A 18. századi új elit vagyoni helyzete a Magyar Királyságban
The Financial Situation of the New Elite in Eighteenth-Century Hungary

Summary/Abstract: The study examines the financial situation of individuals promoted from common gentry to high nobility. Biographic data of altogether ninety-one individuals were gathered to explore their financial situation, primarily their landed estates. The perceptions of promoted nobility were rather poor by their contemporaries and posterity alike. They were often portrayed as upstart court favourites or army officers subordinating everything to the interest of the empire, amassing wealth and building large stately homes to compensate for their humble roots but never attaining the financial standards of the original aristocracy. The study assesses the wealth of the members of the new elite (primarily, their landed property) and places them in the context of the original aristocracy to reveal the differences between their wealth and property. The overview of the whole social segment is nuanced by a case study: the rising of the Malonyay family provides an excellent example for the examination of a possible strategy – also adopted by other families of the same standing – to sustain their wealth and aristocratic status.

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