Résumé 0

Castles and nobility in the Middle Ages are not only considered together in historical research. For the lower nobility in particular, the possession of castles was decisive for the social positioning of the respective noble family. In order to sharpen this connection, the dissertation looks at both together and examines the concrete significance of castles in the formation phase of the lower nobility between 1250 and 1400. The focus of the regional and interdisciplinary study is on noble families and their castles from the area around the Counts of Helfenstein in the region between Geislingen an der Steige and Blaubeuren in the Swabian Alb. It examines aristocratic strategies of homemaking, of positioning themselves in the world. The center of this positioning was the castle. It appears as a spatial and social point of reference, which was important in almost every area of aristocratic life: it was the hub and nucleus of (the exercise of) power, the center of social group affiliations as well as the stage and medium of cultural participation. Castle thus means far more than just the building stock that has possibly survived to this day, but the overall social and spatial phenomenon of a center with many functions. Access to this multifunctional 'castle' phenomenon opened up a wide range of possibilities for the lower nobility and thus opportunities to position themselves in all areas of aristocratic affiliation. In this way, castles can be described as a socio-cultural resource in the sense of the concept of the Collaborative Research Center 1070 RESOURCE CULTURES.