Freitag, 27. Januar 2017, 17:00 - 19:00 iCal

207. Institutsseminar, Jeroen Duindam

Nobility in global Perspective: Trials and Tribulations – Der Adel global: Irrungen, Wirrungen?

Marietta-Blau-Saal im Hauptgebäude der Universität Wien
Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien

Seminar, Workshop, Kurs


Machiavelli’s statement that kings in Europe ruled over lords, while their Asian fellow-rulers governed slaves was not entirely unjustified. Slave elites ruled in the name of the Ottoman sultan; further East – and beyond Machiavelli’s horizon – Confucian gentlemen-scholars filled the ranks of the Chinese imperial bureaucracy. The offices of these powerful elites could never be presented as family heirlooms. Without a doubt, heredity was more conspicuously present in Europe than in most Asian empires and kingdoms. However, families everywhere were eager to transmit their social status to posterity, and their efforts were often successful. No premodern state could effectively rule without relying on privileged regional elites. In this talk, Jeroen Duindam connects our changing views of European nobilities to elites worldwide. Clearly, the cultural imagery and self-fashioning of elites – as nobles, slaves, or scholars – cannot suffice for a comparative understanding.

 

Kommentar: Gabriele Haug-Moritz (Universität Graz, Institut für Geschichte)


Veranstalter

Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung


Kontakt

Stefanie Gruber
Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung
27206
stefanie.gruber@univie.ac.at