Supplikation als kommunikative Herrschaftstechnik in zusammengesetzten Monarchien. Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs|Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs Band 2 / 2015|

The article deals with supplications as a prevalent feature of early modern states shaping the communication between commoners and prince. Comparing the usages in different parts of the Habsburg Empire (viz. Lower Austria, Hungary, and the Southern Netherlands) it asks whether supplications were adequate tools to establish direct forms of contact between subjects in the peripheries and the courtly center. By establishing new regional public authorities (Kreisämter) in the middle of the 18th century, Maria Theresia set up the preconditions for implementing such administrative proceedings in her Austrian homelands. This communicative bypass, suitable to circumvent the local powers of nobility and church, served as a mighty tool in the state-building process, and fostered the authority of the crown. In contrast, Joseph II, in his remote eastern and western provinces, failed to establish similar regional authorities, thus depending on central command only. In Hungary and Brabant, commoners had to rely on the grace of regional powers, so that they continued to address them with their supplications. The Habsburg Empire shows that, given the conditions of early modern infrastructure, distance matters

Traditions and recent trends of German research on the history of rural commons: A survey

While commons of the past are widely studied in western Europe, German historiography has not developed a distinct research focus on this important topic. Therefore, it is challenging to give a review as relevant observations cannot be found in surveys dealing with this particular issue, but instead in a greater number of studies on various subjects. The article starts with a summary of insights into the old-established research on rural communities, which has been deployed in plenty of regional studies and source-editions. This branch of historiography offers a sophisticated picture of norms and customs governing the commons of single villages and the so-called Marken that stretched over wider areas. More recently research has been done on rural conflicts between (or within) the peasantry, the nobility and the emerging territorial states. Some current findings of regional and local studies are presented, which include delineations of such struggles. These publications are of particular interest since they focus on the agency of commoners from different strata of rural society. Finally, specific results of the histories of rural environment, landscapes and forests are recapitulated. On the onehand they emphasise the disputes arising with the emergence of administrations regulating woods, waters, agriculture and rural industries. On the other hand they are concerned with markets for forestal and agricultural goods and their impact on common property regimes.While commons of the past are widely studied in western Europe, German historiography has not developed a distinct research focus on this important topic. Therefore, it is challenging to give a review as relevant observations cannot be found in surveys dealing with this particular issue, but instead in a greater number of studies on various subjects. The article starts with a summary of insights into the old-established research on rural communities, which has been deployed in plenty of regional studies and source-editions. This branch of historiography offers a sophisticated picture of norms and customs governing the commons of single villages and the so-called Marken that stretched over wider areas. More recently research has been done on rural conflicts between (or within) the peasantry, the nobility and the emerging territorial states. Some current findings of regional and local studies are presented, which include delineations of such struggles. These publications are of particular interest since they focus on the agency of commoners from different strata of rural society. Finally, specific results of the histories of rural environment, landscapes and forests are recapitulated. On the onehand they emphasise the disputes arising with the emergence of administrations regulating woods, waters, agriculture and rural industries. On the other hand they are concerned with markets for forestal and agricultural goods and their impact on common property regimes

Agrarreform und ländliche Gesellschaft: die Privatisierung der Marken in Nordwestdeutschland 1750 - 1850

Brakensiek S. Agrarreform und ländliche Gesellschaft: die Privatisierung der Marken in Nordwestdeutschland 1750 - 1850. Forschungen zur Regionalgeschichte. Paderborn: Schöningh; 1991

Fonctionnaires d'État et bourgeoisie urbaine en Allemagne

[ger] Der Beitrag resümiert die Debatte in der deutschen Geschichtswissenschaft um Stadt und Bürgertum in der Neuzeit und ihre Bedeutung für die Entwicklung moderner politischer Institutionen. Ausgehend von der Frage, wie sich das Verhdltnis zwischen den Amtsträgern der erstarkenden Territorialstaaten und den stadtbürgerlichen Eliten zwischen dem 16. und dem 19. Jahrhundert gestaltete, wird der Wandel der politischen Kultur um 1800 im Übergang vom Alten Reich zum Deutschen Bund neu gedeutet. Für das Zeitalter des Absolutismus rekonstruiert der Artikel eine überwiegend konsensuale Herrschaftspraxis, in deren Rahmen die städtischen Magistrate eine vom Fürsten „beauftragte Selbstverwaltung" ausübten. Davon heben sich die Konflikte der frühkonstitutionelle Epoche ab, als der Konsens zwischen den Vertretern der monarchischen Anstaltsstaaten und dem städtischen Bürgertum angesichts divergierender Zukunftsentwürfe prekär wurde: Dem zunehmenden Steuerungspotential der reformierten Bürokratien standen die wachsenden Anspruche auf politische Partizipation von Seiten der Burger gegenuber. Gleichwohl sah die Mehrheit der Stadtbürger und der Staatsbeamten in der konstitutionellen Monarchie die ideale Staatsform: Von einem grundsätzlichen Widerspruch zwischen der Burokratie und dem Stadtburgertum kann deshalb nicht gesprochen werden. [eng] The article summarizes the debate in German historiography on the development of towns and middle classes and its impact on modern political institutions. Basing on research about the relationship between state-officials and municipal elites (16th to 19th century), it reconsiders the crucial change of political culture around 1800 in the course of the transition from the Holy Empire to the German Federation. For the old regime the article reconstructs a mainly consensual princely reign over the towns, leaving "self-government at the prince 's command" to the municipal councils. This differs from the history of conflict in the epoque of early constitutionalism: due to diverging social and political concepts, the traditional consensus between the representatives of the monarchical state and the burghers of the towns eroded. The growing power of the modernized bureaucracies was challenged by the citizens' urging demand for political participation. Nevertheless most of the state-officials and the burghers agreed in constitutional monarchy to be the ideal form of governance. Therefore, a fundamental contradiction between bureaucracy and citenzens could not be detected.

Local office-holders in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, 1750- 1830 : the significance of social networks for their careers and daily life

The article deals with the significance of personal networks among stateofficials in Hesse-Kassel in the process of state-formation in this medium-sized German territory. It sketches how personal loyalties of kin, friendship and patronage shaped the process from the middle of the 18th century to the revolution of 1830, and vice-versa, how personal networks were reshaped through changes in customs, institutions and power. In the emergence of the constitutional system, an antagonism between liberal judiciary and conservative administration could be detected, which prefigured later political parties.Brakensiek Stefan. Local office-holders in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, 1750- 1830 : the significance of social networks for their careers and daily life. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée, tome 116, n°2. 2004. La culture scientifique à Rome à l’époque moderne. Pouvoir local et factions (XVe-XIXe siècle). Città e ambiente. Ospedali e sanità. pp. 577-591

Les biens communaux en Allemagne attaques, disparition et survivance (1750-1900)

Marc Bloch a décrit la disparition des droits d'usages communautaires en termes de « lutte pour l'individualisme agraire ». Comme nous le savons, cette lutte ne fut que partiellement couronnée de succès en France. Au contraire, en Allemagne, on dit que les communaux ont disparu de façon bien plus radicale au tout début du xixe siècle. Dans de nombreuses régions du pays, la privatisation des terres collectives, le remembrement et l'abolition des droits d'usage auraient clos toutes les revendic..