Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
LINDQUIST, Thea: Clement von Radolt (1593–1670): A Multifarious Career in the seventeenth-century Imperial Service
CLEMENT VON RADOLT (1593-1670): A MULTIFARIOUS CAREER IN THE SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY IMPERIAL SERVICE Thea Lindquist During the seventeenth century, the expansion of central administration and the confessionalization of court patronage offered able and educated Catholic commoners and lesser nobles increased opportunities for successful careers in the Imperial service and, consequently, for upward mobility. This study will trace the rise of one such man, Clement Radolt, in baroque Vienna. Radolt’s long and successful career in the Imperial service, spanning over fifty years and three successive emperors, secured his family’s fortunes and propelled it solidly into the ranks of the nobility. Looking at his life as a micro-historical case study contributes to our understanding of the political, social, and cultural systems of the Imperial court and the development of its professional elite from the Wendezeit in the early 1620s well into the latter half of the seventeenth century.1 Clement Radolt was bom into a respectable Catholic bourgeois family in 1593.2 His father, Andre Radolt, held the post of chief administrator of the Imperial hospital (Hofspital) in Vienna, so young Radolt was likely brought up in the city.3 In the early part of the seventeenth century, Vienna was quickly establishing itself as the emperor’s main residence and seat of administration, and it offered an advantageous milieu for an intelligent and ambitious young man to make a name for himself in government service. 1 Emperor Ferdinand II decisively defeated the Protestant rebels in the crown lands in 1620 and thus was able to fully catholicize his court and government. 2 Fig. 1, The Radolt Family, is helpful in understanding relationships among the family members. Please note that where “Radolt” stands alone in the text, it refers to Clement Radolt. 3 The Hofspital, the first and largest of the hospitals founded by Ferdinand I, was a comprehensive social institution that provided services to the poor, sick, infirm, and aged and also functioned as a hospice and orphanage. Until the 1750s, it was located between the Imperial palace and the Minorite Church, on the present-day Ballhausplatz. For more on the Hofspital, see Nowotny, Ernst: Geschichte des Wiener Hofspitals: Mit Beiträgen zur Geschichte der inkorporierten Herrschaft Wölkersdorf, Forschungen zur Landeskunde von Niederösterreich, vol. 23, Vienna 1978. Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52/2007 9
