Austo Hungarain Nobility

From 1453 onwards, the Archduke of Austria had the right to grant nobility to non-nobles, as did the Archbishop of Salzburg, as Salzburg remained an independent territory. Besides the Holy Roman Emperor (an office which was almost uninterruptedly held by the Archduke of Austria from 1438 to 1806 anyway), only a few territorial rulers within the Empire had this right. In an era of Absolutism, the nobility residing in the cities slowly turned itself into the court-nobility (Hofadel). Service at the court became the primary goal of the nobility. This in turn initiated an interest in education and the interests of the court. Within the court, a close inner circle, called the 100 Familien (100 families), possessed enormous riches and lands. They also had great influence at the court and thus played an important role in politics and diplomacy.

Parliament building of Austria, housing the former House of Lords (Herrenhaus) chamber in the northern wingAfter the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Habsburg rulers, who were Austrian Emperors from 1804 onwards, continued to elevate deserving individuals to nobility until the end of the monarchy in 1918. Some of the noble families even earned themselves the right to be hereditary peers in the House of Lords (Herrenhaus) in the Imperial Council (Reichsrat) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nobles from previously sovereign monarchies such as those in northern Italy also had their noble rights confirmed and were allowed to keep their titles.

The Austrian nobility was divided up into two categories, the higher nobility (hoher Adel), and the lower nobility (niederer Adel). To the higher nobility belonged the princes and counts, the lower nobility was made up of the rest:

(English titles with German equivalents)

• Duke/Duchess (Herzog/Herzogin)
• Prince/Princess (Fürst/Fürstin)
• Count/Countess (Graf/Gräfin)
• Baron/Baroness (Freiherr/Freifrau and Freiin)
• Knight (Ritter) (no female version existed)
• Edler/Edle (roughly equivalent in meaning to "Sir" or "Dame", but not a common translation)

Non-ruling members of the imperial family were given the title of Archduke/Archduchess (Erzherzog/Erzherzogin) and styled Imperial Highness (Kaiserliche Hoheit); only the Crown Prince was addressed as Imperial and Royal Highness (Kaiserliche und königliche Hoheit). The wife of the emperor bore the title of Empress (Kaiserin) and styled Her Majesty.

As stated befor there was a direct link between the order and Austria nobility until the 18th July1884.

At that moment this "automatic" link between an award and becoming noble was abolished.

The awardee would get a separate announcement of nobility and a nobility paper. Below such a formal announcement for a Knighthood (Ritter) is shown.