Abstract:
Relying on one hand on statistical figures of the beginning of the 19th century and on the other hand on tax rolls from 1831 to 1847, the study tries to give an overall picture of the situation and advance of the Transsylvanian social classes, estates on the eve of the revolution of 1848. The study points out that the two basic classes of feudalism - the nobility and the pending peasantry were not at all unified/homogenous and the other social and ethnic classes were also divided (miners, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Gipsies). Townspeople, bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia together with the enlightened nobility made an important step forward and became the standard-bearer of the new, civil class. Detailed tables show numerically and in proportion the importance of each class under discussion.
