Institute of History
Topic
Traditional Women versus Pioneers of Emancipation: Insights into the Lives of Aristocratic Women in Hungary in the Nineteenth century
PhD. program
Slovak History
Year of admission
2026
Name of the supervisor
Anna Fundárková, M.A., PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava
Annotation
The dissertation will focus on a comparative analysis of the lives of aristocratic women in Hungary in the nineteenth century, based on archival research. Its aim is to identify the strategies through which women adapted to prevailing gender norms, consciously transgressed them, or rejected them altogether. From the early nineteenth century onward, the bourgeois ideal of women as faithful wives, exemplary mothers, and diligent housekeepers gradually gained ground in Hungary. This model increasingly confined women`s activities to the private sphere, while the political and public spheres remained predominantly male domains. A turning point came in 1848, after which scientific and technical progress, industrialization, and growing demands for education led to a gradual expansion of opportunities for women`s participation in society and to the emergence of emancipatory tendencies.
Aristocratic women constituted a distinct social group, as their noble status and material and financial security afforded them a broader sphere of influence than women from lower social strata. The dissertation will examine how these women adapted to, modified, or rejected bourgeois ideals of femininity and how they coped with the challenges of modernity. The research will draw primarily on ego-documents, correspondence, and other types of archival materials preserved in the family archives of prominent Hungarian aristocratic families (Pálffy, Esterházy, Andrássy). These sources make it possible to reconstruct aspects of daily life, family relationships, social networks, and patterns of social interactions among aristocratic women.
Special attention will be paid to issues of reputation and its preservation or loss in cases of perceived "deviations from the norm," such as extramarital affairs, divorce, separation, or prolonged stays away from the family environment. The dissertation aims to contribute to scholarship in the field of gender history, microhistory, and the history of everyday life within the broader context of nineteenth-century Hungarian history.
Applicants are expected to have a basic overview of the political and social development of the territory of present-day Slovakia (within the Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy) during the period under review. In addition to proficiency in Slovak or Czech and English, the ability to work with sources in Hungarian and German is required for research covering the period up to 1918.
Aristocratic women constituted a distinct social group, as their noble status and material and financial security afforded them a broader sphere of influence than women from lower social strata. The dissertation will examine how these women adapted to, modified, or rejected bourgeois ideals of femininity and how they coped with the challenges of modernity. The research will draw primarily on ego-documents, correspondence, and other types of archival materials preserved in the family archives of prominent Hungarian aristocratic families (Pálffy, Esterházy, Andrássy). These sources make it possible to reconstruct aspects of daily life, family relationships, social networks, and patterns of social interactions among aristocratic women.
Special attention will be paid to issues of reputation and its preservation or loss in cases of perceived "deviations from the norm," such as extramarital affairs, divorce, separation, or prolonged stays away from the family environment. The dissertation aims to contribute to scholarship in the field of gender history, microhistory, and the history of everyday life within the broader context of nineteenth-century Hungarian history.
Applicants are expected to have a basic overview of the political and social development of the territory of present-day Slovakia (within the Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Monarchy) during the period under review. In addition to proficiency in Slovak or Czech and English, the ability to work with sources in Hungarian and German is required for research covering the period up to 1918.