I found a book online that outlines the history of Transylvania.
The largest cities in Transylvania at this time are Brasso (Brasov) with 17,800 people, Hermannstadt with 14,100, and Koloszvar (Cluj-Napoca) with 13,900.
Wages do not, in general, exist, and the market is mainly for luxury goods. In terms of budget, there is an overall deficit of 840,000 forints (based on the value of silver at the time, this is probably around $420,000 USD). The major export goods are unprocessed flax and hemp, refined iron, and wool textiles.
Peasants were not legally tied to the land, but they were still obligated to fulfill labor requirements to their lords. Many ran away but the improved administrative system made it easier to track them down. It was common for Romanian peasants to demand to be allowed to serve as border guards and thereby no longer become peasants, but the role was restricted to Szekelys. Socially speaking, this era is remarkably stable.
The prominent nobles of the era followed the principles of enlightened absolutism and expanded the civil service significantly. The Governor was not appointed by the Emperor, but elected by the Diet. The pre-eminent statesman of the era is one Gyorgy Banffy. Many of them were founding members of Masonic lodges, but freemasonry was outlawed in 1790. There were even public health officials in the form of municipal physicians. When these nobles died in the 1820s, the quality of government declined.
The Saxon Transylvanian cultural center is Hermannstadt, while the Hungarian Transylvanian cultural center, oddly enough, is Vienna. The Hungarian-language cultural scene lags far behind, and the Romanian-language one is negligible.
The book spends a lot of pages describing the 1791 reforms. To summarize:
In 1790, Emperor Joseph II died and in his deathbed he undid many unpopular reforms that he had forced on Transylvania, such as stripping nobles of their legal immunity and tax exempt status and changing the official language from Latin to German. Transylvanians were glad that these were overturned and set about making sure that future Emperors wouldn't be able to do something similar.
In 1791, the Diet passed a wide array of laws reforming the legal and governing system in the territory, including a constitution. Romanians submitted a petition to the Diet demanding civil rights and political representation and were denied. For these reforms to come into effect, they had to be approved by the central government (the Emperor) in Vienna. The central government accepted almost none of these, except minor ones and ones that reaffirmed the rights of non-peasants.
The Transylvanian diet created a series of committees for investigating matters of economic and social policy. The committees were headed by experts and intensely studied Transylvania's society, legal system, economy, and so on. In 1794 the reports were finished; in their finished form they recommended some far-reaching progressive revisions to the entire legal system.
When the reports were brought before the Diet for debate, the Diet ended up arguing with the Gubernium over what order to debate them and ultimately shelved the reports. In 1810 the Diet looked at the reports again and decided to pass some limited and rather conservative reforms. In 1834, the Imperial government decided to give these reforms a look; of those present, 220 were royalists and 35 were reformists. The diet rejected five-sixths of the reforms.
There is a lot of energy for reform and change in Romania of this era, but it seems there is very little interest among the nobility and government for actually implementing them. Transylvania is already very behind in Europe, and thoroughly feudal in character.
The largest cities in Transylvania at this time are Brasso (Brasov) with 17,800 people, Hermannstadt with 14,100, and Koloszvar (Cluj-Napoca) with 13,900.
Wages do not, in general, exist, and the market is mainly for luxury goods. In terms of budget, there is an overall deficit of 840,000 forints (based on the value of silver at the time, this is probably around $420,000 USD). The major export goods are unprocessed flax and hemp, refined iron, and wool textiles.
Peasants were not legally tied to the land, but they were still obligated to fulfill labor requirements to their lords. Many ran away but the improved administrative system made it easier to track them down. It was common for Romanian peasants to demand to be allowed to serve as border guards and thereby no longer become peasants, but the role was restricted to Szekelys. Socially speaking, this era is remarkably stable.
The prominent nobles of the era followed the principles of enlightened absolutism and expanded the civil service significantly. The Governor was not appointed by the Emperor, but elected by the Diet. The pre-eminent statesman of the era is one Gyorgy Banffy. Many of them were founding members of Masonic lodges, but freemasonry was outlawed in 1790. There were even public health officials in the form of municipal physicians. When these nobles died in the 1820s, the quality of government declined.
The Saxon Transylvanian cultural center is Hermannstadt, while the Hungarian Transylvanian cultural center, oddly enough, is Vienna. The Hungarian-language cultural scene lags far behind, and the Romanian-language one is negligible.
The book spends a lot of pages describing the 1791 reforms. To summarize:
In 1790, Emperor Joseph II died and in his deathbed he undid many unpopular reforms that he had forced on Transylvania, such as stripping nobles of their legal immunity and tax exempt status and changing the official language from Latin to German. Transylvanians were glad that these were overturned and set about making sure that future Emperors wouldn't be able to do something similar.
In 1791, the Diet passed a wide array of laws reforming the legal and governing system in the territory, including a constitution. Romanians submitted a petition to the Diet demanding civil rights and political representation and were denied. For these reforms to come into effect, they had to be approved by the central government (the Emperor) in Vienna. The central government accepted almost none of these, except minor ones and ones that reaffirmed the rights of non-peasants.
The Transylvanian diet created a series of committees for investigating matters of economic and social policy. The committees were headed by experts and intensely studied Transylvania's society, legal system, economy, and so on. In 1794 the reports were finished; in their finished form they recommended some far-reaching progressive revisions to the entire legal system.
When the reports were brought before the Diet for debate, the Diet ended up arguing with the Gubernium over what order to debate them and ultimately shelved the reports. In 1810 the Diet looked at the reports again and decided to pass some limited and rather conservative reforms. In 1834, the Imperial government decided to give these reforms a look; of those present, 220 were royalists and 35 were reformists. The diet rejected five-sixths of the reforms.
There is a lot of energy for reform and change in Romania of this era, but it seems there is very little interest among the nobility and government for actually implementing them. Transylvania is already very behind in Europe, and thoroughly feudal in character.
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