Urbs - Magyar várostörténeti évkönyv 3. (Budapest, 2008)

Abstracts

long-leading judge or mayor moved to another town (e.g. Wiener Neustadt or Vienna). All of the former positions of these burghers in the town administration, however, were filled by new, probably more successful, men. Moreover, the examination of the kinship relations among the different groups and generations of leaders showed that from the 1510s the dominating burghers who followed one another in the positions of judge and/or mayor married the widows or daughters of their predecessors or fellow leaders. Though a direct paternal connection was present occasionally in these examples, in some cases succession to leadership was experienced through three generations by the participation of grandchildren in the higher urban government. The discovery of different patterns of transmission reveals that the leading circle of the political elite in Sopron was neither a closed group of ancient patrician families nor an ever-changing constellation of personal relationships. Instead of these possible extremes, the formation of the group of mayors and judges simultaneously reflected both a consanguine and a meritocratic-marital recruitment. This complex (partly meritocratic and semi-opened) character of the local political elite supported the economic and political success of the leading burghers in the sixteenth century Sopron. ÁGNES FLÓRA Portrait of the early modern elite of Kolozsvár (Klausenburg, Cluj Napoca) The jargons of historical research have developed and are being formed the same way as in the case of any other profession. These expressions are in some cases incorporated into scientific rhetoric so it is sometimes already difficult to define and use the relevant concept itself in a unified manner. One such jargon is the word patrician. If it is not connected to the elite of the antique Rome, then we have to face already the cliché that there are as many definitions as the number of researchers. According to international historical literature "patriciate" had three main criterion systems. One of its main characteristics was eligibility into the town council, their second characteristic was their marrying within a small group, and their most evident characteristic was their wealth. Examining the early modern era elite of Kolozsvár two basic conclusions may be drawn. One of them is the fact that the definition of patrician in their case can only be a special one, it would be difficult to apply a general template. On the other hand certain criteria have to be met by the elite burghers of the society of a town in order to include them in the privileged category of patricians. In respect of the sixteenth century elite of