The Servants Power. Domestics in Courtiers Households. Prussia, Saxony and France, 16th-18th Centuries

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Courtly and noble ways of life were largely formed by the presence of domestics. The asymmetric, hierarchical relationship between domestics and master/mistress shaped essentially early modern societies. But at the same moment, this social relationship between unequals was negotiated in interaction up to the point that the hierarchies could become dubious. The project will analyse the court setting from its margins, and more specific: the interactions between courtiers and their domestics. In the focus are therefore the servants of the servants of the ruler in the context of early modern societies of subservience. As the first part of the project has analysed the courts in Prussia and Saxony, the second part will enlarge this layout in two ways. Firstly, taking France as a further region of investigation, a clearly distinct social, economic and political setting is chosen, that promises valuable findings in comparative respect. Secondly, important findings in the first part of the project raise further questions. Especially the correlation and accordingly the dissociation of subjection, patronage and service and alternative community-building formations (such as servant-guilds) demand methodic investigation. These findings suggest a duplication of social relations, but simultaneously fragmenting the noble household. This should be of importance regarding the power relations in service and in court society and regarding the shaping of the political as such in historical transformation.