Habsburg’s nobility
elites under the double eagle
1649–1739
In the Habsburg Monarchy, as it had been evolving from 1526, the imperial Court developed into the definitive integration platform for the nobility of the territories under Habsburg dominion. The uniting of originally very different nations to form the Habsburg Monarchy created new criteria for the nobility of the individual lands, who saw this partly as an opportunity and partly as a threat.
The result was a history of rebellion and accommodation, isolation and connection. Once the fundamental suzerainty of the emperor had been recognised and was no longer in question, the noble elites were assigned a clearly-defined share in the exercise of power, thus reining them in and making them natural partners and allies of imperial power.
