The introduction of proofs of noble birth into the Habsburg monarchy. A new instrument to administrate the nobility (1650-1800)

Abstract

This article shows how the transfer of proofs of nobility by Maria Theresa of Austria in the 1750s led to complex movements between Vienna and the countries of the monarchy and produced social and cultural changes within the nobility. The degrees of nobility are part of the representations of Germanic and Central Europe in modern era. Having to prove one’s noble ancestry was indeed a common practice used by chapters, military orders or princely courts since the Middle Ages. In fact, it seems that this practice only really developed in the Habsburg monarchy from the second half of the 18th century, under the impulsion of Maria Theresa. As part of her policy of standardizing the nobility, aimed at mixing elites from the various territories of the monarchy and producing a service nobility loyal to the dynasty, Maria Theresa imported this practice to impose it within the monarchy, to be appointed chamberlain (1754), to gain access to the court (1756), but also to enter the institutions of noble ladies she created from the 1750s onwards. This practice, imported from the Holy Roman Empire and its western fringes, was a new tool of government. The sovereign’s aim was to reinforce his authority by introducing a veritable “administratization” of the nobility.

Keywords

• court
• nobility
• genealogy
• transfert
• administrative state
• habsburg
• 18th century