The Diet of Hungary (Hungarian: Országgyűlés) was a legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 15th century, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the Early Modern period. It convened at regular intervals with interruptions during the period of 1527 to 1918, and again until 1946.
The articles of the 1790 diet set out that the diet should meet at least once every 3 years, but, since the diet was called by the Habsburg monarchy, this promise was not kept on several occasions thereafter. As a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, it was reconstituted in 1867.
The Latin term Natio Hungarica ("Hungarian nation") was used to designate the political elite which had participation in the diet, consisting of the nobility, the Catholic clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers.[1][2][3]
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The Hungarian Diet originated under Andrew II of Hungary with the Golden Bull of 1222, which reaffirmed the rights of the smaller nobles of the old and new classes of royal servants (servientes regis) against both the crown and the magnates, and to defend the rights of the whole nation against the crown by restricting the powers of the latter in certain fields and legalizing refusal to obey its unlawful/unconstitutional commands (the "ius resistendi"). The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution of the Hungarian Diet.
An institutionalized Hungarian Diet emerged during the 14th and 15th centuries. Under Charles I of Hungary, and still under Matthias Corvinus, the Diet was essentially convened by the king to announce his decisions, and had no significant power of its own.
In 1492 the Diet limited the serfs' freedom of movement and expanded their obligations while a large portion of peasants became prosperous because of cattle export to the West. Rural discontent boiled over in 1514 when well-armed peasants preparing for a crusade against Turks rose up under György Dózsa. Shocked by the peasant revolt, the Diet of 1514 passed laws that condemned the serfs to eternal bondage and increased their work obligations.
When Vladislaus II died in 1516, his ten-year-old son Louis II (1516–26) became king, but a royal council appointed by the Diet ruled the country.
| Start date | End date | Location | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1527 | 1528 | Buda | |
| 1532 | 1532 | Buda | |
| 1536 | 1536 | Várad | |
| 1537 | 1537 | Pressburg (Pozsony, now Bratislava) | |
| 1542 | 1543 | Besztercebánya (now Banská Bystrica) | |
| 1545 | 1545 | Nagyszombat (now Trnava) | |
| 1547 | 1547 | Nagyszombat | |
| 1548 | 1548 | Pressburg | |
| 1550 | 1550 | Pressburg | |
| 1552 | 1552 | Pressburg | |
| 1553 | 1553 | Sopron | |
| 1554 | 1554 | Pressburg | |
| 1555 | 1555 | Pressburg | |
| 1556 | 1556 | Pressburg | |
| 1557 | 1557 | Pressburg | |
| 1559 | 1559 | Pressburg | |
| 1563 | 1563 | Pressburg | |
| 1566 | 1566 | Pressburg | |
| 1567 | 1567 | Pressburg | |
| 1569 | 1569 | Pressburg | |
| 1572 | 1572 | Pressburg | |
| 1574 | 1574 | Pressburg | |
| 1575 | 1575 | Pressburg | |
| 1578 | 1578 | Pressburg | |
| 1581 | 1581 | Pressburg | |
| 1583 | 1583 | Pressburg | |
| 1587 | 1587 | Pressburg | |
| 1593 | 1593 | Pressburg | |
| 1596 | 1596 | Pressburg | |
| 1597 | 1597 | Pressburg | |
| 1598 | 1598 | Pressburg | |
| 1599 | 1599 | Pressburg | |
| 1600 | 1600 | Pressburg | |
| 1601 | 1601 | Pressburg | |
| 1602 | 1602 | Pressburg | |
| 1603 | 1603 | Pressburg | |
| 1604 | 1604 | Pressburg | |
| 1608 | 1608 | Pressburg | |
| 1609 | 1609 | Pressburg | |
| 1613 | 1613 | Pressburg | |
| 1618 | 1618 | Pressburg | |
| 1622 | 1622 | Sopron | |
| 1625 | 1625 | Sopron | |
| 1630 | 1630 | Pressburg | |
| 1635 | 1635 | Sopron | |
| 1637 | 1638 | Pressburg | |
| 1647 | 1647 | Pressburg | |
| 1649 | 1649 | Pressburg | |
| 1655 | 1655 | Pressburg | |
| 1659 | 1659 | Pressburg | |
| 1662 | 1662 | Pressburg | |
| 1681 | 1681 | Sopron | |
| 1687 | 1687 | Pressburg |
| Start date | End date | Location | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1708 | 1715 | Pressburg | Continuously interrupted |
| 1722 | 1723 | Pressburg | |
| 1728 | 1729 | Pressburg | |
| 1741 | 1742 | Pressburg | |
| 1751 | 1751 | Pressburg | |
| 1764 | 1765 | Pressburg | |
| 1790 | 1791 | Pressburg | First phase not held in Pressburg |
| 1792 | 1792 | ||
| 1796 | 1796 | In 1796, the diet was convened again to be informed that "attacked by the impious and iniquitous French nation, the king felt the necessity of consulting his faithful states of Hungary, remembering that, under Maria Theresa, Hungary had saved the monarchy." The diet voted to supply a contingent of 50,000 men, and undertook to provision the Austrian army, amounting to 340,000 soldiers. The diet was dissolved after only nineteen sittings. | |
| 1802 | 1802 | The diet of 1802 discussed demands on Hungary with regard to the French Revolutionary Wars. | |
| 1805 | 1805 | The diet of 1805 resembled that of 1802. | |
| 1807 | 1807 | The diet of 1807 was more remarkable. To the usual demands was added the royal proposition that an army should be raised, and ready to march at the first signal. | |
| 1811 | 1812 | ||
| 1825 | 1827 | Pressburg | |
| 1830 | Pressburg | Crowned Archduke Ferdinand as King of Hungary | |
| 1832 | 1836 | ||
| 1839 | 1840 | ||
| 1843 | 1844 | ||
| 1847 | 1847/8 |
In the course of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 a diet was called at Pest that was dismissed by decree of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria in October; the next year a Hungarian assembly met at the Protestant Great Church of Debrecen, which declared the new Emperor Franz Joseph deposed and elected Lajos Kossuth regent-president. The revolution was finally suppressed by Austrian troops under General Julius Jacob von Haynau and the assembly dissolved.
The Habsburgs again approached toward the Hungarian estates after the disastrous defeat at the 1859 Battle of Solferino and the loss of Lombardy. In 1860 Emperor Franz Joseph issued the October Diploma, which provided a national Reichsrat assembly formed by delegates deputed by the Landtage diets of the Austrian crown lands, followed by the February Patent of 1861, promising the implementation of a bicameral legislature. The Hungarian magnates however rejected to be governed from Vienna and insisted on an own parliamentary assembly with comprehensive autonomy in Hungarian affairs. The negotiations failed, predominantly due to the tough stance of Austrian Minister-President Anton von Schmerling.
Finally in the course of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the emperor appointed Gyula Andrássy Hungarian minister-president and the re-established national assembly convened on 27 February.
The legislative power was vested in this parliament, consisting of two houses: an upper house titled the Főrendiház ([føːrɛndihaːz], House of Magnates), and a lower house titled the Képviselőház ([ˈkeːpviʃɛløːhaːz], House of Representatives). From 1902 on parliament assembles in the Hungarian Parliament Building on the Danube in Budapest.
The House of Magnates (Főrendiház) was, like the current British House of Lords, composed of hereditaries, ecclesiastics, and, unlike the House of Lords, deputized representatives from autonomous regions (Similar to Resident Commissioners of United States territories). The House had no fixed membership size, as anyone who met the qualifications could sit in it. The official list:
See also List of Speakers of the House of Magnates of Hungary
The House of Representatives (Képviselőház ) consisted of members elected, under the Electoral Law of 1874, by a complicated franchise based upon property, taxation, profession or official position, and ancestral privileges. The House consisted of 453 members, of which 413 were deputies elected in Hungary and 43 delegates of Croatia-Slavonia sent by the parliament of that Kingdom. Their terms were for five years and were remunerated.
The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition considered the franchise "probably the most illiberal in Europe". The working classes were wholly unrepresented in the parliament, only 6% of them, and 13% of the small trading class, possessing the franchise, which was only enjoyed by 6% of the entire population.
The parliament was summoned annually by the king at Budapest. While official language was Hungarian, the delegates of Croatia-Slavonia were allowed to use Croatian language in the proceedings. The Hungarian parliament had power to legislate on all matters concerning Hungary, but for Croatia-Slavonia only on matters which concern these provinces in common with Hungary. The executive power was vested in a cabinet responsible to it, consisting of ten ministers, including: the president of the council, the minister for Croatia-Slavonia, a minister ad latum, and the ministers of the interior, of national defence, of education and public worship, of finance, of agriculture, of industry and commerce, and of justice.
The democratic character of the Hungarian parliament was reestablished with the fall of the iron curtain and the end of communist dictatorship. Today's parliament is still called Országgyűlés just like in royal times, but in order to differentiate between the two phases is referred to as National Assembly of Hungary now, as opposed to the historical royal diet.