Zemplén and Ung

Who he is

Name

not pinned for 1 January 1200

Title

the ispáns (comites) of Zemplén and Ung

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

No ispán of Zemplén or Ung is named in a charter of 1199 or 1200 in the sources reached; a Benedict is ispán of Ung in 1214 (later).

Overlord

King Emeric of Hungary

What it holds

• Zemplén castle on the Bodrog
• the royal estate and court of Patak (Sárospatak), with its settlers (hospites)
• the Laborc (Laborec) and Ondava valleys up to the Beskid crest
• Ung castle (Ungvár) and the Ung valley to the Uzsok pass
• the provostry of Lelesz (founded by Bishop Boleslaus of Vác; Church map)

How it was acquired

Royal counties of the 11th century; ispáns at the king's pleasure; Patak is royal demesne.

Allies and rivals

Across the Uzsok and Lupków passes: the Galician lands of Roman Mstislavich (Sambir, Sanok, Przemyśl), who took Halych in 1199. Bishop Boleslaus of Vác, exposed as Andrew's man in March 1199, had founded Lelesz here.

How things stand that morning

Royal counties; Patak is the king's. No raiding across the Galician passes is recorded for the winter of 1199-1200. Across the crest: the Galician lands of Roman (Sanok, Sambir, Turka).

Wealth

The Bodrog and Tisza crossings, the Tokaj-hill vineyards (their fame is later), fish of the Bodrog marshes, the royal estate's dues, the passes' tolls.

Military

Zemplén and Ung castles and their castle warriors; guards at the passes. No figures survive.

Threats

• a Galician quarrel over the passes (none recorded for 1200)

Places of note

• Zemplén castle: Earthwork castle and county seat on the Bodrog
• Patak (Sárospatak): Royal estate and court; hospites privileged in 1201
• Lelesz (Leles): Premonstratensian provostry founded by Bishop Boleslaus of Vác (Church map)
• Ung castle (Ungvár): County seat of Ung
• Uzsok pass: Pass from the Ung valley to Galicia

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The castles and Patak are attested; the officers for 1199-1200 are not; Lelesz's founder rests on the standard account (village first named 1190).

On the map: Drawn from the later medieval counties; the upper valleys were forest in 1200 and the crest line 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.