Abstract
Abstract It is generally acknowledged that the process of state building - and mainly its intensification from the early 1500s onwards - posed a profound challenge to the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire. Most noblemen had traditionally defined their status with reference to local or regional social communities; and their claims to be the Emperor's immediate subjects frequently foundered on the territorial princes' growing powers. The duchy of Bavaria in the early modern period is usually considered a paradigm of dynastic state building, which created a territory with clear boundaries. It can be shown, however, that Bavarian nobles between 1500 and 1600, although they did succumb to their dukes' supremacy by appealing to the princely jurisdiction, did not simply abandon any claim to noble liberty: on the contrary, a carefully balanced mixture of an occasional resort to force of arms, appeals to the courts of theHoly Roman Empire, and the use of regional institutions, reveals that nobles were able to adap...
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