Royal Hungarian Locotenential Council, Presidential Records, 1861-1867

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára

Title:: Royal Hungarian Locotenential Council, Presidential Records, 1861-1867

Title (official language):: Magyar Királyi Helytartótanács, Elnöki iratok, 1861-1867

Extent:: 414 boxes, 1 fascicle, 71 volumes, 2 envelopes, 58.76 linear metres

Scope and content:: Records of the presidential department covered issues under the direct control of the chair’s office, including matters of the police and the maintenance of public order, passport matters, supervision of the press, theatres, other cultural institutions, social organisations, non-resident aliens, and churches, including the Israelite denomination (thematic groups no. VII. B. of 1863-1866), conscription, legal and health issues. Key persons in the collection include György Majláth jr., Count Móric Pálffy (1861), and Baron Pál Sennei (1861-1867).

Archival history:: The files of the dissolved Locotenential Council were handed over to the newly established Royal Hungarian Ministry of the Interior in 1867. Section D (Records of the Era of Absolutism) was created in 1952. The first finding aid was published in 1959. Since then, the collection has been rearranged and selected several times.

Administrative/biographical history:: Established in 1724, the Locotenential Council (Helytartótanács/Ungarische Statthalterei) was the central administrative body in Hungary under the Habsburg rule before the period of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867-1918). For a short period following the Hungarian War of Independence in 1849, the Locotenential Council (Helytartótanács/Ungarische Statthalterei), the Court Chancelleries (Magyar és Erdélyi Udvari Kancellária) and the local autonomies were dissolved and replaced by imperial ministries seated in Vienna. The so-called October Diploma (imperial decree) of 20 October 1860 signalled the end of the era of centralisation. The Vienna-based ministries were disbanded, and their function was taken over by the reorganised Locotenential Council and the Court Chancelleries. The successors of the Locotenential Council were the independent Royal Hungarian Ministries established after the Compromise of 1867, most of all the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Religious and Educational Affairs.

Access points: persons/families:: Mailáth, György 1818-1883; Pálffy von Erdöd, Moriz 1812-1897; Sennyey de Kis-Sennye, Pál 1824-1888

Subject terms:: Jewish community; Law enforcement; Law enforcement--Police; Legal matters; Military

Finding aids:: Registry books and indexes are available for the entire collection.

Tuza Csilla, ed. Az abszolutizmuskori levéltár. Repertórium. Vol. 2. Budapest: MOL, 2005.