Nagy János: Rendi ellenzék és kormánypárt az 1751. évi országgyűlésen - Disszertációk Budapest Főváros Levéltárából 7. (Budapest, 2020)

The opposition of the estates and the loyalists at the Diet of 1750 (summary)

‘silent revolution’ of the deputies of the counties at the diet of 1751 (to quote Károly Hornig’s term) refers not only to the atmosphere of the assembly hall, more and more often dominated by affrays. This diet saw a change in the good relationship between the Habsburgs and the Hungarian estates that had reigned since 1741, and signalled a final shift in the power structures within the political system, whereby the county deputies became the dominant force. The role of the magnates amounted to supporting the government’s proposals, and they had fewer and fewer opportunities to mediate between the Lower House and the monarch. The focus of political debates shifted from religious issues to financial ones (taxation and trade-related grievances), which both the court and the estates interpreted as having constitutional significance. All in all, the diet of 1751 is a transition point, when individual interests (like getting lucrative positions) is still a major driving force as political motivations go, but the value system of being true to one’s principles is gaining more and more prominence. This social and political formula, termed ‘constitutionalism of the estates’, remained characteristic for the functioning of all further diets right until the Reform Era of Hungary in the first half of the 19th century.

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