Várad is a bishop's city on the Sebes-Körös: King Ladislaus I set the see here (moved from Bihar); his body was brought here from Somogyvár after his death in 1095, and he was canonised here on 27 June 1192, so his tomb draws pilgrims.
The cathedral chapter is one of the kingdom's great places of the ordeal by hot iron (its surviving register of ordeals runs from 1208: later). The cathedral close is walled (the fortress is first named in 1241) and the settlements round it are the bishop's. Latin, French, Walloon and Italian settlers, with quarters called Olaszi and Velence, are on record from the thirteenth century; whether they were there by 1200 is not pinned.
In the war of the brothers the bishop is Andrew's man and at odds with the king's palatine, whom he excommunicated.
Who holds it
- Name
- Elvin
- Title
- Bishop of Várad (Church map record)
- Since
- not pinned here
- Confidence
- high
campaign notes, Part 6 H.
Lord in 1200
The bishop of Várad, Elvin (Andrew's partisan; charges of simony against him under papal inquiry since February 1199): the cathedral close and the town round it are the bishop's. The county round it is the king's, under the ispán of Bihar (Ispánság of Bihar).
How things stand that morning
A bishop's city under an Andrew partisan, inside a royal county held by Emeric's man.
Charter
None: no town law in Hungary's plain in 1200.
Council
None: the place is governed by its lord's officers.
Communities
Latin (Walloon, French, Italian) settlers on record in the thirteenth century; date of arrival not pinned.
Fairs and markets
Not pinned (St Ladislaus's feast, 27 June, is the likely occasion).
Militia
None of its own; the castle warriors of the county.
Walls and castle
The fortified cathedral close (the citadel is first named in 1241).
Trade and crafts
Pilgrims to St Ladislaus's tomb; the road from the Tisza to the Királyhágó and Transylvania.
Where the sources disagree
- Not in the campaign notes: English Wikipedia (Mika Ják, after Zsoldos) says Bishop Elvin excommunicated the palatine Mika for seizing a priest of the bishopric who carried messages for Andrew's party, and that Innocent III told the Hungarian prelates not to misuse excommunication, so Mika kept his office. This is a live quarrel at Várad that winter.
Evidence: The see, the tomb and the canonisation are firm; the town's layout and settlers in 1200 are known only from later records.
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
- Oradea (English Wikipedia)
- campaign notes on the Church, Part 6 H
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.