The Viennese Court as a Workplace for Women

Chances and Limits (1700–1750).

Abstract

The Viennese court gave women from all social classes the opportunity to pursue a paid job, which usually would have been denied to them in the early modern period. Moreover, they were given the chance to build a career, even if a limited one. The primary objective of this paper is to analyse historical sources of the Viennese court in order to find out more about the legal, social, and financial status of these employed women, including noble women, commoners, unmarried, married, as well as widowed women, in contrast to their male counterparts. Information about names, functions, salaries and additional payments of these employees can also be found in the sources. An in-depth study of these documents is necessary because non-noble women in particular have been largely ignored by the majority of studies in this field.