The 'New Light on the Nobility' project investigates the role of the nobility in Dutch society over a long period of time and is carried out by Dr Renger de Bruin. The research runs along two tracks: the history of the Utrecht nobility from the early Middle Ages to the present, which has now been completed, and a study of the members of the Ridderlijke Duitsche Orde Balije van Utrecht (RDO) between 1640 and the mid-20th century. The latter is a so-called prosopographical study, which relies on collecting comparable data on a particular group in order to draw conclusions. De Bruin used to carry out such a study for his PhD thesis on Utrecht politics between 1795 and 1813, in which he mapped city government in this way. The collection of data on birth and death dates, marriages, children, place of residence, religion, career, wealth and income is now much easier than at the time due to online files, but the number of people to be researched for this study is more than twice as large (about 250).
Some of the research has now been presented at international conferences and has been or will be published in conference proceedings, in English, German and French. This concerns the regional origins, military careers and marriages of RDO members as well as contributions on religious identity, the function as a noble network and the RDO's gift policy.