County of Temes ( Hungarian: ''Temes'',

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

: ''Timiș'',

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: ''Тамиш'' or ''Tamiš'',

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Temes'' or ''Temesch'') was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in southwestern Romania and northeastern Serbia. The capital of the county was Temesvár (

: Timișoara,

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

: Темишвар or Temišvar,

: Temeswar or Temeschwar), which also served as the kingdom's capital between 1315–1323.

Geography

Temes county was located in the Banat region. It shared borders with the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Princi ...

and the Hungarian counties of Torontál, Arad and Krassó-Szörény. The river Danube formed its southern border, and the river Mureș its northern border. The rivers Bega, Timiș, Bârzava and Caraș flowed through the county. Its area in 1910 was .

History

Temes County was formed in the 12th century, after the establishment of Hungarian rule in the region. It was named after the local Temes (Timiș) river. The principal center of the county was named ''Temesvár'' in the Hungarian language, meaning literally: Temes Castle. The territory was an important place in the power struggle between Samuel Aba and Peter Orseolo. In 1070, the Pechenegs, allying with the Byzantines, who tried to annex the territory, devastated it, before they were routed by

Géza I Géza is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: * Benjamin Géza Affleck * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

. Michael Doukas VII sent a golden diadem, today part of the Holy Crown, recognizing Hungary's territorial sovereignty. In the late 11th century, Cuman and Byzantine raids restarted, but were repelled by Ladislaus I, the "knight-king". By the reign of

Béla III Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...

, a substantial part of the territory was inhabited by Turks and

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

due to constant raids and the decrease of the Hungarian population. The first mention of the county was in 1212. The area was taken by the Ottoman Empire in the

16th century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...

(following the 1552 Siege of Temesvár) and the county was abolished. Its territory was then included into the Ottoman Temeşvar Eyalet. After the region was captured by the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

in 1716, the area was included into the so-called

Banat of Temeswar The Banat of Temeswar or ''Banat of Temes'' was a Habsburg province that existed between 1718 and 1778. It was located in the present day region of Banat, which was named after this province. The province was abolished in 1778 and the follow ...

, a Habsburg province with the administrative center in Temeswar. This province was abolished in 1778 and the county of Temes was restored (with significantly different borders than in medieval times) and incorporated into Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary in 1779. Between 1849 and 1860, the area of the county was part of the

Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat , conventional_long_name = Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banate , common_name = Serbia and Banat , subdivision = Crownland , nation = the Austrian Empire , year_start = 1849 , date_start = 18 November , year_end = 1860 , date_end = ...

, a separate

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

crownland. After 1853, the county did not exist since the voivodeship was divided into districts. After the voivodeship was abolished in 1860, the area was again incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary and the county was recreated in January 1861. In 1876, when the administrative structure of the Kingdom of Hungary was changed, the borders of Temes County were modified to include parts of the territory of the former Banat Military Frontier (including Fehértemplom/

Bela Crkva Bela Crkva ( sr-cyrl, Бела Црква, ; german: Weißkirchen; hu, Fehértemplom; ro, Biserica Albă) is a town and municipality located in the South Banat District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a populatio ...

, formerly the seat of the so-called Illyrian Regiment). In 1918, the county first became part of the newly proclaimed

Banat Republic The Banat Republic (german: Banater Republik, hu, Bánáti Köztársaság or ''Bánsági Köztársaság'', ro, Republica bănățeană or ''Republica Banatului'', sr, Банатска република, ) was a short-lived state proclaimed ...

that lasted for only a few days. The region was taken by Serbian and French troops, and then divided in 1919 between the Kingdom of Romania and the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as both of the powers claimed the entire territory of the Banat. The border arrangements were set by the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

. A majority of the county was assigned to Romania, while the south-western third was assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). The Yugoslav part of the pre-1920 Temes County (the southern region) is part of the Serbian autonomous region of Vojvodina. The Romanian part is now part of Timiș County, except for a ~ wide strip along the Mureș River, which is in

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( judeţ) 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 center ...

Demographics

Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Temes county were: The towns of Vršac,

, and Kovin are now in Serbia; the other towns mentioned are now in Romania.

Notes

References

{{Authority control States and territories established in 1779 States and territories established in 1860 States and territories disestablished in 1552 States and territories disestablished in 1849 States and territories disestablished in 1920 Counties in the Kingdom of Hungary Medieval history of Vojvodina Vojvodina under Habsburg rule History of Banat