ORIGINS AND REFLECTIONS OF THE IDENTITIES OF CROATIAN NOBILITY DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF EARLY MODERN EUROPE
ORIGINS AND REFLECTIONS OF THE IDENTITIES OF CROATIAN NOBILITY DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF EARLY MODERN EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: Based on the results of current historiography, primary sources and memoirs of the contemporaries, this article deals with the topic of multiple identities of the Croatian nobility of Civil Croatia during the 18th century within the social and cultural discourse of the Early Modern European noble societies. Besides the nobility inherited from the ancestors, or ennoblement bestowed by the ruler, the author sees three major aspects of the traditional noble privileges – political, judicial and socio-economical – as the foundations of formation of the noble identities. Using the examples of behavior in different situations in the lives of several members of the prominent Croatian noble families – Škrlec, Oršić, Čikulini, Vojković - Vojkffy, Sermage and Patačić – the author reflects about the multiple traditional roles and practices of nobles, based on their privileges, through which their identities were reflected in the 18th century social discourse. The article addresses the identity of the nobility as political factor of their localities, as well as their sense of belonging to the highest social stratum based on their functions and significance in the service of the ruler, or as officials in the state or local government and administration. The article also deals with the changes that affected education, as well as with the adjustments noblemen undertook in different areas of their social discourse in order to adapt contemporary trends and changes especially in public services. In this context the traditional practices of social connections and the roles of nobles as clients and patrons continued to be the leading discourse of the Early Modern social order. Tough submitted to multiple modifications in Early Modern period, military identity in the collective memory of the nobility still remained one of the distinctive markings of their separate privileged position and reflected through their military offices, education and behaviour. The prerogative of landownership was in the 18th century still one of the badges of the noble status. Adapted to the modern practices and submitted to different strategies, the identity of the landowner reflected not only through material benefits, but also through political and judicial practices and prerogative. On the symbolic level the landed possession contributed to the formation and preservation of local identities and the affiliation of the nobles to their local community of peers. The estates were the bases of the identification of the members of the noble families as well as their connection to the ancestry and the duration of their kindred. Finally, cultural identity of the nobility, as the leading social stratum of Early Modern Europe, reflected in their role as the leading consumer of the overall cultural production, which can be discerned from their culture of living, communication, appearance, behaviour, and also from cultural sponsorship and their own artistic expressions.

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