On 1 January 1200 Beszterce is not yet the German market of Nösen: the place names of the valley are Slavic, Pechenegs are said to have lived here in the 12th century, and the German guests who made the Nösnerland arrived some time before 1241 (a date of 1206 is given without a source).
It is royal land toward the Borgó pass, in the sphere of Doboka.
Who holds it
- Name
- King Emeric (royal estate in Doboka's sphere)
- Title
- Lord of Beszterce
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
en.wikipedia (Bistrița): Pechenegs in the area in the 12th century; a claim (unsourced) that the Saxons settled it in 1206; the market of Nosa destroyed by the Mongols in 1241. History of Transylvania: German guests on the royal estates of Radna and Beszterce, silver miners before 1241.
Lord in 1200
The king.
How things stand that morning
Royal land; German settlement not pinned for 1200.
Communities
Not pinned for 1200: Slavic place names, Pechenegs said to have lived here in the 12th century, German guests before 1241.
Fairs and markets
None recorded for 1200.
Militia
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
None recorded.
Trade and crafts
Royal land on the road to the Borgó pass; the Radna silver lies upriver (later records).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No record before 1241.
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
- Bistrița, en.wikipedia
- L. Makkai, Saxon Settlement and the Reorganization of the Southern Border Defences, History of Transylvania I
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.