Nincs absztrakt.

The two case studies – the Zeke family of Petőháza and the Nagy family of Felsőbük – both come from a long line of landholding nobility occupying official positions in Sopron county where they had originally arrived and settled following different migration patterns. The author uses their example to demonstrate the political foundations of county representation in the early modern period as wellas the next possible career phase besides the offices of national dignitaries, that of the protonotarius. As the relationship between the county nobility and peers gradually changed from dominus-servitor to a looser, less well-defined patron-client bond, learning and education as a means of social mobilisation and migration became the common social strategy behind these career paths.

Nincs absztrakt.

Nincs absztrakt.

Nincs absztrakt.

The family relation network between aristocratic familiaris circles and the body of county office holders is not a new subject in Hungarian historical research. As known from sources the Récsey family of Gálosháza, as known from sources, was from the 1540’s on in the service of the Nádasdys, one of the most powerful aristocratic families of the West-Transdanubia region. During the 16th century, when the Récseys were among the few wealthy property holders (possessionati) of the municipality and possessed estates in the Sopron county Füles, they primarily rendered their dominus military service but didn’t hold county offices. In spite of this, Bálint Récsey of Gálosháza was Sopron county’s sub-prefect from 4th October 1629 until his death early 1637. As a leading familiaris of neighbouring Vas county’s Lord Lieutenant Pál Nádasdy, he embodied an office-holder type: a person by whose activity an aristocrat’s will might prevail in the county administration and jurisdiction. The period of his activity coincided with those decades when several powerful aristocratic families (Batthyány, Esterházy, Nádasdy) of he region strove to appoint persons from their familiaris circles to the sub-prefect’s position.