Work Report II
For some reason I couldn't sleep tonight (I think I slept only 2 1/2 hours) which gave me plenty of time to do various things. One of them: yeees, I finally managed to complete a second part of my work report.
So, the boss is about to write the second volume on Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg, starting with the accession of Joseph II in the monarchy in 1780 until Kaunitz’s death in 1794. My job is to help preparing the sources concerning the Council of State (Staatsrat) which are of central importance for understanding Kaunitz’s opinion about and influence on domestic matters.
The Counsel of State, of which Kaunitz was a leading member, was the highest advisory body in the monarchy. as far as I understand it whenever a matter was to decide, the members of the Counsel of State were asked to submit their opinion (so called Voten) one after the other on a single document and finally the monarch considered all the arguments and made his decision.
Unfortunately these crucial documents have been destroyed during the Second World War. What is left is firstly, the protocols of the Council of State (Staatsratsprotokolle) which include a summary of the discussed matter (the so called Circulandum that was sent around) and the monarch’s decision (Resolutio); secondly, in Kaunitz’s case fortunately at least the drafts of his Voten; and thirdly a two volume work on the Council of State from the 19th century whose author could still draw from the complete sources.
According to these three sources my work consists of three steps as well. The first one has been to type the protocols, which I did until the end of 1790 (so all of Joseph’s and the first months of Leopold II’s reign). The already completed workload amounts to about 530 pieces and there are about another 150 for the following three years.
The second one I’ve just begun with right now is to insert Kaunitz’s Voten into the protocol file between the subject and the decision. Right now I’m almost through 1781; if the inventory is correct the total is about 100 pieces until 1794. (Actially I've started this step already before Christmas by typing Voten the boss had already transcribed or summarised in handwriting.)
The third one will be to browse through the mentioned books, filter all information the author gives about the Voten of the other members of the Counsil of State and insert it into my file as well. This is important because Kaunitz gave his Votum at the end of the process, so a lot of times he merely wrote that he agrees with one or the other members (e.g. “Ich bin mit dem Voto des H. Grafen von Hatzfeld vollkommen verstanden.”) and, therefore, the only way to find out Kaunitz’s opinion is through the Votum of the respective member.
So my work is a little bit of a historical puzzle; unfortunately I’m working on just a tiny bit of the whole picture - but that is another story.
To be continued... (Maybe!)
So, the boss is about to write the second volume on Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg, starting with the accession of Joseph II in the monarchy in 1780 until Kaunitz’s death in 1794. My job is to help preparing the sources concerning the Council of State (Staatsrat) which are of central importance for understanding Kaunitz’s opinion about and influence on domestic matters.
The Counsel of State, of which Kaunitz was a leading member, was the highest advisory body in the monarchy. as far as I understand it whenever a matter was to decide, the members of the Counsel of State were asked to submit their opinion (so called Voten) one after the other on a single document and finally the monarch considered all the arguments and made his decision.
Unfortunately these crucial documents have been destroyed during the Second World War. What is left is firstly, the protocols of the Council of State (Staatsratsprotokolle) which include a summary of the discussed matter (the so called Circulandum that was sent around) and the monarch’s decision (Resolutio); secondly, in Kaunitz’s case fortunately at least the drafts of his Voten; and thirdly a two volume work on the Council of State from the 19th century whose author could still draw from the complete sources.
According to these three sources my work consists of three steps as well. The first one has been to type the protocols, which I did until the end of 1790 (so all of Joseph’s and the first months of Leopold II’s reign). The already completed workload amounts to about 530 pieces and there are about another 150 for the following three years.
The second one I’ve just begun with right now is to insert Kaunitz’s Voten into the protocol file between the subject and the decision. Right now I’m almost through 1781; if the inventory is correct the total is about 100 pieces until 1794. (Actially I've started this step already before Christmas by typing Voten the boss had already transcribed or summarised in handwriting.)
The third one will be to browse through the mentioned books, filter all information the author gives about the Voten of the other members of the Counsil of State and insert it into my file as well. This is important because Kaunitz gave his Votum at the end of the process, so a lot of times he merely wrote that he agrees with one or the other members (e.g. “Ich bin mit dem Voto des H. Grafen von Hatzfeld vollkommen verstanden.”) and, therefore, the only way to find out Kaunitz’s opinion is through the Votum of the respective member.
So my work is a little bit of a historical puzzle; unfortunately I’m working on just a tiny bit of the whole picture - but that is another story.
To be continued... (Maybe!)
relationes - 2007/01/09 04:16