The Survival of the Traditional Elite: The Transylvanian Lord Lieutenant Corps in 1910

The present article, which is part of a broader study analyzes the Lord Lieutenant corps from the Transylvanian counties in 1910. The research deals with the political elite, especially the officials engaged in Transylvanian administration during the time of Dualism (1867-1918) by using the prosopographical method. The author focuses on the recruitment base for the Lord Lieutenant corps, the extent to which the aristocracy preserved its dominance within it, the stages of a typical Lord Lieutenant career, the role of the family background, and the extent to which Lord Lieutenants were locals and had links to the county. The Hungarian political elite managed to preserve its prominent positions in the counties throughout the period of Dualism. Although in this period there were individuals who were appointed to this position after lengthy service in the public administration, the proportion of those who were predestined to it "by right of birth" continued to be high, and in 1910, the number of aristocrats in the Lord Lieutenant corps increased. Although the demands of professionalisation acted against this, the process proved slow.