Love and lineage affiliation versus wealth : The strategies of decision-making of Adam Matthias of Trauttmansdorff and his wife in the selection of their daughters's husband THE ROLE AND AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS MECHANISMS IN COURTING
Abstract
This article deals with the significance which nobility ascribed to decisionmaking related to the selection of a suitable match for their descendants. It examines the role of romantic feelings of the parties involved and the working mechanisms of social networks during courting.
The work is based on the analysis of rich correspondence related to the relationship of Sigmund Joachim count of Trauttmansdorff and Maria Claire of Trauttmansdorff and his unsuccessful courtship, which displays the significant role of social networks for the nobility in this case (transfer of information, mediators in negotiations, intercessions, references etc.) and also that the feelings of descendants were taken into consideration only when their individual preferences were not conflicting with the concerns of the parents and of the whole family.