Mästare och tjänare : En studie om adelsdamers förhållande till sina tjänare

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to explore the relationship between female nobility and their servants during the early modern period. Questions that this thesis sets out to answer concerns who their servants were, their positions in the household and if the relationship between master and servant changed over time. The lives of five noblewomen are explored through their diaries, letters and memoires with the purpose of trying to find out what they thought about- and how they treated their servants. The women are: Perchta and Anézka Rozmberk from the mid to late 15th century Bohemia, Lady Anne Clifford from the early to mid 17th century England, Liselotte Von der Pfalz/Elisabeth Charlotte from the mid to late 16th century Germany/France and Anna Labzina from the 18-19th century Russian Empire. The essay arrived at the conclusion that the women, for the most part, treated their subordinates with kindness and in some cases even respect that went beyond the elementary duties of a master. The primary source material are the letters, diaries and memoires mentioned above, although not in their original forms but in to English translated newly pusblished editions.