Békés was an administrative county (

comitatus ''Comitatus'' was in ancient times the Latin term for an armed escort or retinue. The term is used especially in the context of Germanic warrior culture for a warband tied to a leader by an oath of fealty and describes the relations between a lor ...

) of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. Its territory, which was smaller than that of present

Békés county Békés (, , ro, Județul Bichiș) is an administrative division (county or ''megye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The ...

, is now in southeastern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the 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 a ...

. The capital of the county was Gyula.

Geography

Békés county shared borders with the Hungarian counties

Csongrád Csongrád ( ro, Ciongrad; tr, Conğrad sr, Чонград, Čongrad, 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 ...

, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hajdú,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, Arad and

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 Rom ...

. The river

Körös The Körös () or Criș () ( German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös ('' Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös ('' Crișul Negru'') to its out ...

flowed through the county. Its area was 3,670 km² around 1910.

History

Békés county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century. In 1950, the territory of Békés county was expanded with: * the northeastern part of former Csanád-Arad-Torontál county (the Hungarian part of pre-1920 Arad county and the north-eastern part of pre-1920

Csanád county Csanád was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now part of Hungary, except for a small area which is part of Romania. The capital of the county was Makó. Geography Csanád county shared borders wit ...

) * a part of former

county (the area around Sarkad and Okány) * a part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county (the area around

Dévaványa Dévaványa is a town in northern Békés county, in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary. Geography It covers an area of 216.73 km² and has a population of 8273 people (2008). Twin towns – sister cities Dévaványa is Twin towns a ...

)

Demographics

Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Békés county were: Vár (2485

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekes States and territories established in 1699 States and territories established in 1790 States and territories established in 1860 1566 disestablishments 1786 disestablishments States and territories disestablished in 1853 States and territories disestablished in 1946 Counties in the Kingdom of Hungary