Aristocratic History

The book deals with the relations between anger, emotions and trial rites in sixteenth century. After a general introduction on the values of emotions, justice and anger the book presents the story of Marcantonio Trissino, the grandson of Giangiorgio Trissino, the famous man of letters and humanist. In the year 1583 Marcantonio, abruptily and amazingly, killed Giulio Cesare Trissino outside Vicenza's dome while he was surrounded and protected by numerous friends and followers. Giulio Cesare Trissino was suspected by the public opinion being the mandant of Ciro Trissino's murder, the father of Marcantonio, killed in february 1576 in his palladian villa located in Cornedo, a Vicentine village, by a group of goons, masked and dressed in black suits. During the trial instructed in Padua by appointment of the Counsel of ten, Marcantonio Trissino defended his violent behavior advocating that his mind was run over by anger and furor. The trial rhetoric vehicles the great themes of vendetta and honor and introduce to the tensions between retributive and restorative justice. The second part of the book presents some of the documents which availed to the lawyers for preparing Marcantonio Trissino's defence.

Historische Todesanzeigen, die aus Anlaß des Ablebens von Adeligen aus deutschen Ländern der Jahre  1912 bis 2009 gedruckt worden sind, können als wertvolle Quellen für die Ahnenforschung, die Familienforschung, aber auch die wissenschaftliche Forschung, gelten. Die hier präsentierte Liste nimmt sich dieser bisher vernachlässigten Quellengruppe an und erschließt bibliographisch den Quellenbestand.

Erbschaft der Grafen Netolitzky

Die Studie befasst sich mit der Geschichte der Herrschaft Kost im Nordböhmen (Bezirk Jičín) in der Nähe von der Stadt Sobotka. Diese Herrschaft hat im Jahr 1739 Wenzel Kasimir Netolitzky von Eisenberg, Staatsbeamte und Vertraute der Kaiserin Maria Theresia, die im Jahre 1741 in der Freiherrn- und im Jahre 1759 in den Grafenstand erhoben wurde. Schon im Jahr 1757 wurde sein Herrschaft Kost im sog. Fideikomiss umgewandelt, die nach absterben seiner männlichen Nachkommen die Familien nach weiblichen Deszendenz (Wratislaw von Mitrowitz, Dal Borgo und Kinský) geerbt haben.

The History of the Concept ‘Polish Versailles’, Namely the Verbal Image of the World

The article presents the circumstance of creating and applying the concept ‘Polish Versailles’ outside the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In Białystok, Jan Klemens Branicki created one of the most interesting palace and garden ensembles in 18th-century Europe. The phrase appeared for the first time in German-speaking press in 1752. Despite dozens, and if not hundreds of opportunities of recording sumptuous ceremonies held by Jan Klemens Branicki, the European elites became acquainted with the appearance of Hetman’s residence thanks to the book by Jean-Baptiste Chappe d’Auteroche published in 1768. The physicist described his 1761 trip, when heading for Tobolsk, he stopped only for several hours on the way in Białystok, and he visited the palace and the gardens. The facility was elevated to the rank of the most important palace and garden ensembles in the map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth published in 1772 by Giovanni Rizzi-Zannoni. Quite exceptional in this respect was the encyclopaedic publication of Anton Friedrich Büsching from 1754 who began endorsing the concept Polnische Versailles.
At that time, under Izabela Branicka the palace was living its decline, while the sale of Białystok to Alexander I of Russia only slowed down the deterioration process. Büsching, the promoter of the description, verified his opinion in 1786, and stopped applying the concept. The symbol, written down in many popular books, however, survived, and was copied by numerous subsequent artists throughout the whole of the 19th century. The consequence was the clash of travellers’ expectations with the grim realities, this exemplified by the 1814 experience of Casimir Stanislas d’Arpentigny. Such a situation yielded the saying Similar like Białystok and Versailles, applied to describe two totally incongruous elements.

Nous mettons ici à disposition des chercheurs le texte du volume II de notre thèse soutenue en 1998 à l’Université Lumière-Lyon 2. Les volumes I (Châteaux, pouvoirs et habitats en Vivarais, Xe-XIIIe siècle) et III (Inventaire des châteaux et des castra vivarois antérieurs au XIVe siècle) de celle-ci ont été publiés en 2004 et 2009, seul le volume II (Prosopographie des lignages châtelains vivarois, Xe-XIIIe siècle) est resté inédit à ce jour. Ce travail déjà ancien (en partie remis en forme ici) doit être complété désormais par quelques références bibliographiques plus récentes, notamment :
Laffont Pierre-Yves, 1998, « Les Montlaur : une branche cadette des vicomtes de Polignac ? », Revue du Vivarais, t. CII, p. 77-82.
Laffont Pierre-Yves, 2004, Atlas des châteaux du Vivarais, Xe-XIIIe siècle, Lyon, ALPARA, Ministère de la Culture, Documents d’Archéologie en Rhône-Alpes et Auvergne n° 25.
Laffont Pierre-Yves, 2009, Châteaux du Vivarais. Pouvoirs et peuplements en France méridionale du haut Moyen Âge au XIIIe siècle, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, collection Archéologie & Culture.
Laffont Pierre-Yves, 2017, « Des premiers seigneurs de Mahun aux Pagan d’Argental et de Mahun (XIe-début du XIVe siècle) », Revue du Vivarais, t. CCXI, p. 217-235.

This is the first comparative study of a highly unlikely group of authors: eighteenth-century women peasants in England, Scotland, and Germany, women who, as a rule, received little or no formal education and lived by manual labor, many of them in dire poverty. Among them are the ...

Considering the reality of decentralization of power in Northern Italy in the XI and XII centuries, where the presence of active social forces such as the Papacy and the German Empire was undeniable, we find Matilda of Canossa, Countess of Tuscany and Duchess of Lorraine who held the position of manager of a remarkable land fortune which she had inherited and which we call “domestic sphere”. This project aims to show her acting facing a political exercise of local nature, that is, somewhat different from the social role that is attributed to her by the classical historiography. In order for such analysis elaboration to be possible, we use other definitions, less conventional concepts that help us position Matilda in a central place, as well as identify in her actions, elements which correspond to a comprehensive and autonomous management. She is the householder that administrates movable and immovable property, people and castles, plantations and livestock. Besides the procedures related to material matters of practical order, she was also in charge of moral, and sometimes spiritual, orientation of her dependants. The countess shows her political relevance when we find her involved in episodes such as the council which took place in Mantua in  1064 ‘capital’ of her domains; or even when she divorced her first husband, regaining the control of her inheritance, which allows the argumentation of a sovereignty and self-government conduct.

In dieser Schrift werden folgende Fragen beantwortet:

Kann ich einen Adelstitel wieder annehmen? Wie kann ich einen verdunkelten Adelstitel wiedererlangen? Ist es möglich, einen Adelstitel zu restituieren? Wie kann ich einen Adelstitel zurückholen? Auf welche Weise kann ich meinen Adelstitel wieder bekommen? Wie läßt sich ein Anspruch auf meinen Adelsnamen erheben, den meine Vorfahren abgelegt haben? Wie kann ein alter Adelstitel in den Personalausweis eingetragen werden? Kann ich heutzutage das „von“ trotz Aberkennung in vergangenen Zeiten erneuern? Besteht heute noch die Möglichkeit, einen verlorenen Adelstitel anzunehmen? Was muß ich tun, um einen Adelstitel tragen zu können, den meine Familie früher besessen hat? Kann ich einen abgelegten oder verloren gegangenen Adel heute wieder zurückbekommen? Wie kann ich einen alten Adelstitel geltend machen? Wie kann ein Adelstitel wiederbelebt werden? Wie kann ich den von meiner Familie einst geführten Adel wieder aufleben lassen?

"La présente étude s'inscrit dans le débat à propos d'une éventuelle " mutation féodale " autour de l'an mil. Il s'agit d'étudier l'aristocratie laïque durant les Xe et XIe siècles, en prêtant une égale attention aux ressorts matériels et idéologiques de sa domination sociale. La signification des transformations que connaît alors l'écriture diplomatique étant au cœur de la controverse, le choix a été fait de partir des sources hagiographiques originaires des abbayes d'Aurillac, Conques et Figeac. Mais le discours hagiographique présente ses propres biais. Afin de s'en prémunir au mieux, on a confronté autant que possible les affirmations des sources hagiographiques aux informations disponibles grâce à d'autres types de documents. La démonstration procède en deux étapes. En recourant aux méthodes de l'hagiologie, la première partie permet de contextualiser la production hagiographique et de s'interroger sur les conditions de sa réception : on s'aperçoit que si les textes latins sont d'abord destinés à être lus par des clercs, de multiples canaux de diffusion orale permettaient aux hagiographes de s'adresser également aux laïcs, en particulier à l'aristocratie. La seconde partie étudie l'évolution de la domination aristocratique à travers ce que permet d'en percevoir l'hagiographie. Elle montre qu'un certain nombre de transformations ont eu lieu dès le début du Xe siècle et permettent de parler d'une " mutation de l'an 900 " : l'émergence de la chevalerie, la mise en place de la féodalité, la montée en puissance des sires, l'importance des châteaux et des milites sont autant de phénomènes qui datent de cette époque. Toutefois, l'an mil connaît deux ajustements non négligeables : le redéploiement de l'identité aristocratique autour des châteaux et le passage d'une conception cognatique de la parenté noble à une autre d'avantage agnatique.
The present study falls within the scope of the debate about a possible "feudal mutation" around the year 1000. It is concerned with the study of lay aristocracy during the 10th and 11th centuries, by giving equal attention to ideological and material aspects of its social domination. Because the meaning of the transformations that affect diplomatic writing then is in the heart of the matter, we make the choice to work from the hagiographic narratives from the abbeys of Aurillac, Conques and Figeac. But there are also biases in the hagiographic discourse. In order to counterbalance their influence, we have compared as much as possible the data from hagiographic texts with the information available thanks to other types of documents. The demonstration is organized in two steps. Using the methods of hagiology, the first part contextualizes hagiographic production and questions the conditions of its reception: we are led to realize that, if the Latin texts are primaraly intented to be read by clerics, multiple oral channels allowed hagiographers to address also the laity, especially the aristocracy. The second part examines the evolution of aristocratic domination through what can be perceived in the hagiography. It shows that some transformations took place as early as the beginning of the 10th century and that we can therefore speak of "a mutation of the year 900": the ermergence of chivalry, the establishment of feudalism, the rise of the lords, the importance of castles and milites are phenomena which date from this time. Howewer, there are two significant adjustments around the year 1000: aristocratic identity refocuses on castles and the the noble kinship moves from a cognatic conception to another more agnatic."

The book is based on an important criminal trial instructed by the courts of Vicenza and Padova in the years 1605-06 subsequently a decision of the Venetian Counsel of ten. The defendants belonged to the Vicentine aristocracy and were accused of many felonies like rapes, violences and assaults against the women and the men of their families of a small village of the Venetian mainland. But the study of the trial is also the occasion for describing the functioning of criminal justice and its changes during the last decades of sixteenth century.

"Se queremos que tudo fique como está
é preciso que tudo mude."


O leitmotif da obra de Tomasi de Lampedusa, imortalizada no grande ecrã pela objectiva de Visconti, sintetiza a sua ideia central, acerca do declínio das antigas elites, em particular da aristocracia, a favor da ascensão das classes médias, a partir da segunda metade do século XIX e a forma como uma facção daquela procurou, sem sucesso, manter a sua posição.
O tema da presente dissertação é precisamente o da evolução da Aristocracia em Portugal, em concreto da Casa Palmela, no contexto do Liberalismo, com maior precisão, no período que medeia entre 1810 e 1887, datas que, como veremos, reflectem a cronologia ditada pela própria evolução da Casa e também pelos rumos da nacionalidade.


"If we want everything to stay as it is
everything must change."


The leitmotif of Tomasi de Lampedusa's work, immortalized on the big screen by Visconti's lens, sums up his central idea of the decline of the old elites, particularly of the aristocracy, in favor of the rise of the middle classes from the second half of the century, and the way a faction of it sought, unsuccessfully, to maintain its position.
The theme of this dissertation is precisely that of the evolution of the Aristocracy in Portugal, specifically of Casa Palmela, in the context of Liberalism, with greater precision, in the period between 1810 and 1887, dates that, as we shall see, reflect the chronology dictated by own evolution of the House and also by the paths of nationality.

This dissertation studies, on the one hand, the different libraries Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, 7th Marquis of Carpio, possessed during his lifetime and, on the other, how the Marquis made a political use of the printed word and the elements linked to it (dedicatories, patronage networks, etc.), employing them as powerful tools for his political and courtly fights. In general terms this work can be classified as a study on Written culture, that is, a within line of historical research focused on analysing human practices which produce written documentation (regardless if handwritten or printed) by examining the uses and aims of these by-products as well as of the places and mechanisms that serve(d) to keep the documents. More specifically the study can be understood as an investigation within the field of the cultural history of politics, having Gaspar de Haro’s figure and career as case study. Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán (1629 – 1687) collected approximately 6.000 books, scattered between his residences in Madrid, Lisbon, Rome and Naples. The works he managed to reunite are known thanks to different inventories of his libraries, documents which allow to know not just the books the Spanish nobleman possessed but, up to a certain point, the moment when these books came into the libraries. Moreover, thanks to the inventarios de bienes (inventories of goods) conserved, which enlisted the objects the Marquis owned in his different residences, it is possible to make a more complete reconstruction of his life and his relation with printed objects, as the inventarios de bienes provide fundamental information on the rooms serving as libraries, their decoration and uses beyond serving as storage places for the books...

The Milites Baroli censused in the Catalogus Baronum constitute the beginning of this study on the formation, characteristics and evolution about lordship powers in the Ofanto Valley and particularly in the city of Barletta between the Norman and early Angevin age. Through a focused and complex rereading of the existing documents, the volume analyzes the structure of the Barletta society with particular attention to its military and political élite and to the relationship with central power. Structured during the XII century consequently the intervention of the Norman crown, for the southern sovereigns the milites of Barletta organized and controlled the Ofanto Valley,  favoring the unification of the Apulian center with civitas and the bishopric of Canne. Strongly put to the test in the secular relationship with the crown, the élite of the Apulian city is here probed through the study of prosopographic profiles and the pervasiveness of the power used by main local military families.
In this point of view, is analyzed both the relationship established from time to time with the ecclesiastical foundations of Outremer and with the Holy Land,  and the quality of the intervention in the main places of political and religious power and the characteristics of supremacy. In that sense, particular attention is focused on  the dynamics of the conflict, hidden in the city society, as a basic element for understanding the inner workings of power in the local and supralocal context. In this way, the volume is part of the debate on the social and political structure of the cities in the south of  Italy and on the aristocratic powers in the Kingdom of Sicily, of which Barletta is a complex and very interesting case.

These short biographies of some of the characters so-called Berlin line of the Radziwiłłs show the long path  they travelled from the late 18th to the mid-20th century. Although the short answer to the question of what were the specific situations they found themselves in and what political and social roles were played by individual representatives of the family during the Partitions and during the formation of an independent Poland. Despite the strong connection with the Hohenzollern dynasty and their certain place among the elite of the powerful Prussian state and then the German Empire, the vast majority chose to remain in opposition to the policy of denationalisation of Poles. And in the decisive time of the formation of the independent Polish state they stood alongside its creators.

The article presents the activities of the Ordinate of Ołyka Janusz Radziwiłł on behalf of the Catholic Church in Volhynia. This activity had several dimensions. The first concerned his political involvement in the situation of the Church by supporting the expansion of its influence in the Borderlands. This was particularly important in the case of Volhynia Voivodeship. The duke had such an opportunity because, as an emissary and later a senator and collaborator of Józef Piłsudski, he was one of the most influential politicians in Poland. The second dimension of his activity is material support for various initiatives of the diocese of Łutsk and financial assistance for specific churches. The third concerned his activity within the Diocesan Institute of Catholic Action, of which he was the president, the creation of a brotherhood called the Religious Union of Landowners for the Defence of Faith and Morals and the organisation of the Congress of Polish Catholic Intelligentsia in Volhynia in 1939. The text also describes an unknown thread of Radziwiłł's unsuccessful talks with Bishop Stanisław Łukomski, Secretary General of the Polish Episcopal Conference, on the Church’s support for the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government during the 1935 parliamentary elections.

Książka poświęcona jest socjologicznej analizie miejsca, jakie w polskim społeczeństwie zajmują (poczynając od drugiej połowy XIX w.) arystokracja, szlachta i ziemiaństwo. Należy wszelako podkreślić, że nie jest to monografia historyczna. Zasadniczym celem tego studium jest próba wyjaśnienia roli spuścizny szlacheckiej w kształtowaniu polskiego modelu obywatelskiego oraz opisanie roli tego dziedzictwa i środowisk je pielęgnujących dla innych grup społecznych w Polsce, zwłaszcza dla inteligenckiej elity. Książka obejmuje studium socjologiczne środowiska spadkobierców najważniejszych polskich rodów arystokratycznych i znanych rodzin ziemiańskich, omówienie badań nad społeczną percepcją tradycji i środowisk szlacheckich i ich obrazem w przestrzeni publicznej oraz przegląd międzynarodowego, przede wszystkim europejskiego, kontekstu podobnych sieci społecznych.

Centralna teza książki głosi, że środowiska arystokratyczne i postziemiańskie pozostają w kluczowej – dla zrozumienia ich społecznej pozycji – relacji wobec inteligencji. Historycznie relacja ta była w dużym stopniu antagonistyczna, jednak po roku 1918, który można uznać za symboliczny moment ustanowienia II Rzeczypospolitej jako swoistej „republiki inteligenckiej”, osłabiona arystokracja i ziemianie zaczęli obejmować rolę wewnętrznej inteligenckiej subelity. Potomkowie znanych rodzin arystokratycznych i ziemiańskich stali się istotną częścią elity inteligenckiej republiki, a relacje z nimi można uznać za symboliczny probierz inteligenckich roszczeń do przywództwa obywatelskiego i moralnego oraz własnej elitarności. Tak nakreślony kontekst analityczny pozwolił postawić tezę o arystokracji i – szerzej – o potomkach elit szlacheckich jako o inteligenckim totemie. Wokół takiego totemu, rozumianego jako kluczowy symbol ciągłości historycznej polskich elit, kształtowana jest współczesna polska tożsamość obywatelska. Zaproponowana w książce interpretacja relacji arystokracji, ziemiaństwa i elit szlacheckich z inteligencją, służąca zrozumieniu genezy nowoczesnego polskiego modelu obywatelstwa, stanowi propozycję nowego ujęcia historycznej ewolucji polskich hierarchii społecznych w kategoriach socjologicznych. Podejście to jest też próbą rozwoju krytycznej, zorientowanej historycznie i porównawczo analizy nad obywatelstwem polskim.

The purpose of this article is to challenge Ştefan Zeletin’s classical sociological thesis (regarding the economic and politic extinction of the great  Wallachian boyar-class) which is not historically sustainable neither on economic, nor on political grounds. From an economic point of view, we argue that the great Wallachian boyar families expanded their areas of economic interest, between 1774 and 1866, through industrial, banking, land-leasing or commercial investments,
both internally, by founding market-places and fairs, and internationally, by getting involved in the export of cereal and animal commodities. From a political point of view, we want to mention the fact that 95% of the Prime Ministers of the United Principalities of Romania (1859-1862) and of Romania (1862-1916) belong to the boyar social class. Between 1859 and 1916, long after Ştefan Zeletin proclaims the complete political abolishment of the great boyars, 46% of those who held the highest position in the modern state – namely that of a Prime Minister of Wallachia (within the Romanian Principalities) or of Romania – were the representatives of the
23 great Wallachian boyar families. The reason for this amazing phenomenon of the Wallachian nobility’s perfect adaptation to the Western modernity lies on the use –
in the capitalist sense – of the old privileges, monopolies, immunities, exemptions, benefits and favors (of feudal origin) whose exclusive beneficiaries were the great Wallachian boyars.

Elena Olariu, Stil de viață aristocratic în secolul al XIX-lea. Studiu de mentalitate și moravuri în spațiul public, Editura Oscar Print, București, 2021. Cartea are 141 de pagini și este ilustrată cu picturi deținute de Muzeul Municipiului București.

The paper deals with the story of Marcantonio Trissino, the grandson of Giangiorgio Trissino, the famous man of letters and humanist. In the year 1583 Marcantonio, abruptily and amazingly, killed Giulio Cesare Trissino outside Vicenza's dome while he was surrounded and protected by numerous friends and followers. Giulio Cesare Trissino was suspected by the public opinion being the mandant of Ciro Trissino's murder, the father of Marcantonio, killed in february 1576 in his palladian villa located in Cornedo, a Vicentine village, by a group of goons, masked and dressed in black suits. During the trial instructed in Padua by appointment of the Counsel of ten, Marcantonio Trissino defended his violent behavior advocating that his mind was run over by anger and furor. The trial rhetoric vehicles the great themes of vendetta and honor and introduce to the tensions between retributive and restorative justice.

1 Beauté et noblesse dans le théâtre français du XVII e siècle: belle du corps, belle de l'âme ? Le corps n'a été durant toute l'Histoire un objet de soin, de culte et de rituel qu'au service d'autres fins. Beaucoup d'études 1 ont montré ainsi combien la recherche de la beauté, les préoccupations d'hygiène et le soin de soi ont correspondu à des pratiques de cultes du corps. Ces pratiques aussi anciennes que l'homme lui-même, se sont développées avec le temps et ont connu une évolution considérable tout au long de l'Histoire humaine. Au XVII e siècle, le souci esthétique atteint son apogée et devient pour beaucoup d'hommes et de femmes nobles un moyen de briller dans la société, de transformer leurs modes d'existence et leurs manières de paraître; il modifie leurs façons de se soigner, d'agir et d'intervenir sur eux-mêmes. Cette nouvelle religion du corps engage le sujet dans une logique de l'apparence où la surface lisse de la peau et la magnificence de l'habit font loi. Si au XVI e siècle, la beauté ne concerne que le haut du corps, les nouvelles règles de la bienséance du XVII e veulent que les parties visibles du corps n'offensent pas la vue et flattent l'odorat. Le linge blanc nettoie, la propreté extérieure du corps garantit probité morale et rang dans la société d'où l'importance accordée à la blancheur des linges 2

Several historians have drawn attention to the importance that certain figures had near to the king or other members of the Royal Family, becoming their favourites and somehow they influenced the royal decisions.
If it was a recurring phenomenon during the Ancient Regime, the same will have happened during the Constitutional Monarchy in Portugal. In the reign of D. Carlos (1889-1908) the question of courtly intrigue and the existence of inner circles was mentioned in the press. It was not a novelty. During the previous reign existed a press purposely intended for the satire of the intrigue of the Court.
At the beginning of the reign of D. Carlos, a republican newspaper suggested, about the resignation of the government, how the courtly intrigue had influenced it. However, it was not only the periodic press that spread this idea. The subject had also been raised on several occasions in the two Houses of Parliament. These allusions were discussed later, in the works of several personalities of the time, as Raúl Brandão (1919) or Alfredo Pimenta (1945) referring to the existence of two parties of courtiers in the Royal household, one aligned by the King and another by the Queen.
However, the relations between the Countess of Figueiró (D. Josefa de Sandoval, whose petit nom was Pepita), lady-in-waiting to the Queen D. Amélia and the Queen herself, went beyond the usual and she became to the contemporary people, her favourite and a source of troubles. Even though this wasn’t the only influential person of the Queen, its predominance reached proportions that were too evident for the society of the time, which climax was the publication of the novel Marquês da Bacalhoa, a roman à clef, in which a lesbian romance between the two was insinuated. In fact, would be only a Republican invention to denigrate the image of the Queen. More than understanding the nature of this relationship, it is important to understand the impact of the existence of a favourite within the Royal Household and the consequences it has brought to the monarchy itself.
In fact, besides being the cause of discussions between the royal couple, Pepita raised the envy of some sectors of court society by the favoritism attributed to her, but also the distrust of the political personalities. Actually, this ascendancy was also reflected in the performance of the Queen’s own royal duties, by protecting the position of her favorite in the Court and not caring for the interests of the Monarchy. This had as a consequence the degradation of the image of the Royal Family and the Monarchy itself. Contributing to this, was the demonstrated inability of the Queen D. Amélia in the regulation of conflicts and rivalries within the Court and whose impact would remain even after the regicide that killed D. Carlos.

En Bretagne, la noblesse avait ses propres codes. La hiérarchie des titres sous les ducs bretons y était différente de celle pratiquée alors par les rois de France. L’origine et la destinée des comtés, vicomtés et seigneuries châtelaines sont étudiés en prenant en compte les dernières recherches universitaires. Les érections de nouvelles baronnies et de bannières, ainsi que les mythes attachés aux neuf anciens barons, au roman des bannerets et à l’hermine héraldique sont analysés pour proposer de nouvelles pistes de réflexions.
Les premières entrées des ducs de Bretagne, leur couronnement à Rennes ainsi que l’intronisation des neuf évêques bretons comportaient des traditions dans lesquelles certains représentants de la noblesse jouant un rôle bien défini. Cet ouvrage fait (re-)découvrir ces rites du Moyen Âge, en facilite la compréhension grâce à des études comparatives et permet, pour ceux qui le souhaitent, d’aller plus loin en donnant accès au corpus des sources correspondantes rassemblées à cet effet pour la première fois.
La troisième partie est consacrée à l'édition commentée du seul armorial institutionnel breton connu jusqu’alors inédit, ainsi qu’à la publication de pièces du procès entre le baron de Coëtmen et les États de Bretagne au xviiie siècle.

« Argumenté avec clarté et subtilité et accompagné d’un considérable apparat critique, Bertrand Yeurc’h nous offre un panorama riche et détaillé de l’évolution de la classe supérieure de la noblesse bretonne depuis les Mérovingiens. Instructif et parfois provocateur, voici un apport précieux à la littérature actuelle. Cet ouvrage permet de mieux comprendre cette évolution et constituera une base ferme pour de nombreuses futures pistes d’enquête. » Michael Jones, Professeur émérite de l’université de Nottingham.

The Portuguese Royal Household during the Contemporary period has not yet been subject to a systematic historical analysis. This study aims to fill this gap, showing the problems inherent to the institution and its national conjuncture.
During several centuries of its existence, the Royal Household faced new challenges and, especially from the nineteenth century, with the establishment of a Constitutional Monarchy. However, this political regime would not last. The assassination in 1908 of the penultimate King of Portugal, D. Carlos, was the unquestionable evidence of the crisis of the regime and the forthcoming establishment of the Republic.
It is therefore important ask to what extent is that one of the principal monarchical institutions may have contributed during the reign of King Carlos for the premature fall of the Portuguese Monarchy in the European context. Based on the definition and characterization of the Royal Household, particularly in terms of its internal organization in this reign will be highlighted the changes brought by the Constitutional Monarchy to this institution. We will analyze the composition and recruitment of its human elements, especially at the level of its major officers, in order to identify the support bases of the King and the monarchy in this reign. We will discuss the issue of the financial situation of the Royal Household, which was widely discussed at the time because of the advance payments made by the Public Treasure that have tarnished the public image of the Monarchy and the King himself. Finally, we will examine the issues related to the outward and visible aspect of the Royal Household, particularly their public festivities and its adaptation to the chronological context.

Elena Olariu, Boieri și aristocrați români în secolul al XIX-lea. Studiu de mentalitate și moravuri în spațiul privat, Editura Oscar Print, București, 2019. Cartea are 223 de pagini, bibliografie și este ilustrată cu picturi deținute de Muzeul Municipiului București.

O século XVIII foi profícuo em diversas alterações, não só políticas, como as verificadas no final desse século em França, mas sobretudo em alterações culturais e das mentalidades um pouco por toda a Europa.

Todas essas alterações se verificaram também nos espaços e sociabilidades no seio da sociedade feminina em Portugal, já devidamente estudadas. Todavia, essas mudanças não terão sido porventura repentinas, coexistindo permanências e rupturas ao longo de todo esse século.

O objectivo da nossa comunicação é, a partir da análise de vários núcleos documentais, publicados ou inéditos, pertencentes a vários arquivos de família, analisar uma das mais importantes formas de difusão cultural da sociedade de então – a correspondência feminina, nomeadamente a produzida pela aristocracia portuguesa de século XIX. Esta análise será feita comparativamente à da correspondência produzida no século precedente pela aristocracia feminina portuguesa, evidenciando eventuais permanências ou rupturas, de forma a perceber qual a direcção que a correspondência feminina tomou.

Volt egy olyan korszak a magyar történetírásban, illetve köz-vélekedésben, amikor Mindszenty József hercegprímás egyike volt azoknak, akivel a "reakciós", illetve a "klerikális reakciós" egyet jelentett. Ezek a fogalmak, vagy leginkább politikai bé-lyegek nem önmagukban álltak, hanem leginkább egy olyan narratívát akartak sugallni, amely legitimizációs erőt adha-tott a-baloldali, forradalmi-progresszív, később kommunis-ta-politikai-társadalmi berendezkedésnek. Mindez muníció is volt ugyanakkor a közbeszédben, negatív bélyeg, amelyet nem kellett különösebben megérvelni, elég volt bárkire rásüt-ni és ezzel a "tiltott" fiókba került 1945 és 1990 között az ille-tő és munkássága. A "reakciós" és a "horthysta-fasiszta" ki-fejezések lényegében egy üres, a kommunista állambiztonság által is használt kifejezéseket mutatnak, amelyeket mindenki megkaphatott, akinek bármilyen köze volt az 1945 előtti ma-gyar társadalmi berendezkedéshez, legyen akár katonatiszt, köztisztviselő, újságíró vagy akár egy eredményesebb sport-klub tagja. Különösen igaz volt azonban két társadalmi réteg-re; a papságra (klerikusok) és az arisztokratákra. A bélyegek persze nem azért hatékonyak, mert konzek-vensek vagy egzaktak, hiszen a reakciós ebben az esetben nem a korrekt eszmetörténeti tartalommal szerepel,1 a nyilvánvaló politikai ellentmondásokat is figyelmen kívül hagyták.2 Maga Mindszenty József nem volt sem a szó eredeti, eszmetörténeti értemében, sem reakciós, sem horthysta, hiszen szembehe-lyezkedett Horthy Miklós kormányzóval aktuálpolitikailag mint legitimista, a kultuszát kifejezetten tagadta, meglehet az kormányzó országgyarapító tevékenységét aktívan támo-gatta és az ellenforradalmi szerepéről is pozitívan vélekedett. Még kevésbé volt "fasiszta", hiszen politikai ellenfele, később rabja is volt a magyar nemzetiszocialistáknak, mégis a bélyeg 1 Ld. pl. Arthur Moeller van den Bruck: A reakciós. (Ford. Roboz Erika.) Miles Christi Évkönyv, 2014. 2 A marxista történetírást sohasem zavarta az a puszta tény, hogy a "hor-thysta rezsim" az általa "fasisztának" (valójában inkább: nemzetiszocia-lista, nyilas, hungarista) tartott szélsőjobboldali mozgalmak ellen rende-letileg-adminisztratív eszközökkel is fellépett nem is egyszer, politikailag pedig megpróbálta ellehetetleníteni azokat. Nem beszélve arról a-ma már szerencsére ismertebb-tényről, hogy maga Horthy Miklós kormányzó is, antiszemita nézetei mellett, kifejezetten nyilas-ellenes nézeteket vallott, ha kell ezt tettlegesen is bebizonyítva. könnyen ragadt, mert jószerivel mindazzal ellenállást tanú-sított a hercegprímás-életének több fázisában is, ha nem is egyenlő intenzitással-, ami Magyarországon 1944. március óta történt. Mindez a kommunista ellenségei számára csak egyetlen kategóriát jelenthetett, Révai József, a korszak nagy cenzora, aki egyetlen cikkben képes volt az értelmiségiek ezreinek kijelölni a hivatalos (elutasító) irányt, Mindszenty letartoztatása után így találta meg az összefüggést a fogal-mak között: "Még Horthy Miklós, az elaggott gyilkos, a vén gonosztevő is nyilatkozik Mindszenty mellett, a »szabadság« nevében! Kijelenti, hogy Mindszenty »a szabadság miszti-kusa«, aki »lángolt a szabadságszeretettől«. […] Ha fasizmust értenek »szabadságon«, akkor Mindszenty valóban a »szabad-ság« lovagja volt. De a magyar demokrácia nem fasizmust ért szabadságon, ezért tette ártalmatlanná ezt a fasisztába oltott középkori inkvizítort."3 Az alábbiakban arra teszünk egy kísérletet, hogy Mind-szenty József arisztokrata kapcsolati hálóját feltérképezzük, főként a hercegprímási idejében. Mindszenty kettős nemessége "Magyar nemes vagyok. Eredeti családnevem Péhm. A Péhm-családnak nemességét 1732-ben hirdették ki. Anyai ágon a magyar nemesi Kovács-családból származom, amelyet 1663-ban emeltek nemesi rangra"-áll A Mindszenty bűnügy okmányai című kiadvány4 Mindszenty múltja fejezete ele-jén, amelyet eredeti, kézírásos formában is közöltek Mind-szenty írásbeli vallomása politikai beállítottságáról címmel. A kiadvány erősen propagandisztikus jellegű, és már 1949 januárjában kiadták, azaz a hercegprímás perbe fogása és le-tartóztatása után közvetlenül, mégis nagyobbrészt ez az állí-tása igaz, s csak kisebb mértékben szorul pontosításra. Pehm (nem Péhm) András helytartótanácsi titkár 1732. január 12-én Bécsben kelt a nemeslevele (1733-ban hirdette ki Zala várme-gye), amelyet III. Károly királyunk adományozott, azért a vi-tézségéért is, amelyet egyik ős Kiskomárom törököktől való 3

Chapter monograph is devoted to the analysis of the sections arrangement in the catalogues of the Central European aristocratic libraries in the 16th and 17th centuries. The study maps the possibilities and limitations of the research of the thematic disciplines represented in the contemporary libraries and shows its importance in the field of the early modern intellectual history.

aus: Wolfgang Blösel/Karl-Joachim Hölkeskamp (Hrsgg.), Von der militia equestris zur militia urbana. Prominenzrollen und Karrierefelder im antiken Rom, Stuttgart 2011, 137-156

Der Beitrag zeigt zunächst, daß bei der Erörterung von Jugend und Erziehung der Senatsaristokratie der Begriff und das Konzept ‚Herrschaftswissen’ nicht weiterführend ist. Er plädiert vielmehr dafür,
(1) in diesem Zusammenhang von der Aneignung einer vita honesta, eines aristokratisch ‚edlen’ Lebensstils, zu sprechen,
(2) den Begriff ‚Kompetenzen’ zu meiden und vielmehr von Fähigkeiten, Fertigkeiten und Kenntnissen zu sprechen, da der Blick hierdurch zu stark auf die funktionale Verwertbarkeit derselben gerichtet ist.
(3) erst nach der Rekonstruktion des Habitus und des Ethos, der impliziten und expliziten Haltung eines Aristokraten das Aufwachsen und die Heranbildung junger Ritter zu erörtern und
(4) die vom Vater empfangene Rolle eines vir bonus zum Ausgangspunkt zu nehmen.
Dem traditionellen Selbstverständnis nach war der pater familias für die Fortsetzung der Tradition, für die Bewahrung und Mehrung des familiären Prestiges verantwortlich (dignitas). Seine erzieherische Aufgabe bestand nicht darin, an die nachwachsende Generation abstrakte Werte und Prinzipien im Sinne isolierter Einzeltugenden weiterzugeben, sondern ihr vielmehr ein Bewußtsein von der Rolle zu vermitteln, die sie künftig in Familie und politischer Öffentlichkeit ausfüllen sollte, ihr mithin ein Ethos und spezifische Muster angemessenen Verhaltens (officia) „einzupflanzen“ und sie darauf entsprechend vorzubereiten. Auch wenn im 1. Jh. v. Chr. die Kinder und Jugendlichen von griechischen Hauslehrern und Gelehrten unterrichtet wurden, so fand doch die primäre Sozialisation und ein Großteil der Erziehung der Ritter- und Senatorensöhne nach wie vor im elterlichen Haus und unter der Leitung des Vaters oder eines familiären „Vater-Ersatzes“ statt.
Diese verlief im wesentlichen in drei aufeinander abfolgenden Sozialisations- bzw. Erfahrungsstufen: (1) in der Teilhabe an der ‚väterlichen’ Praxis, (2) in der Nachahmung der ‚väterlichen’ Praxis und (3) in der öffentlichen Bewährung der nachrückenden Generation (vor den Augen der Väter).

Dans le Liber miraculorum sancte Fidis (début du XIe siècle), Bernard d'Angers décrit le physique d'un clerc, dont il livre un portrait topique correspondant à un idéal de mesure et de proportion. Or, le même auteur célèbre la beauté d'un chevalier, à propos duquel il insiste sur sa haute stature et sa puissance physique. Nous avons donc affaire à deux canons esthétiques masculins antagonistes. Pour comprendre ce constraste, il faut remettre en perspective le texte de Bernard en le replaçant à la fois dans la tradition littéraire dont il est l'héritier et dans son contexte théologique chrétien. On aboutit ainsi à la conclusion que l'idéal de juste mesure est propre au monde des clercs, pour qui le corps reflète l'âme. Au contraire, un rapprochement avec la Vita Karoli et la Chanson de Roland permet de montrer que ce sont les laïcs qui associent haute taille et puissante musculature à l'idée de beauté masculine.