Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)

LINDQUIST, Thea: Clement von Radolt (1593–1670): A Multifarious Career in the seventeenth-century Imperial Service

Thea Lindquist

them entry into the ranks of the nobility.50 This is exactly the route Radolt took. Armed with a doctorate in law, he moved into the nobility by virtue of a successful career in the central administration and was rewarded with increasingly higher degrees of rank and status as his career advanced. He therefore should be counted among the Briefadel, a group of nobles who had earned their titles through careers in the Imperial service.51

In April 1628, while still a Hofkammer secretary, Radolt made the initial leap from commoner to nobleman when Ferdinand II admitted him to the lowest level of nobility, the einfacher Adelstand. At this time, the Emperor and the King of Hungary, the future Ferdinand III, already knew him personally.52 Soon thereafter Radolt received the honorary title of Hofrat, or councilor, a title that was - and still is — often conferred upon higher-level civil servants and prominent private citizens.53 These honors paved the way for Radolt’s 1632 promotion to Hoßtammer councilor, as the Hofkammer was quickly becoming the preserve of the lesser nobility.54

After many years of distinguished service as a Hofkammer councilor and diplomatic representative, in 1652 Ferdinand III invested Radolt with the title of knight in the Austrian-Bohemian nobility, with the predicate “Edler von Radolt”. This was a personal rather than a hereditary award.55 Four years later, Radolt’s appointment as Hofkammer director brought him further honors when the Emperor raised him and his three sons to a hereditary barony in the Imperial and Austrian50 M ac H ardy : War, Religion and Court Patronage, p. 128.

51 Endres, Rudolf: Adel in der Frühen Neuzeit, Enzyklopädie Deutscher Geschichte, vol. 18, Munich 1993, p. 22. In the Austrian crown lands, there were five levels of nobility in the early modem period, listed from the top down: 1) princes (Fürstenstand); 2) counts (Grafenstand); 3) barons (Herrenstand); 4) knights (Ritterstand); and 5) “simple” noblemen (einfache Adelstand). The first three made up the high nobility and the last two the lesser nobility. (Endres : Adel in der Frühen Neuzeit, pp. 18-19). Beginning in 1572, two groups of nobles existed in Lower Austria - the nobility and the noble estates. Although the ruler granted all noble titles, the estates decided which nobles would join them and thus enjoy the benefits derived from membership in the estates. (MacHardy: War, Religion and Court Patronage, p. 137).

52 AVA, Reichsadelsakten, Radolt, Konv. 24 Apr. 1628, ff. 1-7. Radolt’s family already possessed a coat of arms. A description and colored sketch of his improved coat of arms is on f. 4 (see Fig. 2). It is also printed in Siebmacher, Johann: Niederösterreichischer Adel, ed. Johann Kimbauer von Erzstâtt, vol. 4, sect. 4, Großes und allgemeines Wappenbuch, ed. Otto Titan von Hefner, new rev. ed., Nuremberg 1909, vol. 26, pt. 1, p. 371, pl. 203 (Radolt I).

53 HKA, FA R-10, f. 9: 27 May 1628.

54 Evans: The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, p. 148; MacHardy: War, Religion and Court Patronage, p. 158; Wolf: Die Hofkammer unter Leopold I., p. 444. Many councilors were either knights or barons, but capable, ambitious commoners were always among them.

55 AVA, Hofadelsakten, Radolt, Konv. 1652, ff. 1-8: 18 Sept. 1652, Prädikatsverleihung. Radolt’s new coat of arms is described on f. 8.

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