Ambition, careerism, greed, betrayal: social-material strategies, practices, and communication of social elites in the Slovenian territory during the Early Modern Period
Principal Investigator at ZRC SAZU
Dušan Kos, PhD-
Original Title
Ambicije, karierizem, pohlep, prevare: socialno-materialne strategije, prakse in komunikacija družbenih elit na Slovenskem v zgodnjem novem veku
Project Team
Dušan Kos, PhD, dr. Dragica Čeč, Boris Golec, PhD, Katarina Keber, PhD, Vanja Kočevar, PhD, Miha Preinfalk, PhD-
Project ID
J6-2575
-
Duration
1 September 2020–31 August 2023 -
Lead Partner
-
Financial Source
Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije
Partners
Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper
The project examines how elites in the Slovenian territory adapted their communication and survival strategies within the framework of a particularistic and absolutist state between the 16th and late 18th centuries. It focuses on how these strategies were shaped by both overt and covert practices, often involving unethical behaviors such as fraud, corruption, and extortion. Despite societal condemnation, these practices were tolerated, enabling elites to navigate political crises, economic challenges, and state reforms while redefining their value systems to maintain dominance. The study highlights the interplay between morality, power, and survival in elite social structures.
Elites retained control over key political functions, public offices, military influence, and sovereign decision-making in areas like foreign policy and the economy. This allowed them to manipulate government revenues and expenditures for personal gain through practices such as business fraud, tax manipulation, and clientelism. However, to ensure societal tolerance of these actions, they relinquished certain medieval authoritarian mechanisms such as physical violence, judicial arbitrariness, and dueling. These shifts marked the emergence of new survival paradigms that influenced family indebtedness, asset management, and consumer behaviors.
Social interactions among elites were deeply interwoven through marriage alliances, sponsorships, and friendships formed in educational or professional settings. Women played a pivotal role in these survival strategies by complementing or leading business communications. Elite circles also developed mechanisms for conflict resolution—often self-regulated with occasional government intervention—and established a tolerance for crime within their ranks.
A notable development was the rise of salon clubs as hubs of elite communication. These spaces were not merely leisure venues but platforms for discussing politics, forming career networks, sharing personal advice, debating scientific advancements, and appreciating cultural achievements. Salon clubs fostered new forms of status solidarity and nearly equal gender participation in social communication. Through analysis of written records from this period, the project aims to uncover how these evolving mechanisms of elite interaction contributed to broader societal changes.
Segment 1: Typical and Specific Forms of Socio-Material Strategies and Practices of Social Elites
Year 1 and 2: Creation of databases from archival materials and relevant literature, development of methodological approaches; publication of findings in independent studies in professional journals.
Year 3: Contribution to the preparation and publication of a joint monograph presenting the project results.
Segment 2: Socio-Material Strategies and Practices of Selected Noble Families in the Early Modern Period
Year 1: Creation of databases from archival materials, study of relevant literature, and data analysis; development of methodological approaches.
Year 2 and 3: Consolidation of findings into independent monographic publications. Contribution to the preparation and publication of a joint monograph presenting the project results.
Segment 3: Socio-Material Strategies and Practices of Social Elites in "Ego" Documents from the 17th and 18th Centuries
Year 1 and 2: Analysis of social communication based on diary entries and chronicles from the 18th century. Scientific-critical publication of the diaries of Franc Henrik Raigersfeld from the mid-18th century.
Year 3: Contribution to the preparation and publication of a joint monograph presenting the project results.
Project bibliography 2020–2024
Monographs
Articles
Conference talks
ČEČ, Dragica. Pravna opredelitev upora in načini predstavitve upornih praks, med strategijami in realnostjo, tolminski upor 1713. Prispevek na jubilejnem 40. zborovanju slovenskih zgodovinark in zgodovinarjev "Izzivi slovenskega zgodovinopisja v 21. stoletju", Nova Gorica, 19. in 20. april 2023. [COBISS.SI-ID 189492995]
KEBER, Katarina. A vanishing profession. Wound healers in the 19th century. Predavanje na 54. letni konvenciji Združenja za slovanske, vzhodnoevropske & evrazijske študije "Precarity", tematski sklop "History: Central and Southeast Europe, 1800-1918", The Palmer House Hilton, Chicago (Illinois, USA), 11. november 2022. [COBISS.SI-ID 130088195]
KOČEVAR, Vanja. Dedne poklonitve v Valvasorjevi Slavi vojvodine Kranjske. V: Janez Vajkard Valvasor: Kranjec po domovini, Evropejec po duhu. Mednarodni simpozij ob 350-letnici polihistorjevega prihoda na grad Bogenšperk. Grad Bogenšperk, 29. september 2022. Šmartno pri Litiji: Javni zavod Bogenšperk, 2022, str. [14]. [COBISS.SI-ID 124197123]
KOČEVAR, Vanja. Kranjski deželni zbor ob koncu 16. in na začetku 17. stoletja : politični vidiki katoliške obnove in protireformacije. V: Strajnar, Neža (ur.). Parlamentarizem na Slovenskem v zgodovinski perspektivi. Ob tridesetem jubileju prve konstitutivne seje Državnega zbora in Državnega sveta Republike Slovenije : znanstveni posvet : programska knjižica : Ljubljana, 28. in 29. november 2022. Ljubljana: Študijski center za narodno spravo, 2022, str. 10–11. ISBN 978-961-7120-08-0. [COBISS.SI-ID 132603651] Tudi kot elektronski vir: https://www.scnr.si/upload/editor/file/file5a65a68ad5da249.pdf.
KOČEVAR, Vanja. Dedne poklonitve notranjeavstrijskih dežel Karlu VI. leta 1728. 47. predavanje, 5. 12. 2019. Bilten 2019, št. 11, str. 20–25. ISSN 1855-8445. [COBISS.SI-ID 45752365]
KOČEVAR, Vanja. Die Krainer in böhmischen Stiefeln? Ständisch landesfürstliche Machverhältnisse im Herzogtum Krain nach der Schlacht am Weißen Berg. Predavanje na letnem srečanju IÖG (Institut für Österreichische Geschichsforschung) "Die Schlacht am Weißen Berg 1620 als Weichenstellung für Zentraleuropa: Akteure-Ereignisse-Entscheidungen-Folgen", tematski sklop "Ende-Neubeginn-Kontinuität. Die Aushandlung neuer Machtverhältnisse in den Ländern und im städtischen Bereich", Universität Wien – Sky Lounge, Aula am Campus (AUT), 22. september 2021. [COBISS.SI-ID 79422467]
KOČEVAR, Vanja. Ljubljana als Schauplatz der Erbhuldigung an Kaiser Karl VI. im Jahre 1728. Herrscherrepräsentation im öffentlichen Raum am Beispiel der krainischen Hauptstadt. Predavanje po videopovezavi na posvetovanju "Stadt und Zukunft. Europa und sein Südosten im 18. Jahrhundert/Town and Future. Europe and its Southeast in the 18th century", tematski sklop "Öffentlicher Raum/Public Spheres I", org. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des 18. Jahrhundertsim südöstlichen Europa (AUT) et al., e-konferenca, 28. maj 2021. [COBISS.SI-ID 65081859]
KOS, Dušan. In search of well-being : the struggle against diseases and for good food and longevity in noble families in eihteenth century Carniolan towns. Predavanje po videopovezavi na posvetovanju "Stadt und Zukunft. Europa und sein Südosten im 18. Jahrhundert/Town and Future. Europe and its Southeast in the 18th century", tematski sklop "Privatsphären/Private Spheres II", org. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des 18. Jahrhundertsim südöstlichen Europa (AUT) et al., e-konferenca, 28. maj 2021. [COBISS.SI-ID 65083139]
PREINFALK, Miha. The survival strategies of the nobility in the long 19th century. Predavanje na 54. letni konvenciji Združenja za slovanske, vzhodnoevropske & evrazijske študije "Precarity", tematski sklop "History: Central and Southeast Europe, 1800-1918", The Palmer House Hilton, Chicago (Illinois, USA), 11. november 2022. [COBISS.SI-ID 130087427]