State services, fortuitous marriages, and conspiracies: Trans-territorial family strategies between Madrid, Brussels, and Vienna in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Abstract

Early modern composite monarchies functioned by maintaining local rights and traditions and the successful accommodation of noble elites in the army, diplomatic corps, and regional governments. Scholars commonly focus on the integration of nobles from the core lands in order to implement a faithful civil service and reliable institutions for government. Yet noble families from peripheries or border regions have been disregarded either as supporters or as opponents of royal power. This article explores the differing strategies of the Carrettos from Imperial Italy and the Arenbergs from the Southern Netherlands, two noble families from the border regions of the Habsburg realms and how they responded to integrative measures offered by the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs. It analyses four important aspects of noble family strategies. First, the article examines how vassalage, loyalty, and sovereignty created important bonds between noble families in the western border regions of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperor or sovereign. Second, it establishes how families became members of competitive Habsburg court societies via court honours, titles, and interregional marriage alliances. Third, the article looks at how these families supported the early modern state with successful performances of state service and how they utilized the vast career possibilities of composite monarchies. Fourth and finally, it analyses how the failed integration of noble elites from border regions resulted in governmental crisis and uprisings. This article demonstrates how nobles in the border regions could be integral to state power.