The Borsa's cradle is the Barsa estate between Csökmő and Füzesgyarmat, where the Sebes-Körös and the Berettyó run through the marshes on the Békés and Bihar border: certainly theirs in 1220.
The Várad register shows them holding land in Békés county early in the thirteenth century. Transylvanian villages (Kolozsborsa and others) may also have been theirs. No member holds a royal office in 1199-1200, and their side in the brothers' war is not recorded.
Who he is
- Name
- No head or office-holder named for 1200; the Várad register (1208-1235) names Apa, Mika, John, Dominic Balád and Clement of the kindred
- Title
- Kindred (nemzetség) of free landholders
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- The great Borsa lords (Kopasz Borsa and his kin) belong to the late thirteenth century.
- Confidence
- low
Hungarian Wikipedia (Borsa nemzetség).
Overlord
King Emeric.
What it holds
- Barsa estate between Csökmő and Füzesgyarmat (theirs in 1220).
- Land in Békés county (Várad register, early thirteenth century).
- Possibly Kolozsborsa and neighbouring villages in Transylvania (trn's area; attribution uncertain).
How it was acquired
Hereditary.
Allies and rivals
Not recorded for 1199-1200.
How things stand that morning
Holds its own estates; no part in the brothers' war on record.
Wealth
Cattle and marsh estates.
Military
Retainers only.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Estates known from 1208-1220 records; nothing pins the kindred's leaders in 1200.
On the map: A small block for the kindred's cradle.
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.