aristocracy; Upper/Bohemian/Austrian Silesia; 18th Century; 19th Century; social and spatial mobility; border identity

The study focuses on the issue of the presence of members of the aristocracy in Austrian Silesia (1740/1742–1918) and Czech Silesia (since 1918) over the last two centuries. Its primary objective is to present the fundamental structural changes in the aristocratic segment of Austrian/Czech society during this period. The main factors that influenced or directly caused these structural changes are: a) the process of transforming regional estate society, which was much more significantly affected by the Theresian and Josephine reforms than Bohemia and Moravia, into the civil society of the post-March constitutional monarchy; b) the process of changing the property structure; c) the degree of belonging to the country/region and the resulting identity and loyalty to the state and the ruling dynasty, or rather its political representation.

The study focuses on the issue of the presence of members of the aristocracy in Austrian Silesia (1740/1742–1918) and Czech Silesia (since 1918) over the last two centuries. Its primary objective is to present the fundamental structural changes in the aristocratic segment of Austrian/Czech society during this period. The main factors that influenced or directly caused these structural changes are: a) the process of transforming regional estate society, which was much more significantly affected by the Theresian and Josephine reforms than Bohemia and Moravia, into the civil society of the post-March constitutional monarchy; b) the process of changing the property structure; c) the degree of belonging to the country/region and the resulting identity and loyalty to the state and the ruling dynasty, or rather its political representation.