Origins The origin of the name of Bihar is uncertain, however more theories exist. It could take its name from an ancient fortress in the current commune of
Biharia. Or, the
Hungarian Bihar derived from the word vihar (tempest, storm), that is of Slavic origin; vihor (whirlwind). A less probable theory is that Biharea is of Daco-Thracian etymology (
bi meaning "two" and
harati "take" or "lead"), possibly meaning two possessions of land in the Duchy of Menumorut. In the 730s the Khazar Khaganate was ruled by
Bihar Khagan, called Viharos in Armenian sources. “Viharos” is a currently used Hungarian word meaning stormy. The castle of
Byhor, or Bihar (now
Biharia in
Romania), was the center of the duchy of
Menumorut at the time of the
Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the 890s, according to the
Gesta Hungarorum. The
Gesta—the only primary source which mentions Menumorut—describes him as a ruler "with
Bulgarian heart" who was the vassal of the
Byzantine Emperor. Menumorut's subjects were
Khazars, and the
Székelys joined the invading
Hungarians in his duchy. Historian writes that other peoples (including
Romanians) must have also lived in Menumorut's realm. Menumorut was forced to give his daughter in marriage to
Zoltán, son of
Árpád,
Grand Prince of the Hungarians. When he died, his son-in-law inherited his duchy. Modern scholars debate whether Menumorut and his duchy actually existed or the
anonymous author of the
Gesta invented them. For instance, historian
György Györffy says that Menumorut's name preserved the memory of the
Moravians who dominated parts of the
Carpathian Basin in the . According to historians György Györffy and
Victor Spinei, the presence of
Kabars in the region could have given rise to Anonymous' reference to Menumorut's "Khazars". Place names of
Slavic origin—for instance,
Zomlyn (near modern
Darvas in
Hungary),
Csatár and
Szalacs (now Cetariu and Sălacea in Romania)—show that Slav communities lived along the rivers
Ér and
Berettyó and around Bihar. Graves of 10th-century warriors, buried together with parts of their horses, have been excavated, for instance, at Bihar,
Hajdúböszörmény, and
Nagyszalonta (now Salonta in Romania). According to archaeologist , the small number of graves which can be attributed to 10th-century Hungarian warriors shows that few Hungarians settled in the region after the Hungarian conquest. Archaeologist Erwin Gáll writes that the cemetery at Bihar may represent a "peripheral centre" of a core region which was located along the upper courses of the river
Tisza, because the burial customs were similar in the two territories. Almost a dozen medieval villages—for instance,
Felkér,
Köröskisjenő and
Köröstarján (now Felcheriu, Ineu, and Tărian in Romania)—bore the name of a
Hungarian tribe, suggesting that Hungarian groups settled in the region in the late 10th and early , according to György Györffy. Written sources and toponyms implies the presence of
Székelys. The
castle folk of
Ebey—a village, located near Nagyszalonta, which was later abandoned—were grouped into a "
hundred", or
centurionatus, named Székelyszáz around 1217. The
Seat of Telegd was most probably named after the village
Telegd (now Tileagd in Romania). If this scholarly theory is valid, the ancestors of the Székelys of Telegd had lived in Bihar County before they moved to eastern
Transylvania. Historian
Florin Curta writes that the Székelys settled in the county only in the early . Modern historians agree that the county was established between 1020 and 1050, most probably by
Stephen I, the first
king of Hungary, or possibly by his successor,
Peter. According to a version of a royal charter, issued in 1203, mentioned that "the whole Bihar County" was located partly around Bihar and partly around
Zaránd (now Zărand in Romania), suggesting that Bihar County had originally included
Zaránd County, or at least its territories north of the river
Fehér-Körös. Another version of the same charter also mentioned
Békés besides Bihar and Zaránd, implying that Bihar County had also included the lands which developed into the separate
Békés County.
Middle Ages '': 1. The burial of
King St Ladislaus in Várad Cathedral 2. People pray at his tomb 3. A rich man cannot lift a silver tray from his tomb 4. A poor man lifts the silver tray The 11th-century
Bihar Castle, made of earth and timber, was the first center of the county. The earliest royal charter that mentioned the
ispán, or head, of the county was issued around 1067. The county was included in the
ducatus, or duchy, that
Andrew I of Hungary granted to his younger brother,
Béla, around 1050. Béla's son,
Géza, ruled the duchy from 1064. Nomadic
Turks—
Pechenegs or
Ouzes—plundered the eastern territories of the
Kingdom of Hungary, including the region around Bihar Castle in 1068. Duke Géza, his brother,
Ladislaus, and their cousin, King
Solomon of Hungary, joined their forces and chased the marauders as far as
Doboka (now Dăbâca in Romania). Six years later, "the troops from
Byhor" were under the command of Duke Ladislaus in the
Battle of Mogyoród which ended with the decisive victory of Géza and Ladislaus over King Solomon. The first document that mentioned the county was issued in 1075. According to György Györffy, the county seems to have originally been included in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Eger, because the Deanery of Zsomboly, located to the south of Bihar County, formed an exclave of the Eger bishopric during the Middle Ages. The separate
Roman Catholic Diocese of Bihar was set up between 1020 and 1061. Its see was transferred to
Várad (now Oradea in Romania) before 1095. There were four
deaneries in the county; the Deanery of Bihar was the first to have been documented (in 1213). Pilgrims frequented the shrine of
King St Ladislaus in the Várad Cathedral after his canonization in 1192 and trials by ordeal were also held there.
Emeric, King of Hungary approached
Pope Innocent III, asking him to make "Latins" abbot of the Greek monasteries in the
Kingdom of Hungary to restore discipline. In a letter, written on 16 May 1204, the pope ordered
Simon, the Catholic Bishop of Várad to visit the "Greek" monasteries and to set up a separate diocese, directly subjected to the
Holy See, for them. According to historian
Ioan-Aurel Pop, those "Greek" monasteries actually belonged to the local Orthodox Romanians'. Pop also writes that the Orthodox bishopric "in the country of Knez Bela", mentioned in a letter that Pope Innocent wrote to the
Archbishop of Kalocsa in 1205, was located north of Oradea. At least 19 villages—including Köröskisjenő,
Mezőgyán, and
Mezősas in Bihar County, and
Gyulavarsánd and
Vadász (now Vărșand and Vânători) in Zaránd County—made up the
honour of Bihar Castle in the early . The
Várad Register—a codex which preserved the minutes of hundreds of ordeals held at the Várad Chapter between 1208 and 1235—provides information of the life of the commoners in the honour. The castle folk who were divided in "hundreds" provided well-specified services to the
ispán. The
Register mentioned the gatekeepers and the hunters of Bihar Castle. The
Register also referred to "guest settlers" of foreign—
Rus', German or "Latin"—origin. For instance,
Walloon "guests" established
Olaszi near Várad (now Olasig neighborhood in Oradea) before 1215. The kings started to give away parcels of the royal domain already in the . Prelates and ecclesiastic institutions—including the bishops of Várad, the
Dömös Chapter and the Garamszentbenedek Abbey—were the first beneficiaries. According to György Györffy, the noble
Ákos, Borsa,
Gutkeled, and
Hont-Pázmány clans received their first estates in the county in the ; the
Geregyes, the Telegdis and most other lords only in the late . The western and southwestern lowlands were distributed among dozens of noble families, each holding only one village. The
Mongols captured and destroyed Várad during
their invasion of Hungary in 1241, according to
Roger of Torre Maggiore, who was archdeacon of the Várad Chapter at that time. At least 18% of the nearly 170 settlements documented in the county before 1241 disappeared during the Mongol invasion.
Stephen V of Hungary exempted the peasants living in the estates of the bishop of Várad of royal taxation and granted the bishop the right to open mines in his estates in 1263 to promote the economic recovery of the bishopric. A silver mine was in short opened at the bishop's domains at
Belényes (now Beiuș in Romania). New fortresses were built during the decades following the withdrawal of the Mongols.
Judge royal Paul Geregye erected Sólyomkő Castle at
Élesd (now Aleșd in Romania); his sons held further 2 newly built fortresses in the 1270s. Their power was crushed during King
Ladislaus the Cuman's reign; he granted their fortresses and domains to the Borsas.
James Borsa, one of the semi-independent "
oligarchs", was the actual ruler of Bihar,
Kraszna,
Szabolcs,
Szatmár, and
Szolnok counties in the early . After James Borsa's fall in the late 1310s, the noble Czibak, Debreceni, and Telegdi families became the wealthiest lay landowners in the county. The center of the Debrecenis' ancestral estates,
Debrecen, developed into a market town. One of the earliest references to the presence of Romanians in the county—the place name
Olahteluk ("Vlachs' Plot")—was recorded in a non-authentic charter, dated to 1283. The first authentic document mentioning Romanians was issued in 1293. They lived in the region of the bishop's castle at
Várasfenes (now Finiș in Romania). Next a charter of 1326 referred to the Romanian Voivode Neagul who "settled and lived"
(considet and commoratur) in Nicholas Telegdi's estate at
Káptalanhodos (now Hodiș in Romania). Historian Ioan Aurel Pop writes that the latter charter proves that Nicholas Telegdi's estate had originally owned by Voivode Neagul.
Modern times 's rule Soon after the
Battle of Mohács in 1526 the Kingdom of Hungary was partitioned; the county's territory became part of the
Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, then from 1570 the
Principality of Transylvania. A large part of it was ruled by the
Ottoman Empire as
Varat Eyalet between 1660–1692, before it became part of the
Kingdom of Hungary again. Within Hungary Bihar was part of the ('district/circle beyond the
Tisza'; ), one of four such districts; in the early 19th century this district also contained eleven other counties:
Máramaros,
Ugocsa,
Szatmár,
Szabolcs,
Békés,
Csongrád,
Csanád,
Arad, and the three
Banat counties of
Krassó,
Temes, and
Torontál. Following the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848, in 1850 Bihar was provisionally partitioned into and (Upper- and Lower-Bihar) as part of the
District of Großwardein. These later became and (South- and North-Bihar). The border between and mostly followed the
Berettyó/Barcău river. was centred on the of
Großwardein (, ) and also included the (districts) of
Ártánd,
Élesd,
Margita,
Szalonta,
Belényes and
Tenke. The Circle on the left bank of the Tisza contained eight counties, including Bihar, with the other seven being
Békés,
Hajdú,
Máramaros,
Szabolcs,
Szatmár,
Szilágy, and
Ugocsa. Bihar County in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire contained
Debrecen and
Nagyvárad. In 1920, by the
Treaty of Trianon about 75% of the county became part of
Romania. The west of the county remained in
Hungary. The capital of this smaller county Bihar was
Berettyóújfalu. In 1940, by the
Second Vienna Award, the county's territory was extended by its former parts gained from Romania; in October 1944, during World War II, Romania regained control of that territory. In 1950, the Hungarian county Bihar was merged with
Hajdú County to form
Hajdú-Bihar county. The southernmost part of Hungarian Bihar (the area around
Sarkad and
Okány) went to
Békés County. The Romanian part of former Bihar County now forms the Romanian
Bihor County, except the southernmost part (around
Beliu), which is in
Arad County. ==Demographics==