Aba kindred

Who he is

Name

heads in 1200 not pinned

Title

the Aba kindred (nemzetség); no single head

Since

the kindred since the 10th century

Family

The kindred of King Samuel Aba (1041-1044), descended by its own tradition from the conquest chieftains Ed and Edemen, who received land round the Mátra.

Confidence

low

The earliest members pinned near 1200 are Vitalis (about 1205-1235), Artolf, ancestor of the Bodrogkeresztúr branch (1212-1214), and Demeter of the Lipóc branch (1214-1243), with an Aba who died about 1215. No member's side in 1199 is recorded.

Overlord

King Emeric of Hungary

What it holds

• Abasár and the southern Mátra slopes (Pata: Gyöngyöspata; Debrő)
• Széplak abbey and estates on the Hernád near Kassa
• the kindred's monasteries (Abasár, Széplak, Százd and others: Church map matters)

How it was acquired

Ancestral; the Mátra land by the kindred's own tradition since the conquest.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours of the bishop of Eger; no known feud in 1200.

How things stand that morning

Estates held; side not pinned.

Wealth

Mátra vineyards and forests, Hernád-valley farmland; no figures.

Military

Household retinues; the castle at Pata named in the kindred's tradition is not dated.

Threats

• none pinned for 1200

Places of note

• Abasár: The kindred's centre and Samuel Aba's abbey
• Széplak abbey: The kindred's abbey on the Hernád (Church map)

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The kindred and its old Heves estates are certain; members and sides around 1200 are not documented in the sources reached.

On the map: Drawn on the best-known centres; the kindred's 1200 holdings are not listed in any surviving charter.

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.