Szeged is first named (as Ciggedin) in a charter of 1183 and grew stronger under Béla III.
It stands on loess islands in the marshes at the meeting of the Maros and the Tisza, round a count's castle, and is already the trade hub of the southern plain: Transylvanian salt, stone, timber and lime come down the Maros by water and are traded for the plain's grain and wine, and the 'Káliz road', named after the Muslim Káliz, carries salt on to the Danube. Its churches of St Demetrius and St George point to Byzantine missions; it is the seat of an archdeacon. It has no town law: Béla IV's privileges, like those of Buda and Székesfehérvár, come only in 1247.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named (see Pest, Solt, Csongrád, Békés)
- Title
- The king, through the ispán of Csongrád
- Confidence
- low
Magyar Katolikus Lexikon (Szeged); English Wikipedia.
Lord in 1200
The king's: a royal settlement in the county of Csongrád under its ispán (not named for 1200).
How things stand that morning
A royal trading settlement and salt port without privileges.
Charter
None: no town law in Hungary's plain in 1200.
Council
None: the place is governed by its lord's officers.
Communities
Muslim (Káliz) salt traders are implied by the Káliz road; not pinned for the town itself.
Fairs and markets
Not recorded for 1200.
Militia
None of its own; the castle warriors of the county.
Walls and castle
A count's castle (earthwork and timber); the royal stone castle is built after 1241.
Trade and crafts
Salt staple and river port; grain, wine, fish.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: First mention and trade role firm; institutions in 1200 not recorded.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.