Csanád was an administrative county (

comitatus Comitatus may refer to: *Comitatus (warband), a Germanic warband who follow a leader * ''Comitatus'', the office of a Roman or Frankish comes, translated as count. * ''Comitatus'', translated as county, a territory such as governed by medieval cou ...

) of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. Its territory is now part of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, except for a small area which is part of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The capital of the county was

Makó Makó (, , Makowe, or , ) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 21,913 people and it has an area of , of which is arable land. Makó is the fourth-larges ...

Geography

Csanád county shared borders with the Hungarian counties of

Csongrád Csongrád (; , archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd,'' ) is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the Maros Valley was under Bulgarian control. The fortre ...

Békés Békés (; ; ) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. It lies about north of Békéscsaba and east of Budapest. History The area of the present town has been inhabited since ancient times, due to its good soil and proximity to rivers. After ...

, Arad and Torontál. The river Maros ( Mureș) formed its southern border. Its area was 1,714 km² around 1910.

History

The county's territory became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in the first half of the 11th century when

Stephen I of Hungary Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( ; ; ; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last grand prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first king of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his bi ...

defeated

Ajtony Ajtony, Ahtum or Achtum (, , , ) was an early-11th-century ruler in the territory now known as Banat in present Romania and Serbia. His primary source is the ''Long Life of Saint Gerard'', a 14th-century hagiography. Ajtony was a powerful ruler ...

, the local ruler. The county got its name after the commander of the royal army,

Csanád Csanád, also Chanadinus, or Cenad, was the first head ''(comes)'' of Csanád County in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 11th century. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony who had ruled over the region now known as Banat (in R ...

. The king appointed

Gerard of Csanád Gerard or Gerard Sagredo (; ; ; 23 April 977/1000 – 24 September 1046) was the first bishop of Csanád in the Kingdom of Hungary from around 1030 to his death. Most information about his life was preserved in his legends which contain most c ...

as the first bishop of Csanád. The county was initially much larger and included territories of the later Temes, Arad, and Torontál counties. The first seat of the county was Csanád (present-day

Cenad Cenad (, during the Dark Ages ''Marosvár''; , archaically ''Maroschburg''; ; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Cenad. The village serves as a customs point on the border with Hungary. Today's village ...

, Romania). The county's territory became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. The settlement structure was almost completely destroyed during the

Ottoman–Habsburg wars The Ottoman–Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th to the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was at times supported by the Kingdom of Hungary, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Holy Roman Empire, The ...

. In the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottoman Empire renounced its claims to the territories north of the Maros (Mureș) river. Csanád county was reorganized in the returned territories (with greatly reduced size than in medieval times). Makó became the seat of the reorganized county. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the county was occupied by the Romanian army. In 1920, the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

assigned a small area in the southeast of the county (the town of

Nădlac Nădlac (; ; ) is a town in Arad County, western Romania. A former part of the town lies across the border with Hungary; this village is called Nagylak. An international border town, Nădlac is the main border crossing into western Romania from H ...

and the villages of

Șeitin Șeitin () is a commune in western Romania, located in the southwest part of Arad County, is situated in the south-western part of the Arad Plateau, in the valley of the river Mureș, and it covers approximately 6680 ha. The commune is comp ...

, Turnu and Dorobanți) to Romania. The rest of the county was united with parts of Torontál county (a small area south of

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

) and Arad county (a small area south of

Békéscsaba Békéscsaba (; ; see also #Name, other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, the capital of Békés County. Geography Békéscsaba is located in the Great Hungarian Plain, southeast from Budapest. Highway 44, 47 ...

) to form the new county of Csanád-Arad-Torontál in 1923. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the county was recreated, but in 1950 it was divided between the Hungarian counties of

and

(since 4 June 2020, the latter was renamed to

Csongrád-Csanád County Csongrád-Csanád ( ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in southern Hungary, straddling the river Tisza, on the border with Serbia and Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Bács-Kisku ...

). The Romanian part of the former Csanád county is now part of

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( județ) of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crișana and few villages in Banat. The administrative cente ...

Demographics

Csanád county was one of the most densely populated counties of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarians formed an ethnic majority in every district except for the district of Nagylak. The main part of the Slovaks lived in the district of Nagylak, the Romanians lived mostly in the districts of Nagylak and Battonya, while the Serbs lived in the district of Battonya.

Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Csanád county were: The town of

is now in Romania; the other towns mentioned are now in Hungary.

Notes

References

External links