La noblesse de la monarchie habsbourgeoise et le modèle culturel louis-quatorzien : étapes d’une confrontation, entre rejet, contre-modèle et participation

Abstract

After 1648, the Habsburg nobility was, on the one hand, Catholic and loyal to the House of Habsburg, and enjoyed links to the Viennese court; and on the other, it was transterritorial and a fully-fledged member of the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and European aristocratic culture. Caught between the dynastic antagonism between Bourbons and Habsburgs, it developed an ambivalent attitude towards French culture, which was increasingly shaping the life of the nobility in Europe. Drawing on travellers’ accounts, private correspondence from the Grand Tour and serving diplomats’ reports, this essay analyses the different strategies of the Habsburg nobility to appropriate French culture, incorporate it eclectically or avoid it.

Keywords

• French fashion
• Viennese court nobility
• imperial representation
• Leopold I
• Habsburg-Bourbon antagonism
• cultural reinterpretation