Moson is the gateway county facing Austria: a plain between the Leitha, the Danube, the Neusiedl lake and the Hanság marsh, crossed by the great road from Vienna through Bruck and Moson to Győr, the road of the crusading armies of 1096, 1147 and 1189.
Its centre is the royal earthwork castle of Moson at the mouth of the Leitha, with the castle folk of the county under the ispán. Pat of the Győr kindred, first attested as ispán about 1199, is a loyal man of Emeric's; his kindred's own seat, Lébény, lies inside the county (see Győr kindred). Across the Leitha lie the Austrian frontier castles of Hainburg and Bruck, held by Leopold VI, who shelters Andrew.
Who he is
- Name
- Pat (Poth) of the Győr kindred
- Title
- Ispán (comes) of Moson
- Since
- First attested about 1199; non-authentic charters keep him in office in 1201-1202, when his brother Maurus replaced him
- Born
- Not known
- Family
- Győr kindred; brothers Csépán (palatine 1206-1209), Maurus and Alexander; kinsman of Archbishop Saul of Kalocsa.
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia life of Pat Győr (after Zsoldos).
Overlord
King Emeric
What it holds
- Moson castle and the castle folk of the county
- The road and crossings from Bruck and Hainburg to Győr
- The plain north and east of the Neusiedl lake (Parndorf, Neusiedl, Gols, Halbturn, Andau), the western Szigetköz and the edge of the Hanság
How it was acquired
Royal appointment, about 1199.
Allies and rivals
His brothers and kin of the Győr kindred; the palatine Mika. Across the frontier, Leopold VI of Austria.
How things stand that morning
Held for Emeric. The frontier with Austria is hostile but quiet: no raid is recorded that winter.
Wealth
The county's third of royal revenue; the traffic on the Vienna road (a royal toll at Moson is likely but not pinned); fisheries of the Danube arms and the Hanság.
Military
The earthwork castle of Moson; the castle warriors; the border zone of marsh and wood towards the Leitha (the gyepű).
Threats
- Austrian intervention for Andrew across the Leitha
Places of note
- Moson castle: The county's royal earthwork castle at the Leitha mouth (Óvár castle is later).
Where the sources disagree
- The Pat article calls Lébény a Győr-county place; it lies by the Hanság on the Moson side and is drawn in Moson here.
Evidence: The ispán is dated only 'about 1199'; the county's extent is drawn on its later bounds.
On the map: Drawn on the later county bounds.
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.