Umkämpfte Kirche

The Austro-Hungarian Littoral was an ethnically and linguistically heterogeneous but predominantly Catholic region at the periphery of the late Habsburg monarchy. The book examines whether and how ethnic-linguistic diversities could lead to conflicts within the local Catholic Church, and it concludes that nationalism was perceived as a foreign influence at the local level. The cases from the rural area were told in the cities as clear examples of 'nationality conflicts'. But the local level had much more complicated differences and interests than all conflict actors could have been assigned to one 'nationality'. By using a large number of sources, the work shows the complexity of social interests within the local Catholic Church in the Upper Adriatic region: The conflict actors (peasants and priests) were primarily characterized by their socially marginalized position.