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Wed 12 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
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Thu 13 April
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Fri 14 April
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Sat 15 April
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Wednesday 12 April 2023 14.00 - 16.00
K-3 FAM15 Sibling Relations: Early Modern Noble Siblings. Situational Configurations between Alliance and Conflict
C22
Network: Family and Demography Chair: Margareth Lanzinger
Organizers: Siglinde Clementi, Margareth Lanzinger Discussant: Michaela Hohkamp
Florian Andretsch : Non-partitioned Patrimonies Sharing Lower and Upper Austrian Noble Lordships in Fraternal Community, ca. 1600
The panel paper analyses how noble siblings in Upper and Lower Austria shared complexes of rights empowering them to receive rents from rural and sometimes urban subjects – usually referred to as ‘lordships’ (Herrschaften) – in early modern Upper and Lower Austria. While historians of the family and kinship often ... (Show more)
The panel paper analyses how noble siblings in Upper and Lower Austria shared complexes of rights empowering them to receive rents from rural and sometimes urban subjects – usually referred to as ‘lordships’ (Herrschaften) – in early modern Upper and Lower Austria. While historians of the family and kinship often portray the intergenerational transmission of property in pre-industrial times as a process that was settled at two key points of a given persons’s life – marriage and death – such characterizations tend to neglect family forms that knew one more key moment of property distribution: the partition. Especially in legal and cultural contexts in which a lot of importance was given to the idea that siblings – or at least male siblings – should be equals in matters of inheritance, the property of a departed parent was often not divided immediately after death, but years or decades thereafter. Until a final partition of the inherited assets in question was agreed upon, the heirs used the resources left behind communally, creating a phase of life in which siblings were highly co-dependent to each other. In the historiography of the family, such formations have received substantial attention in regards to rural family structures in parts of France, Italy and Eastern Europe, largely due to the interest of historical demographers in big households.
So far, the fact that European elites often made use of such wealth arrangements has so far received comparatively little specialized attention. However, some nobilities and urban patriciates frequently left income sources such as landed estates, companies or political offices in the communal use of more than one person until a final division. Even when a final partition was settled, usage rights and income from former communal property could still be ‘shared’ in a broader sense through legal instruments such as debt obligations or guardianships. In my paper, I argue that among the nobility of Lower and Upper Austria too, various modes of communal use of inherited income sources such as landed estates by brothers were a common model of familial property arrangement until the mid-17th century. In part, these practices were motivated by notions of ‘brotherhood’ valorising fraternal equality and unity, that had certain limits however. My aim is to shed light on the modalities of fraternal co-ownership in this social group by comparing at least two different cases from different noble lineages in the late 16th and/or early 17th century, making use of various sources from former noble family archives. My analysis follows three lines of inquiry: Firstly, I will examine general legal norms as well as specific contractual stipulations aiming to regulate the communal use of family assets. Secondly, my paper will give an outline of how income from shared patrimonies was distributed, how noble brothers allocated administrative tasks, how they made mutual decisions and what kind of conflicts could arise. Thirdly, I will summarize the legal agreements and/or other events that eventually put an end to the communal usage of their parents’ estates and other income sources. (Show less)

Siglinde Clementi : Noble Sibling Relations in the Step Constellation. Tyrol, 16th and 17th Centuries
The paper starts from the assumption, that wealth is the fundamental medium for constituting and maintaining kinship relations, whereby kinship is thought of relationally and socially. Emotions as representations are referred to in these kinship constellations in various source contexts in order to create and maintain family cohesion. Particularly with ... (Show more)
The paper starts from the assumption, that wealth is the fundamental medium for constituting and maintaining kinship relations, whereby kinship is thought of relationally and socially. Emotions as representations are referred to in these kinship constellations in various source contexts in order to create and maintain family cohesion. Particularly with regard to sibling relationships, however, not only the much-invoked love and unity, affection and cohesion, become tangible in the sources, but also competition and conflicts.
This paper focuses on a sibling line of the Tyrolean nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries, which consisted of five marrying sons and two marrying daughters, as well as another ten siblings who died at a younger age. Of the five brothers, two were from first marriage, as were the marrying daughters, and three of the brothers were from second marriage. The five brothers lived on undivided estates for over 17 years after the death of their father in 1577, when the two youngest sons were still minors. The daughters renounced the family inheritance in return for receiving a marriage portion according to her rank.
In contracts, settlements, wills, but above all in letters, the complex interplay between property arrangements and emotions in this series of siblings is traced. Both the undivided inheritance between brothers and the gender-specific distribution of assets are reconstructed in detail with a special focus on the step constellation. (Show less)

Liesbeth Geevers : Runt of the Litter: Archduke Charles "the Posthumous" and his Many Older Siblings
Seventeenth-century state formation did not only change the nature of early modern rulers – more absolute, more exalted – but also created the need for a new sort of role for their younger siblings, for whom centralization meant a loss of autonomy and an end to shared inheritance. These "victims" ... (Show more)
Seventeenth-century state formation did not only change the nature of early modern rulers – more absolute, more exalted – but also created the need for a new sort of role for their younger siblings, for whom centralization meant a loss of autonomy and an end to shared inheritance. These "victims" of centralization had to navigate a new reality in which traditional princely roles became less acceptable. So, what to do with younger brothers for whom there was no place in the new constellation? This presentation focuses on Archduke Charles "the Posthumous" (1590-1624), thirteenth child, and fourth son of Archduke Charles II of Habsburg-Styria and Anna Maria of Bavaria. How did he navigate the waters of primogeniture and centralization? What impact did his status as runt of a large litter have on his socialization and role, both among his siblings and within the wider Habsburg dynastic network? Focusing on his mother's correspondence while he was still underage, this presentation aims to reconstruct the future that was envisioned for him in comparison with his brothers. (Show less)

Claudia Rapberger : Noble Sisters in their Correspondences in 17th Century Austria
If one searches the archives of noble families for letters between siblings, one often finds boxes filled with correspondences relating to the eldest son of a family, usually written by one of his brothers.
Letters from sisters, on the other hand, are much less frequently preserved. Those that have been ... (Show more)
If one searches the archives of noble families for letters between siblings, one often finds boxes filled with correspondences relating to the eldest son of a family, usually written by one of his brothers.
Letters from sisters, on the other hand, are much less frequently preserved. Those that have been kept are again mostly correspondences, between a sister and either her oldest brother or a brother with an important political function. This concentration on the eldest son of the family is reflected not only in the sources, but also in their study. For a long time, the primary attention paid to vertical family lines in the nobility ignored horizontal configurations that constituted and influenced noble power and family politics as well. Siblings played an essential role in this process – sisters as well as brothers. My paper aims to address the research desideratum that exists, especially for female protagonists in this interplay. While the various aspects that sisters dealt with in their letters form the basic framework of the analysis, the focus is on what the letters reveal to us about the relationships of the two correspondence partners. Which scopes for actions and possibilities for shaping can be observed – especially for the sisters – in the various configurations of sibling relationships?
How do they position and define themselves in relation to important family members? In answering these questions situational logics must also be taken into account, since they shape the actions and options for action of the participants and could also change suddenly. My paper will address all of this based on promising source material of correspondences form the 17th century of the two Austrian noble families Harrach and Lamberg. (Show less)



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