Diet of Hungary

This article is missing information about the Diet between 1918 and 1946. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2024)

The Diet of Hungary or originally: Parlamentum Publicum / Parlamentum Generale^[1] (Hungarian: Országgyűlés) was the most important political assembly in Hungary since the 12th century, which emerged to the position of the supreme legislative institution in the Kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s,^[2] and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the early modern period until the end of World War II. It was mainly held in big cities, traditionally in Pozsony (currently Bratislava), one of the most important Hungarian cities. The name of the legislative body was originally "Parlamentum" during the Middle Ages, the "Diet" expression gained mostly in the early modern period.^[3] It convened at regular intervals with interruptions from the 12th century 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 elite which had participation in the medieval and early modern era political life of Hungary (at local level as members of the assemblies of the counties, or nation-wide level as members of the Parliaments). The members of the parliament consisted the envoys of the Roman Catholic clergy, the elected envoys of the nobility from the county assemblies of the Kingdom, and the envoys of cities who were elected by the people of the Royal Free Cities^[4][5] regardless of mother tongue or ethnicity of the person.^[6] Natio Hungarica was a geographic, institutional and juridico-political category.^[7]