SNSF Project: Dynastic Reproduction
SNSF Project: Dynastic Reproduction
SNSF Project: Dynastic Reproduction
Early Childhood and Dynastic Reproduction at Princely Courts, 1600-1800
Our project aims at shedding new light on the ways in which the continuity of dynastic rule was ensured in early modern Europe and beyond. We start from the observation that the providing for healthy, legitimate offspring in order to reiterate the dynastic line constituted a key challenge of early modern European ruling houses, not least due to the importance they gave to the norm of monogamy. By exploiting as different sets of sources such as the records of German princely courts and European travelogues that describe different princely courts in Asia, we aim to understand how contemporaries tackled this challenge on a practical and on an intellectual level.
Dynastic rule was the most widespread form of political organization in the world well into the nineteenth century. However, dynasties had one major weak point: their continuity depended on (usually male) offspring. Recent comparative studies have shown that this problem was especially acute for European dynasties because of the importance they placed on the Christian principle of monogamy. Together with the high infant mortality rates in all strata of early modern societies, this made children a highly precious asset. This project aims to analyze practices and representations connected with the problem of early childhood and dynastic reproduction – i.e., the practices that aimed at providing for numerous and healthy legitimate offspring in order to reiterate the dynastic line – during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe and on a global scale. It does so by combining different methodological approaches – archival research, analysis of early modern travel reports, and a comparative analysis – in three distinct subprojects.
The project „Early Childhood and Dynastic Reproduction at Princely Courts, 1600-1800: European and Global Perspectives“ was first based at the Chair of Early Modern History of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). In August 2023 the project moved to the University of Basel (Switzerland), where Nadine Amsler took over the Chair of Early Modern History.
The project is funded by a PRIMA grant by the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2021 to 2028 (project number 193073).
Subprojects
Team
Events
Image credits
Madame de Ventadour with Louis XIV and his Heirs (between 1715 and 1720), The Wallace Collection, London (UK). © The Wallace Collection.
Spring Morning in the Han Palace, (date unknown), by Qiu Ying (仇英, ca. 1494–1552), Handscroll, ink and color on silk, National Palace Museum, Taipei (Taiwan).
Celebrations at the time of Akbar's circumcision, in: Akbarnama (around 1602-1603), from the archive of the British Library, London (UK).
Franz I. Stephan und Maria Theresia im Kreise der Familie (between 1754 and 1755), Schloss Schönbrunn, Vienna (Austria). Wikipedia Commons.
Chand Bibi hawking (around 1580) from the archive of the British Library, London (UK), Add.Or.3849
Portrait of the Emperor of Russia Ivan VI Antonovich (date unknown), State Open air Museum Oranienbaum, St. Petersburg (Russia). Wikimedia Commons.
Emperor Qianlong’s Pleasure during Snowy Weather (between circa 1736 and circa 1738). The Palace Museum, Beijing (China). Wikimedia Commons.