Resumen de The österreichischen erblande in the time of the glorious revolution

Günther R. Burkert

• At the end of the seventeenth century the prospect for the estates of the Austrian territories seemed bright, despite a certain regional particularism. It would be wrong, therefore, to underestimate the importance of the estates and the regions, even in a period when a court‐dominated absolutism was on the way.

  For two‐hundred years the estates had collected indirect taxes and duties, and had gone further than the state in the field of taxation and in the development of territorial administrations. The estates themselves, in some degree, paved the way for the state. They also made other important contributions to the emerging state, in public hygiene, the school and university system, road‐building projects, and the water supply.

  However, once external security was guaranteed by the peace of 1699, the Emperor was able to intervene with less restraint in the regions, and with the end of the Turkish threat the powerful position of the estates collapsed.