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254 István M. Szijártó
features mentioned above can be discerned elsewhere in the region,
too — most of them, certainly, in the Polish-Lithuanian union, but
Wolfgang Neugebauer states that the whole of East Central Europe,
from Estland in the north to Hungary in the south, offers the best
chances to study the estates in the second half of the eighteenth cen¬
tury, and he sees the renaissance of the estates occurring from the
end of the eighteenth century, while Klaus Zernack speaks explicitly
about an East Central European Libertaskultur.?
It is, therefore, not surpising that the diet played a not negligeable
part in the careers of the office-holding gentry in general and also in
that of one ofthe Felsöbüki Nagy family in particular. Investigating
the career of Päl Felsöbüki Nagy and the history of the diets held in
1751 and in 1764-1765, Chapter 5 by Janos Nagy (Parliamentary
politics as a springboard? The career of Pal Felsöbüki Nagy (1704¬
1776)) concludes that parliamentary politics could be decisive insofar
as it demonstrated the MP’s ability, actually, no matter whether with
a loyal political stance or as a member of the opposition. An impres¬
sive performance in parliamentary debates could catapult the MP in
question into a chair in one of the central offices or courts of justice
of the country. The beneficial effect of praised accomplishments in
the diet could be illustrated by the career of Pal Felsöbüki Nagy,
who participated at the diet in 1751 and in 1764-1765.
FAMILY MATTERS
Chapters 6 and 7 are centred on the family. Taking his starting point
as Max Weber’s concept of connubium, Tamas Szemethy demon¬
strates the role of marriage and affinal kin in the rise of families in
the eighteenth century in his second chapter in the volume (Cherchez
la femme! Marriage strategy in the Felsöbüki Nagy family). Af¬
final relatives seem to be no less important in social progress than
consanguinal kin.
Between 1711 and 1799, 91 Hungarians coming from 76 different
lesser noble families were awarded aristocratic titles. Among their
wives, 60 per cent came from the lesser nobility (and the rest from the
aristocracy, be it old or new, Hungarian or foreign). If we examine
the marriages of their children, this figure drops to 37 per cent. What
° Neugebauer 1994: 14, 21.