Csanád 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 lo ...

) 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 is now part of

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

, except for a small area which is part of

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

. The capital of the county was Makó.

Geography

Csanád county shared borders with the Hungarian counties of

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 ...

, Békés, 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 ( hu, Szent István király ; la, Sanctus Stephanus; sk, Štefan I. or Štefan Veľký; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the ...

defeated

Ajtony Ajtony, Ahtum or Achtum ( hu, Ajtony, bg, Охтум, ro, Ahtum, sr, Ахтум) 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 14t ...

, 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 Rom ...

. The king appointed

Gerard of Csanád Gerard or Gerard Sagredo ( hu, Gellért; it, Gerardo di Sagredo; la, Gerardus; 23 April 977/1000 – 29 August 1046) was the first bishop of Csanád in the Kingdom of Hungary from around 1030 to his death. Most information about his life was ...

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, 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. 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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

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

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

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

Nădlac Nădlac (; sk, Nadlak; hu, Nagylak) is a town in western Romania, Arad County. 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 int ...

and the villages of

Șeitin Șeitin ( hu, Sajtény) 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 comm ...

, 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 other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

) and Arad county (a small area south of

Békéscsaba Békéscsaba (; sk, Békešská Čaba; see also 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 Budap ...

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

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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

(since 4 June 2020, the latter was renamed to

Csongrád-Csanád County Csongrád-Csanád ( hu, Csongrád-Csanád megye ) is the name of an administrative county (comitatus or ''megye'') in southern Hungary, straddling the river Tisza, on the border with Serbia and Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian count ...

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

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. Palace of Tenants Makó

Notes

References

External links