In 1200 Transylvania is still overwhelmingly the king's: castle lands of the counties, the German guests' land, the Székelys' common land, the bishop's estates.
Private estates are few and lie on the edges, at the foot of the forested hills. The one royal grant certainly older than 1200 is Béla III's to the ancestor of the Wass and Aczél families. The Zsombor kindred claimed descent from the old rulers of Transylvania and is said to have held the land round Szék and Doboka before Stephen I took two thirds of it.
The great kindreds of Hungary have not yet come in: the Kacsics get a large grant in eastern Kolozs about 1210, Gyula of the Kán an estate on the Küküllő as voivode, the Kökényes-Radnót the estate of Teke before 1228, and the Becse-Gergely, Ákos and Hermány only after 1250. Eth of the Geregye, voivode in 1200, takes his first grants in Bihar, outside Transylvania.
Who he is
- Name
- The ancestor of the Wass and Aczél families (name not pinned); the Zsombor kindred (tradition); others not pinned for 1200
- Title
- Holders of private estates
- Since
- Béla III's reign (1172-1196) for the Wass and Aczél grant
- Confidence
- low
Makkai: the earliest known royal grant in Transylvania is Béla III's to an ancestor of the Wass and Aczél families; the large Kacsics grant in eastern Kolozs (voivode Michael, about 1210), Gyula Kán's Küküllő estate (as voivode, 1201 or 1214) and the Kökényes-Radnót count's estate at Teke (before 1228) are later or not pinned; the Becse-Gergely, Ákos and Hermány kindreds came in the second half of the 13th century. hu.wikipedia (Doboka and Kolozs vármegye) records the tradition of the Zsombor kindred's land round Szék and Doboka and names early families in Kolozs (Mikola, Ajton, Agmánd).
Overlord
King Emeric
What it holds
- The Wass and Aczél ancestor's estate from Béla III (location not pinned; the families' later seats lay in Doboka)
- The Zsombor kindred's lands round Szék and Doboka (tradition; not pinned for 1200)
- Early families in Kolozs (Mikola, Ajton, Agmánd: dates not pinned)
- Later, not on 1 January 1200: the Kacsics grant in eastern Kolozs (about 1210, confiscated 1228); Gyula Kán's Küküllő estate; the Kökényes-Radnót estate at Teke (before 1228)
How it was acquired
Royal grants.
Allies and rivals
None recorded on either side of the brothers' war.
How things stand that morning
A few small private estates among the royal castle lands; none can be placed exactly for 1 January 1200, so none is drawn.
Wealth
Small estates worked by bondsmen (libertini).
Military
Retinues too small to record.
Places of note
- Szék: Salt place; the Zsombor kindred's traditional land
- Teke: Estate of the Kökényes-Radnót count before 1228 (not pinned for 1200)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: One certain pre-1200 grant (Makkai); the rest is tradition or later.
On the map: Not drawn: no estate can be placed with confidence for 1 January 1200.
Primary sources for Transylvania (voivode Legforus)
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.
- 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
- Hungarian royal charters: Fejér's Codex diplomaticus and Szentpétery's critical calendar of the Árpád kings (documents of the 11th to 13th centuries; Fejér published 1829 to 1844, Szentpétery vol. 1 in 1923). The documentary base for Hungary in 1200: King Emeric's grants to Pannonhalma, the bishops, the Templars and Hospitallers, Duke Andrew's acts in Croatia and Dalmatia, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about his brother's rebellion and about heresy in Bosnia. Read online
Sources and studies
- L. Makkai, Royal Counties in Transylvania, in History of Transylvania I (ed. B. Köpeczi, English ed. 2001)
- Doboka vármegye, hu.wikipedia
- Kolozs vármegye, hu.wikipedia
- Geregye (genus), en.wikipedia
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.