MITTEILUNGEN DER RESIDENZEN-KOMMISSION DER ...

Courts, especially Bourbon and Habsburg‘, Duindam deconstructed a number of approaches
and arguments in the older research on the court. Just as courts were not gilded cages for the
aristocracy, monarchs were not always in a position to use ceremonial for political manipulation.
Aristocrats were attracted to the court because court offices conferred prestige and chances
for material gain. Duindam also queried the argument that a shift from personal to bureaucratic
rule took place in the eighteenth century. Among other things, he pointed out, the
system of factions and favourites continued to exist. Duindam’s comparison of the courts of
Vienna and Versailles concentrated on five points: high household offices, honorary offices,
pensions, access to court life, and literary and artistic self-representations of the court. In his
report on this session, Wolfgang Reinhard (Freiburg) pointed out that on the basis of these
four papers, courtly luxury could be seen as having only modest, partial success as a medium
of integration; it served the self-representation of the ruler and helped to ensure that the élites
shared in the ‚fruits of power‘. The limited integrative function of courtly luxury consisted
more in maintaining a state of integration than in creating one. Reinhard suggested that any
latent or unintended effects of courtly luxury also need to be investigated.
In his conclusion, Werner Paravicini (Paris) reminded us of the question originally addressed
by the conference and of the terminology and procedures used for the purpose. The findings,
which differed considerably according to time and place, were presented in the context
of twelve problem areas. Finally, suggestions for future research were made, from the problems
posed by the sources to the difficulties of understanding princely power.
The intention is to publish the conference proceedings.
Karsten Plöger, London ∗
∗ Dr. Karsten Plöger, Deutsches Historisches Institut London, 17 Bloomsbury Square, GB-London WC1A
2NJ.
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