Entailed lands. Estate policy and nationalism in Hungary at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries
Entailed lands. Estate policy and nationalism in Hungary at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries

Summary/Abstract: Entailed lands were estates that were, withdrawn from the free circulation of lands, inherited within a family in a predetermined order, mostly by first-born sons. These lands could not be divided or sold. The first entails were established around the middle of the 17th century in Hungary and were finally abolished three centuries later in 1949. Entails were considered negatively in the public discourse at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, since the peasantry’s access to lands was hindered by them, and according to certain individuals, entails were the reasons for the emigration and demographic decline of the landless agrarian society. Others had different perspectives. The concerned landowners opposed all concepts that would have changed the estate system. The movement aimed at promoting the role of entails in support of “Hungarian national purposes”, indirectly, supported their interest. According to the concept of Gusztáv Beksics, journalist and member of parliament, entailed lands should be abolished in the country’s internal area populated by ethnic Hungarians. This would solve the existential problem of the Hungarian peasantry. However, entailed lands should be established in forestry areas located in the peripheries of the country. Thus, entail owners excluded from the Great Plain would be compensated, and they could keep the Slovak and Romanian nationalities, who were not yet loyal enough to the “Hungarian state doctrine”, under close supervision.

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