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This dissertation examines the initial contacts and cultural encounters between Europe and the Mexica and investigates the ways in which the Mexica treasures acquired by the conquistadores played a pivotal role in shaping social, cultural, political and religious perceptions and misperceptions about the Mexica, Hapsburgs and their empire, and Europe as a whole in the early sixteenth-century. The initial shipment of art, artifacts, weapons and other goods given to King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V Hapsburg by the Mexica ruler Moctezuma (via Hernán Cortés) arrived in Seville on November 5th, 1519, followed by additional deliveries soon thereafter. The objects included in these shipments would play a significant role in shaping and promoting the newly-expanded imperial identity, while simultaneously contributing to the European audience’s construction of an identity for the indigenous peoples of the New World, doing so through a European vision and recontextualization of pre-Columbian and earlypost-Conquest art and artifacts. This project explores these issues by focusing on three specific media: gold, mosaics (or small stonework) and featherwork, the three media most associated with the indigenous peoples and most coveted by European audiences. In doing so, I seek to understand what it was about these media specifically that inspired their new-found audiences to desire these materials so intensely, above all other forms of production to be found in the pre-Columbian Americas; how each art form fit into existing preconceptions and was used to shape new identities and beliefs about both cultures; and what we learn from answering these questions. / Art History

Le mouvement académique en Sicile se développe aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles, âge d’or des académies dans la péninsule italienne. La domination des Habsbourg de Madrid dans la majeure partie des territoires italiens de 1559 à 1701 est empreinte d’une certaine effervescence sur les plans politique, social et religieux. Comme les musées et les bibliothèques, les académies favorisent une plus grande diffusion des savoirs. Les fonds siciliens et madrilènes constituent dès lors le témoignage inédit de ce phénomène qui marque la vie littéraire de toute une époque : les académies siciliennes, partout dans l'île, incarnent ainsi une culture méridionale singulière dont le rayonnement dépasse leur siège insulaire. / The academic movement in Sicily develops in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries, golden age ofacademies in the Italian peninsula. The Hapsburg Spain regime, who dominated the majorpart of the Italian territories from 1559 till 1701, is marked by the social, religious andpolitical crisis. As museums and libraries, academies facilitate the dissemination ofknowledge. Sicilian and Spanish (from Madrid) collections constitute therefore a new testimony of this phenomenon which illustrates the literary life of a whole time: the Sicilian academies, everywhere on the island, embody consequently a singular Southern culture the influence of which passes their island border.

La tesi ricostruisce alcuni momenti fondamentali della storia della contea principesca di gradisca, per approfondire i rapporti intercorsi tra 'centro' e 'periferia', tra gli Eggenberg/Asburgo e la nobiltà della contea. / The dissertation reconstructs some fundamental moments of the history of the princely county of Gradisca, in order to study relationships between 'centre' and 'periphery' in depth, between the Eggenberg/Habsburg and the nobility.

Hans von Aachen, court artist to the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, created a series of small painting called the Allegories on the Long Turkish War. Von Aachen made the Allegories between 1604 and 1606 and Rudolf II kept them bound in a red book in his Kunstkammer. This series selects events and battles from the Long War against the Ottoman Empire, 1593-1606, to create a flattering propagandistic image of the emperor in order to strengthen his support. Rudolf’s brother, Archduke Matthias of Austria, began plotting against the emperor beginning in 1600. By 1606 he was actively usurping Rudolf’s political power. I examine von Aachen’s visual description of imperial power, the alternate history the Allegories present, and the ways they engage with Neo-Platonic theories to convey validity to viewers. In my thesis, I outline the events of the Long War in order to compare them to von Aachen’s portrayals and to understand how he restructures chronological history to convey his message about Rudolf’s rulership. I briefly analyze each painting but I focus primarily on the eighth scene, the Conquest of Székesfehérvár. Sultan Mehmed III sits opposite Rudolf II in dignified defeat in this painting. I investigate the visual treatment of the sultan through the historical interactions between the Ottoman and Holy Roman Empires and propose the political function served by depicting him as a noble enemy. I finally discuss the way von Aachen uses symbols and allegory to convey a potent message and convince the viewer of its validity. Ultimately, these works should be seen as political propaganda used to combat Rudolf’s brother Archduke Matthias’ political takeover and not as Rudolf’s fantastical escapism from his losing battle against his brother. / text

A la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, la France contribue largement à transformer l’ancienne Autriche-Hongrie, et doit assumer une responsabilité quant à la survie et au devenir de la nouvelle Autriche, à travers différents engagements internationaux, même si aucun traité ne lie formellement les deux Etats. On définit généralement la position française vis-à-vis de l'Autriche par cette alternative : ni Habsbourg, ni Anschluss. A partir de 1930, l'héritier du trône, Otto de Habsbourg, accède à la majorité : se pose alors concrètement la question d'une éventuelle restauration. Les années 1930 voient par ailleurs le développement d'une multitude de projets de réorganisation de l'Europe centrale, alternative à ce retour des Habsbourg. L'arrivée d'Hitler au pouvoir en Allemagne doit pousser la France à des prises de position claires : son dessein est la réunion de l'Autriche au Reich, et le gouvernement français doit déterminer quelle attitude adopter envers le gouvernement autrichien qui choisit la voie de l'autoritarisme contre la poussée nazie. Si une part de l'opinion française a des sympathies pour la cause de l'indépendance autrichienne, le gouvernement n'impose jamais de choix clairs en ce sens, en raison notamment de facteurs idéologiques. Il est aussi prisonnier d'une conception trop économique de l'organisation de l'Europe centrale, qui lui fait sous-estimer les problèmes identitaires existant entre l'Autriche et l'Allemagne. L'absence d'une réflexion sur les spécificités de la nation autrichienne en construction conduit à faire le jeu de l'Allemagne, à travers l'idée d'un « germanisme » commun aux deux Etats. L'Anschluss, sans réaction française, vient couronner plus d'une décennie de contradictions et prépare la défaite symbolique de Munich. / At the end of World War I, France is a major actor of the transformation of old Austria-Hungary and becomes one of the main protectors of Austria through several international commitments; yet no treaty ever connects the two countries. The French policy on Austria is generally admitted to be : neither Habsburg, nor Anschluss. In 1930 Otto von Habsburg, the son of the last emperor, attains the age of majority ; so the issue of restauration appears again to be a major problem in Europe. At the same time, many plans and projects are discussed to reorganize Central Europe, as a possible alternative to the come back of the Habsburg family. With Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in Germany in 1933, France has to make up clear decisions, since Hitler's goal is to achieve the unification of Austria with Germany. The French government has to decide whether to support or not the Austrian government, getting authoritative in order to fight against nazi propaganda and terrorism. Many people in France are quite in favour of the cause of the independence of Austria. Yet the French government doesn't make any decisive choices to defend it, in particular because of ideological reasons. The French policy is also confined to an all-economic conception of international relations in Central Europe, and under-estimates the problems of national identity existing between Austria and Germany. The lack of a reflection on the specificities of an Austrian nation to be built tends to be of a great advantage for Germany, which praises for the idea of a common « germanism » for both countries. The Anschluss is made without any real French reaction, as a consequence of more than ten years of political contradictions ; thus it prepares the symbolical defeat of Munich.

The goal of this study is to describe the way Austria-Hungary followed to create and develop a modern navy in 1897-1914, and to determine, which factors were decisive in creating the final composition of the fleet. As the base for the research, a number of works related to the subject were studied, but far more important was detailed research of primary sources located in Austrian State Archives. The main line of the research as well as of this study follows negotiations on navy's budgets because of the assumption that the very base for building ships and developing the navy are financial resources. Among the more important subtopics are the way the navy had to award producers form both state, Austria and Hungary, with adequate portion of contracts, the Austro-Italian naval arms race, and the structure of the Austro- Hungarian fleet. The research revealed, that the ideal fleet as imagined by the commanders of the navy was a product of theories concerning a decisive battle and naval supremacy then widely widespread, and of the rivalry with Italy. However, the extent to which the ideal could have been followed, depended on the economic situation of both states; in the process of discussing and voting navy's budgets, the decisive word belonged to governments, not to delegations. The way the navy had...