The study examines the concept of the political elite of János Asbóth, the first major theorist of the Hungarian conservative thought. In line with the tradition of European conservatism, Asbóth assumed that the ‚historical’ ruling class, the landowning nobility, had to maintain its former dominant position after the Compromise of 1867, even in the context of rapidly strengthening capitalism. In his view, only this class had historical roots. The paper also points out that while in the 1870s and 1880s Asbóth saw the ‚gentry’ as the key players, by the turn of the century he turned his attention toward the landed aristocracy as the major conservative force. His historicist-defensive conservatism sharply rejected a focus on free competition, but also radical agrarian socialist aspirations. This work aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the development of Hungarian conservative thought.