Civic gentry in Sáros county in the 19th century: the history of Hazslinyszky family, part I

Abstract

The concept of gentry in Hungarian 19th century history usually backed by its literary counterpart, most famously by those characters in Mikszáth Kálmán’s novels and short stories. The proud but lazy and hedonistic lifestyle, in connection with its useless political and public role in Hungarian society, is so far widespread in public opinion that even in history writing doesn’t lack it. In this article I want to rebut this mostly stereotypic picture drawn about multiple social strata and a complex social phenomena. For my purpose I use a genealogical approach due to its relevance from a micro-historical viewpoint. A lifespan, especially an intergenerational mobility route, can represent the features of a social group and family time, described by stories of life courses, can help to make conclusions to mentality, thus through the story of Hazslinszky family, described in this study, we can get closer to those part of impoverished gentry, who became intellectuals and picked up civic values rather than being flighty and irresponsible snobs.