Századok – 2015

2015 / 4. szám - KÖZLEMÉNYEK - Nagy János: A vármegyei követküldési gyakorlat jellegzetességei az 1751. évi országgyűlés példáján

A VÁRMEGYEI KÖVETKÜLDÉSI GYAKORLAT JELLEGZETESSÉGEI...957

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DELEGATION OF COUNTY MPS ON THE EXAMPLE

OF THE DIET OF 1751

by Nagy János (Summary)

The present paper examines the procedure of delegating county MPs on the example of the diet of 1751. Although the research underlying it did not extend to all contemporary Hungarian counties, the sample collected is representative enough for some conclusions of political, social and institutional history to be based upon it. A comparison of assembly minutiae and other documents with the general assessments of historical literature on the history of diets clearly hinted at the increasing role and weight at the level of national politics of those well-to-do nobility (bene possessionati) who had traditionally dominated the counties. Such a tendency is underpinned by the growing role of instructions prepared for the MPs, the ever more frequent emergence of supplementary instructions, the increasing number of committees drafting such instructions, but also by the frequent exchanges of letters between the counties with regard to parliamentary affairs and the successful hushing up of abuses in per diem allocations. While the dominance of the wealthy nobility over the delegation of county MPs seems to have been solidly established, contrary to the legal prescriptions and the opinion of the scholarly literature, in some cases at least members of smallholding families or of those with a less illustrious past could equally make their way to the Pressburg diet thanks to their personal abilities. On the other hand, potential intervention by the főispán in the procedure of delegation and the drafting of the instructions, and aristocratic presence, may raise a number of further questions to answer. Lacunae in the previous research are especially conspicuous if one thinks of the local features of noble society in the individual counties, or of the obscurity which veils over their respective political traditions. Moreover, a thorough analysis of governmental efforts and ideas aiming at the weakening of the political positions of the Hungarian Estates is still lacking.