Elections in one Hungarian county in the period of expanding political pub-licity and participation. Career paths in the county administration, 1806–1830.

Abstract

The purpose of the study. In the present work, I explore the career paths of public servants from a long-neglected but controversial period in Hungarian historiography. The study of the personnel of the county administration can easily seem to be autotelic, but with the right questions we can reflect not only on national but also on continental processes. The turn of the 18th and 19th centuries was a period of significant structural change at European level, the emergence of the public sphere, its consolidation and institutionalization. Applied methods. My main goal to reconstruct the magistrate elections and career paths of county officials in one Hungarian county (Somogy). The analysis focuses on the career experience of various officials. In my data collection covering the elections between 1806 and 1830, I recorded and examined a total of 292 obtainment of office. Outcomes. The impact of the structural changes is clearly visible in the county world, where the shortage of officials was replaced by an over-application. With the increase of new recruits, the daily-paid honorary functionaries became permanent auxiliary posts in Somogy, creating a new entry level for administration.