Ispánság of Pozsony

Who he is

Name

not pinned for 1 January 1200

Title

ispán (comes) of Pozsony

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

No charter of 1199 or 1200 naming an ispán of Pozsony was found. Nearest dated holders in Zsoldos's archontology of the realm's officers (as cited in English Wikipedia biographies): Peter son of Töre, 1193-1195 (only in non-authentic charters; he later sided with the rebels); Pat (Poth) of the Győr kindred, about 1207-1208; Mog, 1208-1210; Bánk Bár-Kalán, 1212-1213. Whoever held the castle in the winter of 1199-1200 held it for King Emeric.

Overlord

King Emeric of Hungary

What it holds

• Pozsony castle: the royal castle and county seat, with a stone palace rebuilt under Béla III (probably after 1179)
• Dévény (Devín): border castle on the rock where the Morava meets the Danube
• the Danube crossing and toll at Pozsony
• the castle-folk and border-guard villages of the Záhorie and the western Csallóköz
• the vine-growing villages under the Little Carpathians (Szentgyörgy (Svätý Jur), Bazin (Pezinok), Modor (Modra)): royal or castle land in 1200; Andrew II gave Szentgyörgy to Sebes of the Hont-Pázmány kindred only in 1209 (later)
• Nagyszombat (Trnava): a market village, first written mention 1211 and town privileges 1238 (both later)

How it was acquired

A royal county since about 1000 (Stephen I). The ispán holds at the king's pleasure; ispáns were moved often under Béla III and Emeric. The castle withstood the German emperors (1030, 1042, 1052, 1108); in 1146 partisans of the pretender Boris seized it by surprise and Géza II had to buy it back.

Allies and rivals

Across the Morava and the Leitha: Duke Leopold VI of Austria, Andrew's protector, at Hainburg and Vienna. Across the upper Morava: Margrave Vladislaus Henry of Moravia, at peace with Hungary. Within the county: the archbishop of Esztergom (Job, Emeric's man; a Church map matter) and the provostry of St Saviour below the castle.

How things stand that morning

The castle and county are in the king's hands. No fighting on the Austrian or Moravian border is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200; Duke Andrew is in exile in Austria. Across the Morava the ground is Austrian (Marchegg, Hainburg) and Moravian (Hodonín, Břeclav); across the main arm of the Danube lies Moson county, also royal (Transdanubia sheet).

Wealth

The Danube trade between Regensburg, Vienna and Esztergom passes the castle: toll, ferry and market dues. Wine from the Little Carpathians, fish, hay and cattle of the Csallóköz, the dues and labour services of the castle folk. No figures survive.

Military

The castle on its rock, Dévény at the Morava mouth, the castle warriors of the county and the border guards and archers settled on the western edge. Pozsony was the muster point of Frederick Barbarossa's crusade in May 1189, which passed through peacefully. No garrison figures survive.

Threats

• an Austrian move on Andrew's behalf before the brothers are reconciled
• a surprise seizure of the castle, as in 1146
• the ispán's own loyalty, since several of Emeric's officers (Palatine Mog among them) changed sides in 1199

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.

1. 1200, by the summerEmeric and Andrew are reconciled through the papal legate Gregory; Andrew returns from Austria and gets back Croatia and Dalmatia (Emeric's grant is dated to the summer of 1200). The Hungarian Wikipedia account adds that the brothers vowed to go on crusade together, with the duke of Austria to govern in their absence.Depends on: both brothers accepting the legate's terms, and Leopold of Austria letting Andrew go home rather than backing a new war Stopped by: a new rising by Andrew, an Austrian attack across the March or the legate's failure; then the frontier at Pozsony becomes a war front

Places of note

• Pozsony castle: Royal castle and county seat; stone palace of Béla III's time
• Dévény (Devín): Border castle where the Morava meets the Danube
• Szentgyörgy (Svätý Jur): Wine village under the Little Carpathians; given to Sebes of the Hont-Pázmány only in 1209

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The castle, the county and the frontier are well attested; the ispán for 1199-1200 is not. County boundaries are drawn from the later medieval county, which grew little after 1200.

On the map: The county is drawn as a block, but in 1200 it was a patchwork of castle land, royal villages, church estates and kindred land. The line in the Csallóköz against Komárom county is approximate.

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.