The Voivode of Transylvania (;Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77. ;Zsoldos 2011, p. 36. ; )Negrău 2011, p. 92. was the highest-ranking official in Transylvania within the Kingdom of Hungary from the 12th century to the 16th century. Appointed by the monarchs, the voivodesthemselves also the heads or ispáns of Fehér Countywere the superiors of the ispáns of all the other counties in the province.
They had wide-ranging administrative, military and judicial powers, but their jurisdiction never covered the whole province. The Saxon and Székely communitiesorganized into their own districts or "seats" from the 13th centurywere independent of the voivodes. The kings also exempted some Transylvanian towns and villages from their authority over the centuries. Even so, the Voivodeship of Transylvania "was the largest single administrative entity"Jefferson 2012, p. 142. in the entire kingdom in the 15th century. Voivodes enjoyed income from the royal estates attached to their office, but the right to "grant lands, collect taxes and tolls, or coin money"Sedlar 1994, p. 275. was reserved for the monarchs. Although Roland Borsa, Ladislaus Kán and some other voivodes rebelled against the sovereign, most remained faithful royal officials.
Because of the gradual disintegration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary in the 16th century, the last voivodes of Transylvania, who came from the Báthory family, ceased to be high-ranking officials. Instead they were the heads of state, although under Ottoman suzerainty, of a new principality emerging in the eastern territories of the kingdom. Accordingly, Stephen Báthory, the voivode elected by the Diet of the new realm, officially abandoned the title of voivode and adopted that of prince in 1576, upon his election as King of Poland.
Origins
The origin of the office is unclear. The title voivode is of Slavic origin with a meaning of "commander, lieutenant". Although Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos wrote of the voivodesConstantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (ch. 38.), p. 171. or chieftains of the Hungarian tribes around 950, he seems to have adopted the term used by a Slavic interpreter. Romanian historians maintain that the title, homonymous with the one used in Wallachia and Moldavia, suggests a perpetuation of the local ruling tradition.Ioan Aurel Pop: Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I, Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.452
The border position of Transylvania led to the formation of the voivodeship, since the monarchs could not maintain direct control over this remote region.Rady 2000, p. 18. Thus the voivodes were never autonomous, but remained provincial officials of the kings. The voivodes were heads of Fehér County from 1201, which may indicate that their position had its origin in the office of that county's ispán.Kristó 2003, p. 98.
Two royal charters issued in 1111 and 1113 mention one Mercurius "princeps Ultrasilvanus", but he may have been only an important landowner in Transylvania without holding any specific office. Leustach Rátót was the first individual whose title voivode was documented. He held the office in the late 12th century, but his voivodeship was mentioned by a royal charter in 1230. The earliest extant document mentioning a voivode named Legforus was issued in 1199.Kristó 2003, p. 97. In addition to voivode, royal charters used the titles banus,Sălăgean 2005, p. 176. dux and herzog for the same office in the next decades, showing that the terminology remained uncertain until the second half of the 13th century.
Functions
Jurisdiction
The territories under the jurisdiction of the voivodes are known as Voivodeship or Voivodate of Transylvania.Kristó 1979, p. 110Pop 1996, p. 143 Voivodes were the chiefs of the ispáns of the Transylvanian counties. Although the counties in Transylvania were first attested from the 1170s, earlier references to fortresses at their seats and archaeological finds suggest that a system of counties existed in the 11th century.Kristó 2003, p. 90. For instance, Torda County was first mentioned in a charter of 1227, but a royal castle at Torda (Turda) had already been documented in 1097, and three burials coin-dated to the reign of Stephen I of Hungary (1000 or 1001–1038) were unearthed in the same fortress.Kristó 2003, pp. 90–92.
The ispáns of the Transylvanian counties of Doboka, Hunyad, Kolozs, Küküllő and Torda were not listed among the witnesses of royal charters from the beginning of the 13th century, hinting that their direct connection to the monarchs had by that time been interrupted. Thereafter they were employed by the voivode who appointed and dismissed them at will.Pop 2005, p. 227.Engel 1996, p. 246. Only the heads of Szolnok County remained directly connected to the monarchs for a longer period, until their office was united with the voivodeship in the 1260s.Zsoldos 2011, p. 209.Engel 2001, p. 144.Sălăgean 2005, p. 177. Similarly, the voivodes were simultaneously the ispáns of the nearby Arad County between 1321 and 1412.Engel 1996, p. 97.
The kings exempted some communities from the jurisdiction of the voivodes. The Diploma Andreanum, a royal charter of 1224, placed the territory of the Saxons between Broos (Szászváros, Orăștie) and Barót (Baraolt) under the authority of the Count of Hermannstadt (Nagyszeben, Sibiu), who was appointed by and directly subordinate to the monarchs.Makkai 1994, p. 180.Sedlar 1994, p. 279. Likewise, a special royal official, the Count of the Székelys, administered the Székely communityEngel 2001, p. 115. from around 1228.Kristó 2003, p. 133. In the latter case, the two offices were united by custom in 1462: from then on each voivode was also appointed Count of the Székelys.
Following the Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242, King Béla IV of Hungary exempted the inhabitants of Bilak (Mărişelu), Gyalu (Gilău), Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia), Harina (Herina), Tasnád (Tășnad) and Zilah (Zalău).Kristó 2003, pp. 156–157., 182. King Charles I of Hungary granted immunity to the Saxon communities of Birthälm (Berethalom, Biertan), Kleinschelken (Kisselyk, Şeica Mică), and Mediasch (Medgyes, Mediaș) in 1315, but the same monarch annulled other communities' similar privileges in 1324.Kristó 2003, pp. 125., 234. Altrodenau (Radna, Rodna) and Bistritz (Beszterce, Bistrița) received immunity in 1366.Makkai 1994, p. 183.
Honour of the voivodes
The office of voivode was one of the most important royal honours in the kingdom.Engel 2001, p. 151. All income from lands attached to the Transylvanian royal castles was collected for the voivodes. They enjoyed the income from fines, but royal revenues from taxes, tolls and mines remained the kings' due.
During most of the 14th century, the voivodes held the castles at Bánffyhunyad (Huedin), Boroskrakkó (Cricău), Csicsóújfalu (Ciceu-Mihăieşti), Déva (Deva), Hátszeg (Hațeg), Kőhalom (Rupea), Küküllővár (Cetatea de Baltă), Léta (Lita), Nagy-Talmács (Tălmaciu), Torja (Turia) and Újvár (Gogan Varolea), together with their lands.Engel 1996, pp. 11, 272, 295, 299, 325–326, 338, 354, 358, 408–409, 452. Additionally, the voivodes enjoyed the revenues of royal estates in Transylvania. For instance, the estates at Bonchida (Bonțida) and Vajdahunyad (Hunedoara) were attached to them for decades.Engel 1996, p. 11. However, the monarchs started to grant their castles and estates to noblemen, to the bishops of Transylvania or to the Saxon community after 1387. Consequently, Küküllővár and the lands pertaining to it remained the last piece of the "voivodal domain" in the 1450s.
The inhabitants of the Transylvanian counties were compelled to accommodate the voivodes and their officials.Kristó 2003, p. 234. The "guest settlers"privileged colonistsat Boroskrakkó, Magyarigen (Ighiu) and Romosz (Romos) were the first to be released from this duty in 1206.Kristó 2003, p. 182. In Alvinc (Vinţu de Jos) and Borberek (Vurpăr), the obligation itself was not abolished, but limited to two occasions a year.Kristó 2003, p. 183. Finally King Charles I exempted all Transylvanian noblemen and their serfs from this irksome duty in 1324.
The voivodes who preferred to stay in the royal court seldom resided in their province, but were represented by their deputies. The earliest record of a vicar of a voivode dates from 1221.Kristó 2003, p. 222. Later the title "vice-voivode", first documented in 1278, came into general use.Sălăgean 2005, p. 178. In addition to vice-voivodes and ispáns of the Transylvanian counties, the voivodes appointed the castellans of the royal fortresses.Rady 2000, p. 116. They tended to choose from among the noblemen serving in their own retinue,Engel 2001, pp. 151–152. which ensured that their followers received a fair share of their revenues.Engel 2001, p. 152.Rady 2000, p. 110. Accordingly, when a king dismissed a voivode, his men were also replaced with his successor's men.
Judicial functions
Along with the palatine, the judge royal and the ban, the voivode was one of the Kingdom's highest judges.Rady 2000, p. 69. In this capacity, he was authorized to issue "credible" charters. The earliest preserved charter dates to 1248. The voivodes or their vice-voivodes always heard disputes together with local noblemen who knew local customs.Stipta 1997, p. 51.Mályusz 1994, p. 39. Initially, the voivodes and their deputies held their courts at Marosszentimre (Sântimbru), but they heard disputes at their own abodes from the 14th century. Voivodes rarely headed their courts after the 1340s and were rather represented by their deputies.
Although limiting his own jurisdiction, in 1342 voivode Thomas Szécsényi recognized the right of Transylvanian noblemen to judge legal cases of peasants who held parcels of land in their estates, "with the exception of three cases, such as robbery, highway robbery, and violent trespass".Makkai 1994, p. 207. This concession was confirmed in 1365 by King Louis I of Hungary. Furthermore, the monarchs granted jus gladii (the right to the application of capital punishment) to more and more nobles in the course of the same century.Pop 2005, p. 244.
According to customary law, noblemen could not be sued outside the province until the 15th century. King Louis I even prohibited all prelates and noblemen who owned lands in Transylvania from bringing legal proceedings of lesser importance concerning these estates to the royal court.Stipta 1997, p. 52. Nevertheless, legal actions between Transylvanians and the inhabitants of other parts of the kingdom remained outside the jurisdiction of the voivodes. Litigants could appeal to the royal court against the decision of the voivode from the 14th century, but the voivode often remained involved in the proceedings. Legislation prescribed that appeals against decisions of the voivodes were to be addressed to the judge royal only from 1444.Pop 2005, p. 244.
"General assemblies" convoked and presided over by the principal judges of the realm became important judicial institutions in the last decade of the 13th century.Kristó 2003, p. 220. General assemblies for the representatives of the Transylvanian counties were presided over by the voivode or the vice-voivode.Pop 2005, p. 230. The first such assembly was held on June 8, 1288. They became important legal institutions from 1322.Sălăgean 2005, p. 182. Thereafter they were held on a regular basis, at least once a year at Keresztes (Cristiş) near Torda.Makkai 1994, p. 223.