The Héder kindred's founders were given a block of crown land beyond the old border zone in south-western Vas, between the Strém and the Lapincs (Lafnitz), where Wolfer founded a Benedictine abbey on the hill of Küszén in 1157.
In the 1180s Béla III took the hill for a royal castle, Németújvár (Güssing), and compensated Hencse with the patronage of the abbey of Kapornak in Zala. On 1 January 1200 Wolfer's line keeps Szentelek (Stegersbach) and estates round Rábagyarmat, shares in lands recorded in the Szentgotthárd abbey census of 1198 and lands along the Lendva by Felsőlendva; Héder's line sits on the Szigetköz at Hédervár (first named 1210). Hencse was probably Emeric's man: in 1205 he fled to Austria with Emeric's widow and her son.
Who he is
- Name
- Hencse (Heinz) I, son of Wolfer
- Title
- Comes; head of Wolfer's line
- Since
- Attested 1196-1198
- Born
- Not known
- Family
- Héder kindred, descended from the brothers Wolfer and Héder, Swabian (or Hainburg) knights who came under Géza II before 1146 or with the Second Crusade (1147). Kinsmen in 1198: Simon, Lawrence, Wolfer II; Denis of the Hédervár line.
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia, Héder (genus).
Overlord
King Emeric
What it holds
- Szentelek (Stegersbach)
- Estates round Rábagyarmat on the Rába
- Shares of Szentgotthárd and Battyán lands (1198 census)
- Land along the Lendva near Felsőlendva (Grad)
- The patronage of Kapornak abbey in Zala (compensation for Küszén)
- Héder's line: Hédervár on the Szigetköz (first named 1210)
- Szentkút (Heiligenbrunn) and its vineyards, treated in 1198 as belonging to the new royal castle
How it was acquired
Royal grant to the founders under Géza II; reduced by Béla III's seizure of Küszén in the 1180s.
Allies and rivals
Emeric's party (probably). The crown itself took their abbey hill. Neighbours: the Styrian lords across the Lafnitz.
How things stand that morning
Settled on their reduced lands; Németújvár over them is a royal castle.
Wealth
Frontier estates, vineyards, the Rába crossings.
Military
A knightly kindred on the frontier; no castle of its own recorded in 1200 (Kőszeg and the later Kőszegi castles are thirteenth-century).
Threats
- Further royal resumptions; Styrian raids across the Lafnitz
Places of note
- Németújvár (Güssing): The kindred's old abbey hill, now a royal castle.
- Szentkút (Heiligenbrunn): Vineyards counted with the royal castle in 1198.
- Felsőlendva: Land along the Lendva.
- Kapornak abbey: Patronage given to Hencse.
- Hédervár: Héder's line on the Szigetköz (first named 1210).
Where the sources disagree
- Hédervár is first named in 1210; whether the Héder line held it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned, so it is a point, not a drawn holding.
Evidence: The 1157 foundation, the royal seizure and the 1198 census are dated; Hencse's side is a probability.
On the map: Drawn round two centres; the kindred's lands were scattered and their bounds are not known.
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.