Bihar is the great county of the east, the land of the old ducal third (ducatus) of the eleventh-century dukes, which King Coloman abolished about 1110.
Its seat is the earthwork castle of Bihar (Biharea), 14 km north of Várad (Oradea), where the bishop of Várad keeps St Ladislaus's tomb (the king was canonised in 1192). The county reaches from the Nyírség and the Berettyó marshes to the Királyhágó pass into Transylvania. Its castle folk, its forests on the Sebes-Körös and the road to the Transylvanian salt make it a prize; its ispán in 1198-1201 is the king's palatine Mika, who quarrelled with the bishop of Várad, Andrew's partisan.
Who he is
- Name
- Not pinned for the day: Mika of the Ják kindred (on record 1198-1199 and again 1200-1201) or Nicholas (Miklós), named ispán in 1199
- Title
- Ispán (comes) of Bihar
- Since
- 1198 (Mika) / 1199 (Nicholas)
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- For Mika see Palatine Mika. Nicholas's kindred is not given.
- Confidence
- low
Hungarian Wikipedia (Bihar vármegye: list of ispáns, after Zsoldos): Esau 1183-1186, Both 1189-1193, Peter 1197, Nicholas 1199, Mika (also judge royal) 1198-1202, Benedict (palatine) 1202-1203. English Wikipedia (Mika Ják) gives Mika 1198-1199 and 1200-1201.
Overlord
King Emeric.
What it holds
- Bihar castle, the county seat, with its castle folk (várnépek) and castle warriors.
- The royal estates of the county; the bishop of Várad's own lands (Várad, Belényes) and the kindreds' estates lie among them and are not the ispán's.
- The road from the Tisza plain to the Királyhágó and Kolozsvár.
How it was acquired
Royal appointment.
Allies and rivals
The ispán Mika against Bishop Elvin of Várad (Andrew's partisan), who excommunicated him.
How things stand that morning
A royal county under an ispán serving Emeric on 1 January 1200; whether that morning's ispán is Mika or Nicholas is not pinned.
Wealth
The ispán's share of the county revenues; tolls on the salt road from Transylvania.
Military
Bihar castle (an earthwork with timber); the castle warriors of the county. No numbers.
Threats
- The bishop's party at Várad.
- Cuman raids over the eastern passes are on record for earlier reigns, none for the winter of 1199-1200.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 (not pinned)Mika on record again as ispán of Bihar (1200-1201).Depends on: His keeping the king's favour. Stopped by: His fall or the bishop's case at Rome going against him.
Places of note
- Bihar castle: County seat, an earthwork castle north of Várad.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The county and its ispáns are on record; the overlap of Nicholas and Mika in 1199 leaves the day open.
On the map: The outline follows later county bounds; church and kindred estates inside it are not the ispán's.
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.