The geographical and social reach of the Eszterháza gardens: consumption of nursery plants in Hungary in the 1820s

Abstract

Although the famous Baroque gardens of Prince Nicolas Esterházy ‘the Magnificent’ (1714–90) at Eszterháza were abandoned by his immediate successors and later given a more natural but rather modest appearance, the new pleasure ground was kept in good order to please the many tourists who were still interested in the so-called Hungarian Versailles. The Eszterháza gardens continued to play an important role in providing ornamental plants for other princely estates including the much-famed Eisenstadt, and also acted as a ‘garden centre’ for local society, distributing a wide range of fruit tree varieties and other garden products. During his leadership between 1821 and 1825, Court Gardener Anton Pölt (c. 1770–1836) kept a series of ledgers that reveal the entire trading business of the Eszterháza gardens. This exceptionally rare source recorded not only the species and cultivars of the nursery stock but the identity of buyers and their purchases as well. Analysis of the data sheds light on consumption habits, distribution range and social differences in the customs, and also provides information on high and low tides in the business and the reliability of the garden products in terms of revenue.