Hungary's first and greatest Benedictine abbey, founded in 996 by Prince Géza and endowed with estates and privileges by St Stephen; his charter for it survives only in an interpolated (later reworked) form.
The abbey is lord of the villages round its hill in Győr county and draws revenue from estates across the kingdom. The present church is built under Abbot Uros in the early 13th century.
Who holds it
- Name
- János
- Title
- Abbot of Pannonhalma
- Since
- 1198
- Confidence
- medium
Wikipedia's list of abbots gives János for 1198-1201, after Bálázs (1192-98). Nothing more on him was found.
What it holds
- The abbey on St Martin's Mount and the villages round it in Győr county
- Estates and revenues across the kingdom (not drawn)
How it was acquired
Géza's foundation of 996 and St Stephen's grants (charter of 1001-02, interpolated).
How things stand that morning
Held.
Wealth
Estates, tithes and dues; the home estate lies between Győr and the Bakony.
Advocates and rivals
The bishop of Győr, Ugrin Csák, one of Emeric's pillars (campaign notes); the king, whose abbey it is.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Only Wikipedia's article was read. The abbey's exemption and tithe rights under its charter are standard but were not checked in a page read here, and the extent of the home estate in 1200 is not pinned.
On the map: The modern municipality stands in for the abbey's home estate.
Primary sources for Hungary
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
- The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
- The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
- History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
- History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
- The Deeds of the Hungarians, by the Anonymous Notary of King Béla, Anonymus (P. magister) (about 1200 to 1210, the date disputed). Not a record of events but a picture of the kingdom's nobility and geography as a courtier of about 1200 wished to see it: the clans and their lands, the castles and counties, the Vlachs, Cumans and other peoples of the Carpathian basin, all projected back onto the conquest. Read online
- The Book of Census of the Roman Church, Cencius Camerarius (Cencio Savelli, later Pope Honorius III) (1192, with later additions). The papal rent roll: every church, monastery, town and kingdom that owed a census to Rome in 1192, diocese by diocese, with the sums, followed by lists of papal lands and castles, the ceremonial Ordo and copies of charters. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
4 more in the sources library for Poland, Hungary and the Adriatic.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.