B. Halász Eva - Suzana Miljan (szerk.): Diplomatarium comitum terrestrium Crisiensium (1274-1439) (Subsidia ad historiam medii aevi Hungariae inquirendam 6. Budapest - Zagreb 2014)
Epilógus
Comes terrestris Crisiensis. An introductory study fifteenth century styled in the sources as nobiles castri, and under his jurisdiction he also had appertaining castle lands. The institution of comes terrestris in Slavonia has been researched by only a few Hungarian and Croatian scholars. The first one to open the discussion was Frigyes Pesty in his work on the history of the territorial organisation of the castle system in Hungary, where he briefly presented the general characteristics of each castle district (comitatus). He only referred briefly to the comitatus of Križevci, mentioning only the documents relating to the estates of any particular castle. The information he provided did not extend to beyond the thirteenth century.7 The general part of the book deals with the officials of the castle district (locumtenens, centurion, etc.), but among them we are searching for the comes terrestris in vain. Yet, that office was not unknown to Pesty, since when describing the castle district of Križevci he mentions the comes terrestris Prevša. The only official of Križevci known by name is a certain centurion by the name of Zulga, but it is not certain when he held that office.8 The question of to whom Slavonia belonged in the period from the tenth to the thirteenth century is a much debated one and was explored by Frigyes Pesty in his work, entitled Die Entstehung Croatiens [On the Formation of Croatia]. In relation to this, Vjekoslav Klaić touches upon the problematic of the Slavonian castle districts for which he emphasizes that in the thirteenth century a lot of "smaller districts" were placed there, which are in the Latin sources called by the term comitatus. Hence, he has counted twelve castle districts in Slavonia and among them he also mentioned Križevci. Furthermore, he explained that those "administrative districts" were small in space, and that a castle formed their centre, under the jurisdiction of which were placed appertaining land estates and persons, which were ruled by a count.9 An explanation of the function of comes terrestris was sketched for the first time, yet only briefly, twenty years before by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski in his popular academic work on the castle of Kalnik. He noted that the nobles of Kalnik, shortly after defending against the Mongols, 7 Frigyes Pesty, A magyarországi várispánságok története, különösen a XIII. században [A History of the Hungarian Castle Systems, especially in the Thirteenth century], Budapest 1882, pp. 301-303. 8 Isto, str. 93-117. 9 Vjekoslav Klaić, Da li je nekadanja Slavonija bila izprvice hrvatska ili ugarska zemlja? [Was Medieval Slavonia a Croatian or Hungarian Country in the Beginning?], Vicnac. Zabavi i pouci, vol. 14, Zagreb 1882, no. 35, pp. 560-562, no. 36, pp. 576- 578, no. 37, pp. 596-599, no. 38, pp. 609-612, no. 39, pp. 628-630, no. 40, pp. 637-640, no. 41, pp. 655-658, no. 42, pp. 675-678. 107
