The Strategies of Noblewomen for Preserving Status in the "Long" Nineteenth Century

The work follows one of the nobility's strategies for maintaining the social and economic status of the elite through procuring positions for their unmarried daughters in female aristorcratic foundations. The book uses the example of female applicants for prebends at the Theresian Institution of Noble Ladies at Prague Castle. It seeks answers to the questions of what means noblewomen used to apply for positions in the foundation, what their personal motivations were, and which factors determined the outcome of the admission procedure. It focuses on the life stories of several aristocratic women, as well as on how the acceptance of a prebend affected their lives and what alternatives they chose for their livelihood if they were unsuccessful.