722: ‘Einkunfft dere Hoh- und Niederen Stands-Personen’.

29 Hassler, La cour de Vienne, fig. 13.

30 For a point of comparison from the mid-seventeenth century, see Hengerer, Kaiserhof und Adel, pp. 146-52.

31 OeStA, AVA, FA Harrach, Hauptserie: K. 58, 73, 74, 77, 79, 82, 84, 93, 99.

32 Moravský Zemský Archiv v Brně, G 436, Rodinný archiv Kouniců: K 746, Inv. 6132, 6133, K 747, K 748.

33 HHStA, OMeA, ZPA 5, 1692–1699: fol. 211 (Venice) 24 June 1695, 33 participants; fol. 279 (Portugal) 13 April 1696, 48; fol. 311 (Rome) 27 August 1696, 29; fols 367-8 (Spain) 7 July 1697, 42; fol. 557 (Venice) 18 February 1698, 39. ZPA 6, 1700–1709: fols 7-16 (Ottoman Empire) 30 January 1700 (without a list); fols 114-15 (Rome) 3 February 1701, 31; fols 294-5 (Venice) 2 January 1704, 34; fols 540-41 (Malta) 11 January 1707, 55; fols 681-4 (Portugal) 7 June 1708, 39 ; fols 755-6 (Venice), 22 November 1708, 45. ZPA 7, 1710–1712: fols 101 (Venice) 30 March 1711, 39. ZPA 8, 1713–1715: fols 72-5 (Rome) 12 March 1714, 41; fols 188-92 (Venice) November 1714, 38; fols 241-5 (Venice) 23 July 1715, 41. ZPA 11, 1720–1722: fols 107-08 (Venice) 22 April 1720, 50; fols 139-42 (Malta) 13 November 1720, 43; fols 112-14 (Rome) April 1722, 51. ZPA 12, 1723–1724: fols 42-4 (Venice) 11 April 1723, 40. ZPA 13, 1725–1727; fols 95-6 (Spain) 22 August 1725, 62. ZPA 14, 1728–1731: fols 158-60 (Venice) 14 July 1728, 48; fols 491-2 (Mainz) 6 October 1731, 62. ZPA 15, 1732–1734, fol. 33 (Rome), 23 April 1732, 62; fol. 182 (Venice), April 1733, 68. ZPA 16, 1736–1738: fols 150-54 (Venice) 3 April 1736, 72; fols 321-4 (Venice) 13 April 1738, 61; fol. 365 (Rome) 3 September 1738, 50; fols 386-9 (France) 12 October 1738, 54. WD, 21 November 1710 (Rome), 52; WD, 19 April 1716 (France), 59.

34 HHStA, OMeA, ZPA 5, fols 122-5, 1694, 49 participants; fol. 177, 1695, 59; fol. 182, 9 February 1695, 44; fol. 252, 11 January 1696, 34; fol. 339, 15 January 1697, 45; fol. 337, 1697, 42; fol. 340, 31 January 1697. ZPA 6: fol. 26, 17 February 1700, 26; fols 42-3, 28 April 1701, 30; fols 221-2, 24 January 1703, 29; fols 224-5, 30 January 1703, 70; fols 547-9, 3 February 1707, 17; fol. 550, 7 February 1707, 39; fol. 750, 30 October 1708, without a list; fols 768-70, 10 January 1709, 49. ZPA 7: fols 30-2, 3 February 1711, 71. WD, 1719, 8 January 1719, 75; WD, 31 January 1731, 50. Starting from 1715, the organisation of these Schlittenfahrten is essentially an affair of the great lineages: See Hassler, La Cour de Vienne, pp. 286-95.

35 HHStA, OMeA, ZPA 5, 1692–1699, fol. 439, printed 26 July 1698, 125; ZPA 8, 1713–1715, fol. 209, 5 March 1715, 85; ZPA 11, 1720–1722, fol. 96, 17 February 1722, 88; ZPA 12, 1723–1724, fols 385-8, 28 February 1724, 84; ZPA 13, 1725–1727, fols 32-3, 13 February 1725, 65; fols 143-5, 5 March 1726, 59; ZPA 14, 1728–1731, fols 260- 61, 1 March 1729, 54; fols 353-4, 25 February 1730, 60; fols 427-8, 6 February 1731, 51; ZPA 15, 1732–1734, fol. 5, 26 February 1732, 63; fol. 162, 28 January 1733, 62. WD, 21 February 1719, 101; WD, 5 February 1725, 52; WD, 23 February 1726, 56; WD, 26 February 1727, 63.

36 HHStA, OMeA, ZPA 15, fol. 116.

37 Relation von Weyland Ihrer Röm. Kayserl. Majestät Leopold Nahmens des Erstens… Ableiben (Vienna, 1705). These chamberlains essentially belonged to lineages of lesser status.

38 Ludwig von Bülich, Edler von Lilienburg, Erbhuldigungswerk für Joseph I. (1705), engravings reproduced in Herbert Karner, ed., Die Wiener Hofburg 1521–1705. Baugeschichte, Funktion und Etablierung als Kaiserresidenz (Vienna, 2014), illustrations IV.64 and 66. We can see very similar numbers of people in the engravings from 1740, reproduced in Henriette Graf, ‘Das kaiserliche Zeremoniell und das Repräsentationsappartement im Leopoldinischen Trakt der Wiener Hofburg um 1740’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege LI, 3/4 (1997), illustrations 704 and 705.

39 Estimations of floorspaces taken from plans reproduced in Herbert Karner, ‘The Quarters of the Emperor and Empress in the Vienna Hofburg in the Seventeenth Century’, in Le prince, la princesse et leurs logis. Manières d'habiter dans l’élite aristocratique européenne (1400–1700) (Paris, 2014), pp. 308-09, illustrations 2, 3 and 6.

40 The ‘Gala’ was one of the festivities organised for name days or anniversaries of sovereigns or members of the imperial family. It brought together the court in full dress. The imperial family ate at that time, exceptionally, in the presence of the courtiers.

41 Graf, ‘Das kaiserliche Zeremoniell’, pp. 580-3.

42 Raymond Le Plat, Audience de l'Empereur Charles VI (1718), reproduced in Christian Benedik, ‘Die herrschaftlichen Appartements. Funktion und Lage während der Regierungen von Kaiser Leopold I. bis Kaiser Franz Joseph I.’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Kunst und Denkmalpflege LI, 3/4 (1997), ill. 691.

43 Karner, ‘The Quarters of the Emperor’, p. 302: Karner puts forward doubts as to the uses of this apartment by Leopold I. In contrast, it was used as the state apartment by the emperors Joseph I and Charles VI, then by Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen, who undertook modifications in its distribution and also its decoration. See Benedik, ‘Die herrschaftlichen Appartements', pp. 552-70.

44 Karner, ed., Die Wiener Hofburg, pp. 361-75. The Redoutensaal had several successive re-arrangements as its usages changed. In 1705, the new opera house was situated here, constructed by Francesco Galli Bibiena, whose specific arrangements prevented from that point onwards any other ceremonies from being held here and thus deprived the Hofburg of its great hall. It would seem that certain court occasions were therefore organised in the foyer of the theatre (Vorsaal). It will not be until the reign of Maria Theresa when this hall will return to its original role as a ballroom, thanks to the construction of a court theatre outside the walls of the Hofburg.

45 Graf, ‘Das kaiserliche Zeremoniell’, ill. 699.

46 Abensperg-Traun, Althann, Dietrichstein, Harrach, Herberstein, Khevenhüller, Kinsky, Lamberg, Liechtenstein, Mollart, Nostitz, Paar, Saint-Julian, Salm, Schlick, Serényi, Sinzendorf, Starhemberg, Trautson and Windischgraetz.

47 This is the case of grand families like the princes Esterházy (two chamberlains serving at least once out of a total of sixteen chamberlains belonging to the family), Liechtenstein (3/14), Lobkowitz (1/7), Oettingen (2/11), or the counts Waldstein (2/18) or Colloredo (1/12).

48 We can take the example of the counts Sinzendorf: besides the two eminent members of the family who occupied positions of the first rank in the reign of Charles VI (a chancellor of the court and a grand master of the court), the Sinzendorf family appeared more or less systematically listed in the almanacs thanks to the alternating presence of nine chamberlains, occupying various functions within the courtly structure.

49 Among the most frequently cited: Juan Basilio Cervellón, the counts of Cifuentes, Cordoba de Sastago, Eril, Perlas, Oropesa, Pacheco, Pesora, Rialp and also the duke of Uceda.

50 Between 1710 and 1740, Aloys Thomas Reymund Harrach (Grand Maréchal of Austria) and Rudolph Sigmund Sinzendorf (Grand Master of the Court) are present at thirteen entries; Sigmund Friedrich Khevenhüller (Governor of Lower Austria), Philipp Ludwig Sinzendorf (Chancellor of Austria), Johann Friedrich Seiler (Vice-Chancellor) and Johann Albrecht Saint-Julian (Grand Falconer) at twelve; and Gundacker Thomas Starhemberg (President of the Aulic Chamber) at eleven.

51 We can find descriptions of these events in the articles of the Wienerische Diarium.

52 Aloys Thomas Reymund Harrach and Philipp Ludwig Sinzendorf were always present at the entries of the ambassadors, but only appeared at three of the Schlittenfahrten (seven in total).

53 Essentially the princes and counts Dietrichstein, Lamberg, Salm and Trautson, the counts Sinzendorf and Starhemberg. Certain families are, in contrast, nearly totally absent, notably Harrach and Khevenhüller.

54 Auersperg, Esterházy, Lamberg, Liechtenstein, Lobkowitz, Schwarzenberg and Trautson. The houses of Dietrichstein and Salm are only represented by their comital branches. On the question of service to the prince, see for example Thomas Winkelbauer, Fürst und Fürstendiener. Gundaker von Liechtenstein, ein österreichischer Aristokrat des konfessionellen Zeitalters (Vienna, 1999); or Herbert Haupt, Ein Herr von Stand und Würde. Fürst Johann Adam Andreas von Liechtenstein (1657–1712) (Vienna, 2016).

55 It would seem that their presence was required by the emperor. Pečar, Die Ökonomie der Ehre, p. 182.

56 See Katrin Keller, Hofdamen. Amtsträgerinnen im Wiener Hofstaat des 17. Jahrhunderts (Vienna, 2005). See also the evidence given by Lady Wortley Montagu in The Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Robert Halsband, ed. (Oxford, 1965), vol. I, Letter XI.

57 Out of 25 entries, the Sinzendorf account for 46 attendees, the Dietrichstein 43, the Starhemberg 36, the Herberstein 34 and the Harrach 31. This strategy of ‘ubiquity’ is one of the main themes addressed by Spangler, Society of Princes, summarised on pp. 264-5.

58 For a recent study on the importance of ‘proximity’ in the display of aristocratic power in courtly society, see Dries Raeymaekers and Sebastiaan Derks, eds., The Key to Power: The Culture of Access in Princely Courts, 1400–1750 (Leiden, 2016).

59 The question of the Austrian system of crown-noble collaboration has stimulated different interpretations: Jean Bérenger, Finances et absolutisme autrichien dans la seconde moitié du 17e siècle (Paris, 1975); Robert J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy (1550–1700). An Interpretation (Oxford, 1979); Petr Mat'a and Thomas Winkelbauer, eds, Die Habsburgermonarchie 1620 bis 1740: Leistungen und Grenzen des Absolutismusparadigmas (Stuttgart, 2006); Bündnispartner und Konkurrenten der Landesfürsten?: die Stände in der Habsburgermonarchie, Gerhard Ammerer, William D. Godsey, Jr., Martin Scheutz et al, eds (Vienna and Munich, 2007).

60 These perspectives will also allow us to re-position current studies on travellers within this context: see notably Caroline zum Kolk, Jean Boutier, Bernd Klesmann and François Moureau, eds, Voyageurs étrangers à la cour de France: 1589–1789: regards croisés (Rennes, 2014).

61 Hassler, La cour de Vienne, pp. 171-80.

62 Recent historiographical developments are important on this last point: see notably Mark Hengerer, ‘Zur symbolischen Dimension eines sozialen Phänomens. Adelsgräber in der Residenz (Wien im 17. Jahrhundert)’, in Andreas Weigl, ed., Wien im Dreissigjährigen Krieg (Vienna, 2001), pp. 250-352; and Idem, ‘Adelsgräber im Wien des 18. Jahrhunderts. Beobachtungen zu einer Archäologie des adeligen Gedächtnisses’, in Hengerer, Macht und Memoria. Begräbniskultur europäischer Oberschichten in der Frühen Neuzeit (Cologne, 2005), p. 381-420.

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Eric Hassler

Eric Hassler was appointed professeur agrégé at the University of Strasbourg in 2015. His PhD investigated the spatial and social strategies of the aristocracy at the court of Vienna (1680–1740) and was published 2013. Other publications have focused on the variety of nobilities in the Habsburg Monarchy and the Holy Roman Empire, in particular on mobility and identities in the long eighteenth century.