Since the debate on social inequality has been intensified again in recent years, the question of the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next has taken on new power. Inheritance in particular has gained in topicality as a socially relevant issue and is also intensively discussed in the historical sciences. The conference takes up this thread of discussion and assumes that access to and disposal of property and assets were fundamental factors in economic and social positioning. These positionings, the opportunities and perspectives associated with them, but also restrictions, burdens and obligations were to a large extent passed on within the family. Generational transfers of wealth were therefore not private transactions, but were framed politically and legally and played a significant role in shaping social power relations, especially gender relations.

The conference will be held in collaboration with the Department of economic and social history of the University of Vienna, in conjunction with the international network "Gender Differences in the History of European Legal Cultures" and in the context of the research project "Noble Siblings. Wealth Arrangements and Social Configurations".