La morte tra le discussioni settecentesche e il culto della memoria. Il caso della nobiltà presso la corte asburgica: gli Schwarzenberg (1780-1900)

Abstract

This paper is divided into three parts. The first one deals with death and dying in perspective of contemporary historiography, with particular regards to the italian one. Death is an essential topic for European historians, because it is understood to be an experimental research subject. The specific field of interests, in fact, is not the death itself, but the living strategies of people of various historical periods and social classes. Another part of this article focuses on some important changes in the relationship between the quick and the dead which appeared during the 18th century. Death became a crucial issue of the 18th century medicine and since that time dying has stopped to be a strictly religious act any more. Another result of 18th century discussions has been that a new cultural phenomenon born: the cemetery. Some new commemorative strategies appeared focusing on a laical family and national memory. The last part of this essay deals with dying and death rituals in Schwarzenberg family, who played a significant political role at the imperial court of Vienna in the early modern age. Schwarzenbergs relationship with death and dying was quite traditional, paradigmatic, and deeply influenced by the imperial family. Even during the 19th century Schwarzenbergs perceived death rituals and family chapel-tombs as a mean of self-representation and celebration of its special historical position and ancientry.