Noblesse Oblige
The lives of noblewomen during the Austria-Hungarian Empire
90 years after the abolition of the Austrian monarchy in 1919, a definitive study of aristocratic culture
Female aristocrats formed society´s vanguard during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Living in a world of magnificent country estates, the royal court, and Vienna’s Imperial Palace, they attended plush soirees, lavish balls and extravagant celebrations. Anyone privileged enough to be invited into the exclusive salons of this noble class had successfully scaled the Olympian heights of the social hierarchy of the era. The female aristocrats of the dual monarchy were vigorous custodians of the established social order, as well as being influential patrons of the arts and founders of what we now call ›charity events‹. But behind this façade of magnificence and munificence was a parallel world of renunciation, rigour, and restraint. In Noblesse Oblige, the diaries, correspondence and memoirs of numerous ladies of this aristocratic class vividly bring to life the glamorous aspects of their society, as well as showing how these women’s lives were torn between conventions, duties and social expectations and their personal hopes and aspirations.
90 years after the abolition of the Austrian monarchy in 1919, a definitive study of aristocratic culture
Female aristocrats formed society´s vanguard during the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Living in a world of magnificent country estates, the royal court, and Vienna’s Imperial Palace, they attended plush soirees, lavish balls and extravagant celebrations. Anyone privileged enough to be invited into the exclusive salons of this noble class had successfully scaled the Olympian heights of the social hierarchy of the era. The female aristocrats of the dual monarchy were vigorous custodians of the established social order, as well as being influential patrons of the arts and founders of what we now call ›charity events‹. But behind this façade of magnificence and munificence was a parallel world of renunciation, rigour, and restraint. In Noblesse Oblige, the diaries, correspondence and memoirs of numerous ladies of this aristocratic class vividly bring to life the glamorous aspects of their society, as well as showing how these women’s lives were torn between conventions, duties and social expectations and their personal hopes and aspirations.
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