| Item Description: | This volume is in total comprised of 19 articles, dealing with the connections between the Middle European nobility and politics from the mid-18th to the beginning of the 20th century. The core of this collected volume is made up of texts concerning the social background of the Habsburg monarchy. The volume is divided into three parts. The first part delves into the political and social mindset of the nobility at the cusp and during the process of the social modernisation. As traditional social elite the nobility back then tries to somehow define its new or old-new position in society and distances itself from the emerging ideologies, especially from liberalism and nationalism. The second part focuses on the importance of the old centres of political power closely connected to the nobility. Therefore the authors’ main areas of interest lie in the estate assemblies, the ruling houses as well as the offices at court. The last subject area is covered by a selection of articles studying and analysing aristocratic behaviours in the modernising structures of the constitutional state. The aristocratic society is directly confronted with new election procedures, with election campaigns and with the existence of political parties. Reacting to the new terms the way they do, decides on their future position in the foreground of both political and social life. |
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