Spielman presents the role of the Habsburg court in the rise of Vienna the early modern period. His study clearly shows the extraordinarily complex web of interrelationships and interdependencies between the court, its servants, and the city as each strove to protect its privileges. The author's innovative approach consists in identifying the specific role that the court quartering system played in the expansion of the government's involvement in the development of the city. In so doing, Spielman ties in the two approaches traditionally used in histories of early modem Germany and Austria: the growth of the modem bureaucracy and the development of the Baroque.From the time of the first court quarterbook in 1563 to the end of the quartering system in 1781, Vienna's population increased threefold. The city faced war, siege, and plague. Specific topics included in this study full of fascinating details culled from archival sources, are the expulsion of the Jews in 1669, the Bubonic Plague of the seventeenth century, the siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, and the building boom of the early eighteenth century with its development of the suburbs.These historical events are interpreted in the light of the city's desire to keep a healthy tax base, the crown's attempts to use privilege to influence the development of the city, the court servant's pressing need for adequate housing, and townspeople's attempts to avoid quartering them. The author includes examples to illustrate certain points, thus presenting faithful picture of daily life in Vienna, from the wealthiest of the nobility to artisans to unruly soldiers against whom the city came to need protection.
John P. Spielman is the author of Leopold I of Austria and coeditor of Quellen und Darstellungen aus deutscher Geschichte.
". . . the best introduction available for students of one of the most important philosophers of this century." American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly "Spielman has given us an important study that opens up new vistas into pre-Theresian Austrian history. . . . a soundly reasoned, engagingly written, and an intellectually stimulating work." American Historical Review "Spielman presents the role of the Hapsburg court in the rise of Vienna in the early modern period, showing the extraordinary complex web of interrelationships and interdependencies between the court its servants, and the city as each strove to protect its privileges." Book News "Currently there are two basic theories regarding the rise of the modern Hapsburg Monarchy: (1) it rose because of a growing centralized government that created a modern army and bureaucracy, or (2) it rose because of the rise of the Counterreformation and the emergency of the Baroque. Professor Spielman combines both approaches in an understated but masterful way. He documents the emergence of the bureaucracy not only by pointing out the increase in numbers but also by discussing in detail the need for Vienna to provide housing for these officials. Then he shows how the court encouraged the city's property owners to increase the size of their houses and, not incidentally, to do so in the Baroque style that would bring glory to the city as a whole. The rise of the bureaucracy and the rise of the Baroque thus went hand-in-hand and together made Vienna a great city. For anyone who knows Vienna, this book is a must. It documents not how Vienna became a great city but why it did. One can always complain about growing bureaucracies, but now and then they give us monuments of lasting beauty and importance. The city of Vienna is one of these monuments." --Karl A. Roider, Louisiana State University
