Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
LINDQUIST, Thea: Clement von Radolt (1593–1670): A Multifarious Career in the seventeenth-century Imperial Service
Thea Lindquist career path ultimately took him into Imperial administration, Radolt maintained a life-long interest in the law.11 When seeking a government post in Counter-Reformation Austria, the religious affiliation of the job seeker was an important issue. While new opportunities for advancement abounded in the early seventeenth century, this only held true for those who subscribed to the “proper” confession. This state of affairs was due to the development of a Catholic court, a process that began around 1580 and was completed after Emperor Ferdinand II’s 1620 victory over Protestant rebels in the crown lands.12 Unsurprisingly he had little toleration for Protestants in his domains, let alone in his service, and by the time Radolt entered the job market, Catholics had replaced Protestants in nearly all Imperial administrative posts.13 Fortunately for Radolt, he was a devout Catholic.14 Radolt began his long and varied professional career when he joined the law faculty of the University of Vienna in 1621, not as a professor but as a “doctor”, or non-teaching member of the faculty.15 He moved quickly through the ranks and over the years held several high-level administrative positions at the University. In 1621, he served as procurator of the Rhenish nation and, in 1627 and 1629, as procurator of the Austrian nation.16 The procurators were representative officers elected by each of the four nations into which students at the University were divided - Austrian, Rhenish, Hungarian, and Saxon. These officials served financial, disciplinary, and electoral functions for their respective nations, including sitting on 11 In the 1650s, for instance, Radolt published a compact legal dictionary, Loci Communes. The first volume, covering the letters A-J, appeared in 1657. The only known extant copy of this volume is held at the State Library in Berlin; it once belonged to Emperor Wilhelm II. It is unclear whether further volumes were published or not. Radolt also held a councilorship in the Lower Austrian government in the late 1630s that may have focused on judicial matters (see below, p. 17). 12 MacHardy: War, Religion and Court Patronage, pp. 183-185 and passim. MacHardy convincingly argues that a new Catholic nobility dominated the top positions at court before 1618 due to the Habsburgs’ policy of confessionalized patronage, which acted as a catalyst for Protestant revolt in the crown lands. 13 Evans, R. J. W.: The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550-1700: An Interpretation, Oxford 1979, p. 76. 14 Both of Radolt’s daughters became sisters of the Augustinian Convent of St. Jakob in Vienna, and his will is full of religious references, whether to masses to be said for his soul, generous bequests to religious foundations, or personal items of religious significance. 15 For more on the role of doctors at the University of Vienna, see Gall, Franz: Die Doktorenkollegien der vier Fakultäten an der Wiener Universität (1849-1873). In: Student und Hochschule im 19. Jahrhundert: Studien und Materialien, ed. Karsten Bahnson, Studien zum Wandel von Gesellschaft und Bildung im neunzehnten Jahrhundert, vol. 12, pp. 47-61, Göttingen 1975. 16 Radolt’s motto as Rhenish procurator is interesting given the trajectory of his own career: “Nil est deterius humili cum surgit in altum” (Nothing is worse than a man of low condition when he rises to high estate). His motto as Austrian procurator in 1627 was “Nul bien sans peine” (Nothing good [comes] without pain). (Locher: Spekulum Academicum Viennensis, vol. 1, pp. 187, 229). 12
