Stuben und Säle : Symbolische Kommunikation und politische Kultur in den ständischen Versammlungsräumen der Habsburgermonarchie in der Frühen Neuzeit

Abstract

Estates-based state parliaments were a long-standing phenomenon of the Habsburg Monarchy. Using seven examples from the Austrian and Bohemian lands and with multiple comparative perspectives, this monograph examines in unique depth the material space as well as social and symbolic spatial practices over the long period from the establishment of permanent estate meeting rooms in the 16th century to the abolition of estate-based corporate participation in 1848. Situated at the intersection of estate studies, the construction and functional history of estate building complexes, and symbolic communication research, the study sheds light on contemporary concepts of space, rank, and order and revises anachronistic assumptions about the functioning of estates-based state parliaments.