The web portal “Marriage at Court 3.0” is the result of many years of applied research. It is based on the previous versions 1.0 and 2.0., which were developed within the framework of two research projects supported by the Austrian Science Fund.
P 23394 Marriages at Court: Arenas of Conflict and Options for Action from the 16th to the mid-19th Century. Duration of project: October 2011 to September 2014 (cost-neutral prolongation until November 2015) P 28063 Marriage Litigations from the 16th to 19th Century: Regional and social Differentiation. Duration of project: October 2015 to September 2017 (cost-neutral prolongation until June 2018)
Version 1.0 went online in November 2015 and presented the norms and the key data for approximately 2000 Catholic couples, who conducted marriage proceedings either at the Catholic consistory or the secular court between the mid-16th and mid-19th century. Version 1.0 was regularly supplemented with research results from the subsequent research project. On the one hand, we integrated new study areas while on the other hand, we primarily added biographic data for the couples whose marriage conflicts we discovered in the first project. Funding from the Department of Culture of the City of Vienna enabled us to carry out in-depth personal research on Viennese married couples between March and June 2018 (MA 7-755941/17).
In autumn 2018 we undertook the first relaunch of the web portal and renamed it Version 2.0. Thanks to financial support from the Dean of the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies we were able to also present Version 2.0 in English. This version has been and will be further updated with the results of the third research project, financed by the Anniversary Fund of the National Bank of Austria.
Nr. 1791311 Separated beds - Interwoven property: Regulation of the consequences of separation since the 16th century. Duration of project: October 2018 to April 2020 (cost-neutral prolongation until December 2020)
Additional menu items inform about the norms and the practices of regulating the consequences of a separation or divorce – from the custody of children to maintenance and division of property. In spring 2020 we subjected the web portal to another relaunch. Version 3.0 now also works on mobile devices.
THANKS
The realization of this applied research would not have been possible without the financial support of the above-mentioned institutions as well as the committed collaboration of numerous individuals. As principal investigator my special thanks go to all the people working in different positions and different time periods with a high level of enthusiasm while introducing new perspectives. Susanne Hehenberger, Eva Hallama, Martin Kirschner and Johann Weißensteiner contributed to the collection and transcription of sources up to 1783; longer Latin passages were translated into German by Ina Friedmann and Johann Weißensteiner. The dossier of divorce proceedings before the Vienna Magistrate (1783 to 1850) as well as the first probate proceedings were compiled by Georg Tschannett, the transcription was assisted by Andrea Griesebner, Isabella Planer, Birgit Dober, Stephanie Rieder-Zagkla and Hanah-Leah Degenhart. The research and transcription of the divorce proceedings of the other towns, markets and dominions was carried out by Andrea Griesebner, Isabella Planer, Evelyne Luef and Margareth Lanzinger. The databases were programmed by Beate Pamperl, and for complex queries we were assisted by Dietmar Berger.
I would also like to thank the national and international cooperation partners for their continuous input, participation in the workshops and their commitment over such a long period of time. Und last but not least, I am grateful to the staff of the archives, without whose support this source-based research project could not have been realized: the Diocesan Archive in Vienna; the Diocesan Archive in St. Pölten; the Archive of the Bishopric Passau; the Provincial Archive of Lower Austria; the Vienna Municipal and Provincial Archive; the city archive of Eggenburg, the city archive of Tulln, the city archive of Langenlois and the market archive of Perchtoldsdorf. For their friendly welcome, I would especially like to thank the staff of the local archives, who look after the archives either on a part-time or even voluntary basis.
Andrea Griesebner, August 2020, translation Jennifer Blaak, update Andrea Griesebner, July 2022.