Gömör, Borsod, Heves, the ispáns

Three royal castle counties of the Sajó, the Bükk and the Mátra.

Gömör is ruled from Gömör castle on the Sajó and reaches north into the ore-bearing Slovak Ore Mountains, where iron was worked; its eastern forests (the later Torna county) were still royal woodland. Borsod is ruled from the earthwork castle of Borsod on the Bódva, a royal centre since the 10th century, and holds the Sajó valley down to the Tisza with the Bükk forest in the middle; the Miskolc kindred's land lies around Miskolc, named as 'Miscoucy' in a source of about 1200. Heves holds the Mátra and the plain down to the Tisza; the Aba kindred's old estates lie on the Mátra's southern slopes, and the bishop of Eger's city and estates (a Church map matter) lie in the county's north-east.

The great kindreds' later castles here (Diósgyőr, the Rátót and Ákos holdings) belong to the 13th century and must not be back-projected.

Who he is

Name: not pinned for 1 January 1200
Title: the ispáns (comites) of Gömör, Borsod and Heves
Since: not pinned
Confidence: low

No ispán of these counties is named in a charter of 1199 or 1200 in the sources reached. Note that Heves also had a castle called Újvár (Hevesújvár), so a charter's 'ispán of Újvár' can mean Heves or Abaúj.

Overlord

King Emeric of Hungary

What it holds

Gömör castle on the Sajó (Gemer) and the castle folk of the Sajó and Rima valleys
the iron-bearing hills of northern Gömör; the Torna forest (Torna county is formed only in the later 13th century)
Borsod castle (earthwork, on the Bódva near Edelény) and the castle folk of the Bódva and Sajó
the Bükk forest
Heves county: the castle folk of the Mátra foothills and the plain to the Tisza
the Cistercian abbey of Pásztó (founded 1190) and the Benedictines of Tapolca and Abasár (Church map matters)

How it was acquired

Royal counties of the 11th century; ispáns at the king's pleasure.

Allies and rivals

The bishop of Eger (Church map) is the great landholder of Heves and Borsod. The Aba and Miskolc kindreds hold estates among the castle lands; their sides in 1199 are not pinned.

How things stand that morning

Royal counties in Emeric's hands as far as known; no fighting recorded in the north-east in 1199.

Wealth

Iron of Gömör, wine of the Mátra and Bükk foothills (Eger, Gyöngyös), grain and cattle of the plain edge, the Sajó and Hernád road from the Tisza crossings towards Kassa and Poland.

Military

The county castles of Gömör and Borsod and their castle warriors; the Heves castle site is uncertain. No figures survive.

Threats

none pinned for 1200

Places of note

Gömör castle: County seat of Gömör on the Sajó (Slaná)
Borsod castle: Earthwork castle and county seat of Borsod
Pásztó abbey: Cistercian abbey founded 1190 (Church map)

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The castles and counties existed; officers for 1199-1200 are not known from the sources reached, and the kindreds' estates are mostly documented later in the 13th century.

On the map: Drawn from the later medieval counties. The Jászság in the south-west was settled by the Jász only in the 13th century and its 1200 attachment is not pinned.

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.