On 1 January 1200 nothing stood at Brassó that could be called a town.
The Burzenland is the king's frontier toward the Cumans, which the grant of 1211 to the Teutonic Knights calls deserted and uninhabited; at least Pecheneg border guards lived there, and probably some Székely and Vlach villages. The Knights' castles, the market of Corona and the German Kronstadt are later (1211 onward).
Who holds it
- Name
- King Emeric (frontier land)
- Title
- Lord of Brassó
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
en.wikipedia (Burzenland): the grant of 1211 calls the land 'Terram Borza nomine ultra silvas versus Cumanos, licet desertam et inhabitatam'; Pechenegs were moved out to make room for the Teutonic Knights, who built five castles including Kronstadt (1211-1225); scholars dispute how empty the land was (Romanian villages in the later Șchei and Satulung by archaeology; Székelys and Pechenegs settled by the kings).
Lord in 1200
The king; the land is royal frontier.
How things stand that morning
Frontier land; no town.
Communities
Pechenegs; probably some Vlach and Székely villages (disputed).
Fairs and markets
None recorded for 1200.
Militia
Pecheneg border guards of the Burzenland (moved away in 1211).
Walls and castle
None recorded; the Teutonic Knights' five castles, Kronstadt among them, are later (1211-1225).
Trade and crafts
None recorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Only the 1211 grant and later.
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
- Burzenland, en.wikipedia
- L. Makkai, Saxon Settlement and the Reorganization of the Southern Border Defences, History of Transylvania I
- L. Makkai, The 'Land of the Romanians', History of Transylvania I
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.