Allodial LOrdly Domination

Objective

"This innovative project aims to write the first systematic account of the legal category of manorial allodium, a seemingly highly private form of property, as it developed in public legislation between the 13th and the 17th centuries, with a focus on the coercive abilities it it confirmed for, or conferred upon, lords. My main case will be Denmark, which will then be set in a comparative study with Austria and Bavaria. All three cases had widespread allodial manorial property, called ""freie Eigen"" in Austria and Bavaria. ALOD’s main objective is to elucidate the coercive powers, i.e. the permitted forms of behavior aimed at controlling and exploiting rural labor and the protection of extracted surpluses against state claims, as they were associated with allodial legal categories. I will increase the operability of the project by focusing on legal shifts at five crisis points in the Danish polity which presented opportunities for re-configurations of power. A similar tactic is deployed for Bavaria and Austria, where I will draw on crisis points in the lead-up and aftermath of the 30 Years' War as points of comparison. Methodologically, the project combines historical semantics, comparative history, and historical sociology. The primary research dissemination activities consist of three articles. The project also contains a non-academic placement at Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, where I have been invited to develop an exhibition on the basis of the research of the project. This will be a major communication and exploitation activity. I will partake in training activities at both UniVie and Moesgaard, as well as in career development schemes. The project will have a significant impact on several research literatures, will advance my career by equipping me with a both broader and deeper professional profile, and strengthen the international links between the academic and non-academic sector."