Požega is a royal fortress in the closed valley between the Psunj, the Papuk and the Dilj, south of the Drava but not part of the ban's Slavonia: the Hrvatska enciklopedija counts Požega, with Vukovar (Valkó) and Srijem (Szerém), among the eastern counties that never joined the Kingdom of Slavonia, and the valley lay in the diocese of Pécs.
In 1200 it is the king's castle with its district; the settlement under the castle (suburbium) grows into a town only in the 13th century, when the castle passes to the archbishop of Kalocsa (confirmed 1227) and then to Béla IV (about 1235).
Who he is
- Title
- Castellan or ispán of Požega
- Confidence
- low
No officer of Požega is named for 1199-1200 in the sources used here. The fortress (castrum) is old; Pope Honorius III confirmed it to the archbishop of Kalocsa in 1227 and it passed to Béla IV about 1235 (Hrvatska enciklopedija).
Overlord
King Emeric directly (not the ban)
What it holds
- Požega fortress and the valley round it.
How it was acquired
Royal castle.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Križevci county (Slavonia) to the west, Valkó (hpl) to the east.
How things stand that morning
Royal castle under Emeric, governed directly from Hungary (officer not named).
Wealth
The fertile valley, wine of the Požega hills (Kutjevo), the road along the Sava.
Military
The castle of Požega.
Places of note
- Požega: Royal fortress.
Where the sources disagree
- The assignment lists Požega under Slavonia; this file draws it as Hungarian ground on the Hrvatska enciklopedija's statement that Požega never joined the Kingdom of Slavonia. The same article says the ban's district at first included the eastern Drava-Sava land, so the campaign may prefer croatia.
Evidence: Castle and later owners known; nothing pinned for 1200.
On the map: Drawn as the valley; whether a royal county of Požega existed by 1200 is not pinned.
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
- Požega (Hrvatska enciklopedija)
- Slavonija (Hrvatska enciklopedija)
- Slavonia (English Wikipedia): from the 13th century a separate ban governed central Croatia, western Slavonia and north-western Bosnia, while eastern Slavonia was part of Hungary
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.