The town was to be presided by a "city judge" (Croatian: gradski sudac, Latin: iudex), who was elected yearly by the citizenry and communities and fulfilled the role of the mayor.

In addition, eight jurors (Latin: jurati) and twenty city councillors were elected each year on 3 February, the Feast of St.

The king fled to Dalmatia as Mongols approached the poorly fortified Zagreb, which they levelled and burnt to the ground.

[10] The Mongol army continued pursuing Béla until March, when the word of Great Khan Ögedei's death reached them, and they retreated to Central Asia.

[5] Following the cease of hostilities, and in anticipation of a new invasion, Béla IV issued dozens of privileges encouraging the building of fortified urban settlements, as these turned out to be the only viable holdouts during the war.

[7] Helped by its location at the intersection of two important trade routes,[11] the new town of Gradec—protected by stone walls, unlike its neighbour Kaptol—reached a population of around 3,000 in the 14th century,[12] which made it a sizable city in then largely rural Central Europe.

[11] It was also a financial centre of the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom, as it held a silver mint, and was the base of the thirtieth tax collection in Slavonia, a major source of employment for the town.