Administrative-Territorial Laic Institutions in 12Th Century Medieval Transylvanian Documents

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov – Special Issue Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017 ADMINISTRATIVE-TERRITORIAL LAIC INSTITUTIONS IN 12TH CENTURY MEDIEVAL TRANSYLVANIAN DOCUMENTS Alexandru CIOLTEI1 Abstract: The realm of Hungary has known a territorial expansion during the 12th century, which meant that Transylvania was also included on this particular expansion route. It was gradually included within the realm, on two axes: north-west and south-east. After the conquering stage, the organizational one followed. It was during this latter period, that the practice of institutional- administrative writing was growing roots on a European level. The Hungarian royal authority fully understood the importance and necessity of implementing this practice. The present paper is an attempt to analyze 12th century medieval documents which make reference to the particular administrative-territorial institutions that were developed in Transylvania and to the personalities that occupied positions within these institutions. Key words: county, medieval Transylvania, 12th century, medieval documents. 1. Introduction The occupation of Transylvania by the Hungarian royal authority is seen as the first phase within the process of enclosing this territory within the realm of Hungary. The next stage meant introducing a new administrative-territorial structure. The Hungarian administrative apparatus had to make use of the already existing and functioning administrative units in Transylvania during the 11th century. The transition from the existing system to the entailed one took place during the 12th century. It was at that point, that the royal authority started to favour the European medieval pattern for regional administrative-territorial units. 2. Administrative-Territorial Laic Structures At the start of the 11th century, an important part of Transylvania entered under the authority of the Hungarian kingdom. This was the consequence of the conflict between Stephen I. and Gyula. The Hungarian domination was thus emerging over the northern, western and central parts of this region. The Hungarian royalty faced a new challenge: to assert itself through an administrative-territorial organization, replacing thus the old structures. A first consequence consisted in an initial overlapping of autochthonous and Hungarian institutions (Pascu, 1972, 1 Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, [email protected] 12 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017 p.95). The first territorial structuring of this region took place during the reign of Stephen I. During a first phase, the administrative-territorial ecclesiastical institutions served as patterns for the counties. The territories of the counties overlapped the one of the dioceses. (Niedermaier, 2012, p. 68) At that point, only a small number of counties existed as such. In spite of their small number, the area covered by these counties was larger than the one covered by the newly developed ones. Initially, the counties of Dăbâca and Alba were brought into existence. Alba was the first one to be developed in Transylvania, encompassing a significant part of the region’s southern area. The western part of the region was divided, namely structured into the counties of Bihor and Cenad. All of these emerged surrounding important settlements, such as: Dăbâca, Alba Iulia, Biharia and Cenad. (Kristó, 2005, p. 1050) The restructuring of the territorial units was further on developed during the 12th and 13th centuries. Within the Hungarian kingdom, the county was a relatively small sized administrative- territorial unit in comparison with the duchy, the voivodeship and the banate. This unit is known in the medieval documents as comitatus, led by a comes. The importance of this structure was twofold. On the one hand, the counties expressed a military character, the so called iobagiones castri residing inside the territorial existing fortifications. By definition, this was a group obliged to carry out a military service. On the other hand, the counties expressed also an economic character, the comes being appointed to manage the entire territory appointed to him. The first comites were mentioned in documents dating back to the 12th centuries. It was during the same century, that counties such as Bihor, Sătmar or Crasna were being documented in the western part of present day Romania, in the region of Crișana. More to the south, in the region of Banat, three counties were named at that time: Timiș, Cenad and Caraș. The county of Bihor stretched over an important territorial unit, located between the Pannonian Plain to the west and the Western Carpathians to the east. Biharea was the the admnistrative centre of this particular county (DIR C, XI-XIII. vol. I, p. 2, no. 2). By analyzing the 12th century documents, we are able to trace back the importance and the rank given to the postion of comes of Bihor. Speaking in terms of their quantity, the 12th century documents are not that many and the ones referring to the county of Bihor are even fewer. Furthermore, we do not know exactly when the county was founded. What we do know is that this particular administrative unit dates back to the end of the 11th century, if not to the first years of the 12th one. (Pascu, 1972, p. 135) The importance is thus given by a document issued in 1075 which mentioned several establishments that were given to the county. Moreover, the fortification of Biharea was also mentioned within this document (DIR. C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 1-2, no. 1) Regardless of an approximately 50-year gap, the 14 documents contain the names of 7 personalities who were appointed comes of Bihor. Out of all these comites, Micha (Mike or Mica) stands out. We do not know for how long he was holding this position, but in 1191 he was replaced by Nicolae for a short period. At this point, we should mention, at the turn of the century that Micha was also holding the most important position within the realm. He was appointed comes palatinus. In Crișana, the existing documents are mentioning Ianos, comes of Crasna in 1164 (DIR. C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 3, no. 7) and Nicolae, comes of Sătmar in 1181 (DIR. C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 6-8, no. 13). The county of Sătmar stretched around the eponymous fortress. To the north, the county bordered with the Tisza River and to the east, with the Oaș and Gutâi mountains. To its south, the county was neighboured by the county of Solnoc, its natural borders being the Chioarului Hills, the Codrului Hill and the Crasnei Hills all along to the Tisza River. (Niedermaier, 2012, p. 71) In comparison with the references regarding the comites of Bihor, the documents attesting the latter are considerably fewer. A. CIOLTEI: Administrative-Territorial Laic Institutions in Medieval Transylvanian Documents13 The comes of Bihor during the 12th century Table 1 The name of the appointee and The mentioned Document edition the held position year Saul, comes of Bihor 1111 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 2, no. 2 Saul, comes of Bihor 1113 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 2, no. 3 Bucan, comes curiali et Bichoriensi 1135 Monumenta Hungariae Historica. Diplomataria, vol. VI, p. 49-50, no. 19 Achus, comes of Bihor 1138 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 2-3, no. 4 Esew, comes of Bihor 1181 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 6-8, no. 13 Esau or Esew, comes of Bihor 1183 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 9-10, no. 15 Petru, comes of Bihor 1197 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 12-13, no. 20 Micha, comes of Bihor 1198 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 13, no. 22 Mica, magister cubiculariorum (head 1198 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 13-14, of the royal chambers) and comes of no. 23 Bihor Micha comes curiali (placeholder for 1199 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 16, no. the comes) and comes of Bihor 28 Nicolae, comes of Bihor 1199 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 16-17, no. 29 Mike, comes of Bihor 1199 DIR C, XI-XIII, p. 17-18, no. 30 Mike, comes of Bihor 1199 DIRC C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 18, no. 31 Mika, comes palatinus (head of the 1200 DIR C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 19, royal household; com-mander of the no. 33 royal host and king’s deputy after the mid-12th century) and comes of Bihor Based on the availability of documents, as a first conclusion we can state that only the county of Bihor was stated as a an administrative-territorial unit in north-western Transylvania during the first half of the 12th century. Subsequently, during the second half of the same century, the counties of Crasna and Sătmar were being mentioned together with the one of Bihor. Currently, the diplomatic information for the region of Banat is relatively reduced in comparison to the ones regarding the region approached so far. For the first phase of the administrative development, we are able to suppose that the county of Cenad was the only 14 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series VII • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017 administrative unit functioning as such. Esau, comes curialis and comes of Cenad was mentioned for the first time in 1197, at the same marking the first documentation of the county. (DIR. C, XI-XIII, vol. I, p. 12-13, no. 20) This comes Esau is most likely the same person with the one referred to within the documents between 1181-1183 as occupying the position of comes of Bihor. Two years later, a new document was issued, where a one Weyceh was referred to as comes of Cenad. (DIR C, XI-XIII, vol.

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