Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 25. (1996)

TANULMÁNYOK - Szívós Erika: Városvezető elit Pesten a XVIII-XIX. század fordulóján 9-25

ERIKA SZÍVÓS PESTS URBAN LEADERSHIP EUTE AT THE TURN OF THE 18TH/19TH CENTURIES SUMMARY The article presents the administrative élite of late 18th and early 19th century Pest; by showing the transformation of this prominent urban group it attempts to capture the beginnings of the development of Pest into a metropolis, the characteristics of a transitional period. In the first part of this essay I define the group characterised as "élite," and justify the use of this notion. I describe the social background, origins and mobility of the members of this group. This analysis outlines a process in which the administration and leading functions of the city, originally held by artisans and merchants, were gradually taken over by a professional group (significantly, this group largely came from a merchant and artisan background itself). In this process the city's administrative élite appears to be extremely open to newcomers, which was a sign of the city's dynamic development during this period. The second part describes the financial position of the élite. The examination of property structure and typical economic activities shows that these people were mostly attracted to traditional, safe forms of investment (real estate, land, small-scale money-lending), which explains why the traditional urban élite could not become the leading force of capitalist transformation in Hungary. The third part is an attempt to reconstruct the cultural background and education of the social group in question based on the analysis of the library that one of the city's senators left behind. This analysis leads to the conclusion that this administrative élite must have been an important factor in the shaping of the character of the would-be capital, not only via its power but also via its mentality and cultural influence. 25