KASATA ZAKONU JEZUITÓW NA ŚLĄSKU AUSTRIACKIM W 1773 ROKU W ŚWIETLE DOKUMENTÓW ARCHIWUM ZIEMSKIEGO W OPAWIE
DISSOLUTION OF THE JESUIT ORDER IN AUSTRIAN SILESIA IN 1773 BASED ON THE DOCUMENTS FROM THE LAND ARCHIVES IN OPAVA

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the following article is to outline the process of the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in Austrian Silesia based on the archival complex, little known in Poland, gathered by the State District Archive in Opava (Zemský archiv v Opavě). The division of Silesia between Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy, as a result of the First Silesian War in 1742, had an impact on the organizational structure of the Society of Jesus in Silesia. The Jesuit college in Opava and the residence in Cieszyn together with the associated mission centres belonged to the Czech Province (Provincia Bohemiae), therefore they were liquidated in 1773 – in contrast to the Jesuit institutions in Prussian Silesia, belonging to a separate Province of Silesia (Provincia Silesiae). The dissolution also partially affected the Jesuit college in Nysa, which owned several villages on the Austrian side. The main intention of the following study is to present the characteristics of the activities of the central Austrian court administration, used not only as part of the dissolution of the Society of Jesus in Austria, but also in the so-called Josephine dissolution carried out a decade later, in the 1780s. The method of operation of the court bureaucracy in terms of work coordination was presented on the basis of the Opava archival documents created in the immediate period of the dissolution. The history of the institutions under discussion (until the dissolution) is only briefly outlined, due to the fact that it has already been developed in the literature. A tabular list of archival materials from the collection of the Royal Office in Opava and a personal list of Jesuits affected by the dissolution were presented. The publication is not an exhaustive analysis of archival sources, but a contribution to further research into the history of the Society of Jesus in Silesia.

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