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Introduction
The question of why a person would want to become a noble in early modern Central Europe appears at first sight a pointless one to ask. So unchallenged was the nobility's position at the upper end of society and so high was its prestige that a commoner's desire for a share in those advantages is entirely understandable. In the course of the sixteenth century, the nobility came to occupy the highest ranks of society, and in the following century its social, political, and cultural hegemony was fully in place. A commoner's decision to seek ennoblement for himself is therefore, from the point of view of a present-day observer, not only immediately comprehensible but also perfectly rational. Yet, if we bear in mind that unconcealed ambition to improve one's status and to seek social advancement fundamentally contradicted the premodern conception of the role of commoners in society, the assumption that aspirations for ennoblement were simply the result of rational career-planning becomes less satisfactory. Although far from uncommon in itself, ennoblement was by no means the standard avenue for social advancement. On the contrary, promoting somebody into another estate remained the exception; an exception moreover that had to be well founded in each individual case, as it constituted an infringement of the principles on which social order rested. Certainly, anybody could theoretically become wealthy and powerful through personal hard work, but this did not by itself imply the ability to claim a higher social rank. One's place in the social order was hardly affected by such considerations as wealth or other status factors that were dependent on individual endeavor. In everyday life, a nobleman, even an impoverished one, was always given preference over a commoner, no matter how rich and distinguished he was.
Nevertheless, ambition seems to have been the main reason for attempts to be raised to the ranks of the nobility. But in following their ambition, aspirants had to expect rebuke from two sides for setting their sights too high. For noblemen, ambition was an important feature of their social identity, and it was considered a sine qua non particularly for those who pursued a military career.1 Moreover, every nobleman was expected to display ambition in the defense and furtherance of his...