The Pechenegs are a Turkic steppe people who came into Hungary in groups between the tenth and twelfth centuries; some 150 villages carry their name (Besenyő, Besnyő, Besenyszög).
The kings used them as light horse-archers and border guards: with the Székelys they rode in the vanguard of the royal host, and broke first at the Fischa in 1146. Al-Garnati, in Hungary in the 1150s, wrote that some Hungarian Pechenegs were Muslims living outwardly as Christians. In the plain their villages are scattered (Besenyszög by the Zagyva near Szolnok is one); the largest groups live on the western border (hut's area).
Nothing in the evidence shows them acting as one body under their own leaders in 1200, so they are not drawn as a province.
Who he is
- Name
- No leader named for 1199-1200 in the sources reached
- Title
- Pecheneg villages under the king, led in war by a count of the Pechenegs (comes Bissenorum) where one is named
- Since
- Settled in groups from the tenth to the twelfth century
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Pechenegs): some 150 villages in the kingdom; the title comes Bissenorum outlived the people's decline.
Overlord
The king (through his ispáns and, in war, the count of the Pechenegs).
What it holds
- Scattered villages with lands held for military service, under the king's ispáns or their own count.
- Besenyszög on the Zagyva (name from the Pechenegs; date of first record not pinned).
How it was acquired
Royal settlement.
Allies and rivals
Serve the king.
How things stand that morning
Royal auxiliaries settled in villages; no Pecheneg leader or body is on record that winter.
Wealth
Horse herds and pasture.
Military
Light horse-archers of the vanguard and border guards. No numbers.
Places of note
- Besenyszög: A Pecheneg village name on the Zagyva.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Settlement and military role are well attested in general; specific villages and leaders in the plain in 1200 are not.
On the map: Shown as a marker only: their villages are scattered.
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.