Page - 338 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 mentaryelectoral suffrage,anditwasresponsible tomanagethehugeproperty, mainly forests in theCarpathianmountainswith only one condition: the rev- enues had to be disbursed for cultural and educational purposes for the in- habitantsof the formerSaxonautonomy.17 Ontheotherhand,theunificationdidnotstartwith1867anditwasnotsolely the result ofHungariannation-building efforts.Already the enlightened abso- lutist rulers attempted to curtail feudal rights, unify administration and legis- lation, and Joseph II establishedaunitary administrative system for thewhole territoryofSaintStephen’sCrown.Still, theearlydualistadministrativereforms weredifferentfromtheJosephinprecursorsastheyestablishedaunitarystateof theHungarians, anddespiteallof thesetbackscausedby the leftovers fromthe feudal era, its goal was to develop a unified nation-state. The struggle with ‘feudalism,’however,didnotabatewiththereforms; insteadthe fightof feudal rules, norms, institutions, customs, and behavior was a permanent theme of politicians who wished to further modernization.18Whatever pretensions its leadershad,HungarywaslessaunitaryFranceoftheEastthanitwasacountryin thephaseofrapidmodernizationandreformthataffectedsocietyveryunevenly, leaving broad segments of this society behind and often preserving informal rulesand institutions.19 TherealitiesofHungary left their imprintoncenter-periphery relations too. The threecasesoutlined in this chapterhave their roots in threedifferent local contexts that, nevertheless, shared important commonalities. All of them or- iginated from the existence of distinct, privileged groupsprior to the abolish- ment of feudal privileges and the administrative reforms (nobility, Sz8kely es- tates, SaxonNationsuniversität). The caseswere characterized by extremepe- ripheral situation (including social and physical distance, backwardness, or peculiar social structure), and two of them figured in areas only recently in- corporated intoHungary. Fromthisperspective, the threemodels of emerging differentiated rule reflecteddifferent attempts to copewith the transition from thefeudalsystemtothemodern,nationalizedsociety, inorder toovercomethe imperialheritage. The countyMaramures‚ (M#ramaros,Maramuresch), situated in the north- eastern corner of the country, surroundedbyhighmountains, and hardly ac- cessible fromthe central plainor fromneighboringTransylvania,was amulti- lingual andmulti-religious area (Roman andGreek Catholics, Calvinists, Or- thodox believers, and Jews, speaking Hungarian, Romanian, Yiddish and Ruthenian lived in the cities andvalleys) dominated by anobility boundwith 17 CarlGöllner,DieSiebenbürgerSachsen indenJahren1848–1918,Köln1998. 18 Cieger,Ahatalomra jutott (seenote15). 19 Janos,ThePolitics (seenote8),p. 84–148. GáborEgry338