Duchy (Kingdom of Hungary)

The Duchy[1] or Ducatus[2][3][4] (Hungarian: dukátus or hercegség[5]) is the denomination for territories occasionally governed separately by members (dukes) of the Árpád dynasty within the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11th-12th centuries.

Modern historians do not share a consensual view on the origins of the Duchy or territorial units administered by members of the royal family within the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.

[6] Tringli says that it is possible that Koppány's domains in Transdanubia and Saint Emeric's territories (he bore the title of Duke of Russians) were duchies too in accordance with steppe tradition.

[7] On the other hand, Gyula Kristó, who rejected Györffy's theory, writes that the Duchy only came into being when King Andrew I of Hungary granted one third of his kingdom to his younger brother, Béla around 1048.

[citation needed] The dukes' principal hunting-grounds lay in the "Holy Forest" (Igyfon) on the territory of the Apuseni Mountains (today in Romania) in the 11th century.