The Higher Orders

Between 1660 and 1687, the number of people invited to participate in the diet multiplied by a factor of four, although this expanded group was not fully congruent with the strata of the élite holding real political power. Moreover, only a tiny fraction of Transylvania's population, and even of people with noble status, had access to this political forum: the participants were chosen by virtue of their family's eminence, of wealth, high church or civil office, or feudal office in one of the three 'nations'. In the diets of Apafi's time, the counties' deputy sheriffs, representatives of the Saxon {2-318.} Universitas, and senior officials of Hungarian and Székely local government were more the symbols than the wielders of political power. The Lutheran and Calvinist bishops who participated in the diet exercised great influence on society, but they carried far less political weight than their Catholic counterparts in royal Hungary. The Romanians' bishop was also invited to the diet, but there is no evidence that he ever played an active role in the deliberations.

Actual political power was concentrated in the hands of a small and variegated fragment of the ruling class. The old aristocratic stratum was severely weakened in the crisis of 1657–60. None of these families escaped the human costs inflicted by the Polish campaign, by Tartar captivity, and by the domestic struggles for power. Transylvania's statehood was preserved, but its economic consolidation and altered international situation had an impact on the efforts of these families to rebuild their strength.

The fact that a family was ancient and aristocratic no longer sufficed to earn it entry to the corridors of political power. In 1661, Chancellor János Bethlen, then 48, had promptly sided with Apafi. But he owed his post, and its retention, not to his illustrious antecedents but to his training in law and philosophy, a cultural aptitude for communicating with the West, his skill as a historian, and, not least, to the substantial loans he made to the Treasury. His first wife — Borbála Váradi, the daughter of a Kolozsvár burgher — had brought a large dowry, and his second wife, Klára Fekete, engaged in profitable dealings with Greek traders, all of which helped Bethlen to survive his financial losses during the struggle for power. Miklós, János Bethlen's firstborn son, inherited not only his grandfather's commercial talent but also his father's intellectual gifts, which he proceeded to hone at universities in western Europe. His knowledge of languages and writing skills earned him important assignments when he was still young; and even when he had become the wealthiest man in Transylvania, he owed his political successes — and eventual failures — to his erudition.

{2-319.} Similarly, Dénes Bánffy, the lord lieutenant of Kolozs and Doboka counties, attained the post of first councillor of the principality not simply because of his family's traditional eminence in politics, but also because he had well-developed ideas about national policy and solid contacts with politicians in royal Hungary, most of his estates being located near the western border. Moreover, he readily made loans to the Treasury, and was, thanks to his wife Kata Bornemissza, the prince's brother-in-law. The best example of the need for a fresh start after 1660 is that of Pál Béldi. This son of a Székely general was educated together with György Rákóczi II at the scola aulica in Gyulafehérvár. His Tartar captivity lasted four years, for he wanted to avoid the extra expense of raising loans and waited until the 30,000 thalers required for his ransom were painstakingly collected. Béldi returned home in the summer of 1661, but the delay had worked to his detriment. Next to János Kemény, he was Transylvania's most distinguished aristocrat, and his past distinctions were considerable; but it was too late to aspire to the princely crown or other high office.

Meanwhile, less known figures quickly emerged to join the newly-assembled court aristocracy. Mihály Teleki, who was roughly the same age as the prince, had the most spectacular career. His father, a man of modest means, had served as a prison warder at Jenő Castle, and then as a lieutenant of cavalry at Várad. Thus young Mihály inherited neither a distinguished name nor great wealth, and what he managed to acquire during the reign of György Rákóczi II, he lost in the 1657–1660 crisis. Yet thanks to his political skills, Teleki clawed his way to high state office; in the process, he greatly expanded his estates, obtaining the important captaincy of Kővár as well as properties that ringed the princely center. László Székely, the prince's councillor and postmaster, followed a similar path. The son of a minor official, he married the daughter of a Romanian nobleman. Székely succeeded to Dénes Bánffy as captain of Kolozsvár; through his son, who was raised to the rank of {2-320.} count and married the granddaughter of his distinguished predecessor, he became related not only to the Bánffys but also to the Bethlen family. Within two generations, the Sárpataki family secured even greater social advancement. Márton Sárpataki, the son of a villein, served as Apafi's trial judge and councillor; his son, who took on the name of Keresztes, became a count as well as lord lieutenant of Küküllő County, and joined the aristocracy. There were many newcomers in the lower ranks of the public service and in the diplomatic service as well. As before, distinguished military service often paved the way to high office.

Several religious denominations were represented among court aristocrats and noble officials. Many were former Unitarians who had converted to Calvinism, but Roman Catholicism was no obstacle to upward mobility. János and Pál Haller, both Catholics, served as councillors to Apafi. István Apor, the orphaned son of a magistrate at Kézdivásárhely, was poor as well as Catholic; yet he obtained lease of the thirtieths tax at Törcsvár, pursued various business ventures, and rose to the top rank of the aristocracy. During Apafi's thirty-year reign, Calvinism enjoyed the unequivocal support of the state, but different religious affiliation was no obstacle to self-enrichment, and wealth opened access to the social elite.

The nobles did not constitute a closed community. They preferred their children to marry their own kind, but the criteria of religion, wealth, and social status were sometimes overridden by love, or 'the inclination of the heart'. Although they tried to preserve traditional norms, social mores were changing. This was noted by Bishop Mihály Tofeus, and later recorded by Péter Apor. To be sure, Erzsébet Kapi still incurred general disapproval in marrying Ádám Jáborczky, a tailor's apprentice from Upper Hungary. Judging from his writings, the groom was an educated man, but his letters of nobility were not in order. He won the hand of this girl from the distinguished and wealthy Kapi family, but Erzsébet Kapi {2-321.} was able to preserve her inheritance only with difficulty, and Ádám was eventually murdered in circumstances that remain to be elucidated.

Few if any of the aristocracy's leading figures were immune to charges of authoritarianism and artful manipulation of the law. They were relentless in their efforts to expand their estates, bold and self-seeking in their business ventures, and imposed strict terms when they lent money. They kept close account not only of their fabulous jewels but also of their meanest possessions. They were merciless in collecting debts, such as the loans they made to the state, or to relatives who needed ransom money; and while they gave generously to various church foundations, they counted on receiving the indirect benefits. The growing luxury of their lifestyle was reflected in castles that had glazed windows, rooms heated by stoves stoked from the outside, English clocks, Dutch tapestries, and Turkish carpets; they owned sporting guns and fur jackets with diamond buttons and silver buckles. The libraries found in even the more modest manor houses testified to a lively intellectual curiosity.

Despite such wealth, the aristocrats did not shrink from lengthy litigation to obtain a small fragment of land or a few villeins. István Apor, who in 1696 was serving as Transylvania's treasurer, sent armed hajdús to seize the estate of Vinc from Erzsébet Kapi; Miklós Bethlen took similar recourse to seize a big mill at Torda belonging to Apor and his associates. Arbitrary and lawless behaviour became more common after 1687, and this aspect of the aristocracy's mentality contributed to the excesses during the subsequent entrenchment of Habsburg rule. On the other hand, even the notoriously greedy Pál Béldi would record the wish, commonly expressed by aristocrats, that 'service of the public interest, of one's motherland, nation, and religion' should take precedence over private interests.[67]67. Pál Béldi's letter to Mihály Teleki, 8 August 1671, in F. Deák, Béldi Pál, p. 71.

{2-322.} János Bethlen and Mihály Teleki echoed Apafi's recurrent complaint that their country's greatest affliction was the discord and rampant, petty egotism of the aristocrats. When Miklós Bethlen, in Viennese captivity, drew up a dismal inventory of the reasons for the decline of the Transylvanian state, his self-critical words had a biblical ring: 'You have cursed your motherland from top to bottom with a sad helplessness [...] with a multitude of petty tyrants who persecuted, imprisoned, killed and destroyed each other, who bribed and preyed on others [...] who consumed this people like bread.'[68]68. Miklós Bethlen, 'Mindennapi reggeli imádságom a közönséges keresztény anyaszentegyházért, nemzetemért, hazámért, pogányok és mindenkiért', in Bethlen önéletírása II, pp. 206-9. Although Bethlen addressed the situation in Transylvania, the shameless greed and materialism of the privileged strata was hardly limited to that country. The same phenomenon could be observed across Europe, as the noble orders broke up into distinct strata of rural landowners, court aristocrats, noble officials, and entrepreneurs.