Vienna and Versailles
The Courts of Europe's Dynastic Rivals, 1550–1780

A comparative study of the courts of Vienna and Paris-Versailles, 1550–1780.

Jeroen Duindam (Author)

9780521714761, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 August 2007

392 pages, 41 b/w illus. 11 tables
24.3 x 16.9 x 1.8 cm, 0.632 kg

'… Jeroen Duindam's Vienna and Versailles certainly deserves pride of place … it will provide a point of reference for years to come. An immense amount of source material from Austrian and French archives as well as contemporary memoirs has been digested, resulting in a book so rich in detail that, at first glance, it indeed seems to be mainly descriptive. Read more carefully, however, it quickly becomes clear that important discussions of the current state of thinking on princely households are embedded in this wealth of information. They yield important insights into the working of the early modern court and refute many rash conclusions which have found their way into secondary literature … Duindam is very successful in rewriting important aspects of the cultural and social history of the early modern court … Duindam conveys the ambiguities of life at court, the uncertainties about ceremonial rules, salaries, and ranks, and the constant quarrels and disputes which must have made the existence of a courtier far from agreeable. He also lays bare the difficulties of dealing with the surviving evidence. Vienna and Versailles is therefore a timely reminder in the current vogue for court studies that our knowledge of royal households is more limited and the reality of court life more complex than we often concede.' German Historical Institute Bulletin

This book brings vividly to life the courtiers and servants of the imperial court in Vienna and the royal court at Paris-Versailles. Drawing on a wealth of material masterfully set in a comparative context, the book makes a unique contribution to the field of court studies. Staff, numbers, costs and hierarchies; daily routines and ceremonies; court favourites and the nature of rulership; the integrative and centripetal forces of the central courtly establishment: all are seen in a long-term, comparative perspective that highlights both the similarities and the distinctiveness of developments in France and the Habsburg lands. In the process, most conventional views of each court - and of court life in general - are challenged, and an alternative interpretation emerges. Finally, by relocating the household in the heart of the early modern state, Vienna and Versailles forces us to rethink the process of statebuilding and the notion of 'absolutism'.

List of illustrations
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Part I. Prelude: 1. Introduction
2. The household on the eve of the early modern age
Part II. Contours: 3. Numbers and costs
4. Status and income
Part III. Court Life: 5. A calendar of court life
6. Ceremony and order at court: an unending pursuit
Part IV. Power: 7. Levels and forms of power at court
8. The court as focus of the realm
Part V. Epilogue: 9. Conclusions and conjectures
Manuscript sources
Printed sources
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD], Architecture [AM]