Metadata: Ministry of the Interior - Aristocracy Archive, Vienna
Collection
- Country:
- Czechia
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of the Czech Republic
- Holding institution (official language):
- Národní archiv
- Postal address:
- Archivní 2257/4, 149 00 Praha 4
- Phone number:
- +420 974 847 240
- Web address:
- https://www.nacr.cz
- Email:
- posta@nacr.cz
- Reference number:
- 323/3
- Title:
- Ministry of the Interior - Aristocracy Archive, Vienna
- Title (official language):
- Ministerstvo vnitra – Šlechtický archiv, Vídeň
- Creator/accumulator:
- Aristocracy Archive of the Imperial and Royal Ministry of the Interior
- Date(s):
- 1835/1918
- Date note:
- (1770) 1835/1918
- Language:
- Czech
- German
- Extent:
- 7.87 linear metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The documents of the fonds from the years 1770-1918 have been preserved. The fonds contains a variety of archival material for aristocratic matters, especially for the granting of aristocratic titles, verification for their legal use and documents on the history of aristocratic foundations. The documents are mainly from the turn of the 20th century. Another group of documents relates to the promotion of villages to towns, municipal heraldry and to church emblems (emblems of church dignitaries and religious orders). Also important are genealogical references and family trees of individual noble families in documents on the use of noble titles. As additional documents, various copies of deeds and testaments of individual noble families can be found in the fonds. In order to make the best use of the documents in the fonds, it is necessary to compare them with the documents in the fonds of the Czech Governor's Office (in all handling periods, reg. no. 9, 10, and handling periods from 1901-1910, rec. no. 8 and 10) and in the fonds of the Czech Governor's Office - Presidium (all handling periods, reg. no. 2/2 and 3/3). The fonds of the Prague Police Directorate also contains residence applications of members of the nobility. All of the above fonds are in the care of the 2nd Department of the National Archives.
The fonds includes individual cases of the promotion of Jewish persons to the nobility. However, there is no Jewish department or set of files for newly ennobled Jews. In order to identify which person claiming the title of nobility is of Jewish origin it is necessary to consult the specific file that indicates who the claimant to the title of nobility is. It is also possible to use the work of Prof. J. Županič, The Jewish Nobility of the Danube Monarchy and Nobilitas Iudaeorum, to find the specific nobleman in them and then search the fonds for the relevant file (if it has survived) which contains more detailed information.
- Archival history:
-
The aristocracy archive began to be established after 1835 and gradually was transformed from a collection of noble documents into an organisational component of the joint court office, of which it was a part until 1848. After the establishment of the Ministry of the Interior on 17 March 1848, the aristocracy archive remained part of it. The archive kept coat of arms certificates, confirmations of noble status, documents on the granting of the small and large palatinates (the right to grant certain types of coats of arms), documents on the renewal of ennoblement, confirmations of the imperial nobility in the Bohemian Crown Lands, documents on pledges of property, grants of titles, confirmations of donations, privileges, family contracts, inheritance, documents on coat of arms improvements, etc.
Between 1920 and 1922, the Czechoslovak-Austrian archival separation took place. The files of the former Austrian Ministry of the Interior, in particular, were taken over, marked reg. no. 29 and 43, and partly also from the former joint court office (reg. no. IV D 4). The registers of letters of majesty (from the register of the Bohemian court office) and the register of armorial documents (Saalbuch) were also taken over. After the establishment of the Protectorate, the archives were ordered to be returned to Vienna. The archives were returned in 1949-1950. However, some documents could no longer be traced back.The archival collection was originally divided into the sections of noble foundations, personal nobility and the granting of emblems. For better orientation, some sections had to be divided, rearranged and arranged according to subject and alphabetical order. The first archival organisation was carried out in 1957-1958, when the first inventory was drawn up too. The final arrangement took place in 2007 and a new sub-inventory was compiled.
- Access points: locations:
- Austria
- Czechoslovakia
- Subject terms:
- Nobility
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is divided into the sections of noble and burgher foundations (boxes 1-27), personal nobility (boxes 28-55), municipal emblems (boxes 56-61) and ecclesiastical emblems (boxes 62-63). Altogether, it contains 312 inv. nos. in 63 boxes. The aristocracy archive is part of the fonds of the Ministry of the Interior, Vienna, yet it has its own number (NAD 323/3).
- Finding aids:
-
Churaň M. a kol., Ministerstvo vnitra Vídeň (MV/R), 1848–1918, Šlechtický archiv (ŠA), 1833–1918. Inventory 1958, 140p., Inv. No.131.
Koblasa P., Ministerstvo vnitra – Šlechtický archiv, Vídeň (ŠA), (1770) 1835–1918. Partial inventory 2009. 15p., Inv. No. 1706.
Editions of parts of selected noble coat of arms lists can be found in the publication Županič J., Fiala M., Koblasa P., Šlechtický archiv c. k. ministerstva vnitra - Erbovní listiny, Prague 2014.
Further information about some nobles of Jewish origin/faith from this fund can be found in the works of Jan Županič and other authors: Županič J.: Židovská šlechta podunajské monarchie: mezi Davidovou hvězdou a křížem [Jewish Nobility of the Danube Monarchy: between the Star of David and the Cross], Prague 2012.; Županič J., Fiala M.: Nobilitas Iudaeorum: židovská šlechta střední Evropy v komparativní perspektivě [Nobilitas Iudaeorum: the Jewish nobility of Central Europe in comparative perspective], Prague 2017.; Spyra J., Zářický A., Županič J. et al: Šlechticův žid – žid šlechticem: židovské elity a židovská šlechta v novověku a moderní době [Nobleman's Jew - Jewish nobleman: Jewish elites and Jewish nobility in the modern era], Ostrava 2015.; Frank-Döfering P., Adelslexikon des österreichischen Kaisertums 1804–1918, Basel 1989.; Král z dobré Vody V., Der Adel vom Böhmen, Mähren und Schlesien, Prag 1904.
Information on the new Austrian and Jewish nobility can also be found on Prof. J. Županič's website: http://novanobilitas.eu/.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/index4Clear.jsp
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Prague
- Author of the description:
- JMP survey
