Transylvania

One of the provinces of medieval Hungary called Transylvania (Ultrasilvania) is identical with the geographical Transylvania. Its borders were the Carpathian mountains in the east and south, the block of the South Carpathians called Ruska-Pyana, the Transylvanian Ore-mountains, the Bihar mountains and Mount Meszes in the west and the mountains of the Eastern Carpathians called Ilosvai mountains in the north. These mountains surround the basin bordered by the rivers Mros, Szamos, Olt and their tributaries. This territory became the centre of the independent state formed in the decades after the disaster at Mohács, which was called the Transylvanian Principality. In 1544 the representatives of the castle districts from beyond the Tisza region arrived at the meeting of the Transylvanian parliament. These representatives could not take part in the meeting of the parliament in Pozsony, because the expanding Turkish province in the middle of the country hindered them. At the meeting of the Transylvanian parliament they declared that they wished to belong to the parliament of the Transylvanian orders. The border between Transylvania and the royal region and the occupied region was continuously changing during the 16-17th centuries according to the contemporaneous political and military situation. For the first time the border was defined in 1570 in the Speyer treaty, where the castle districts belonging to Transylvania were called Partium.

OT