Partium

King John I of Hungary from the Zápolya house, the former voivode of Transylvania and the wealthiest and the most powerful landlord after Mohács, secured the eastern part of the Kingdom (referred to as Eastern Hungarian Kingdom by Hungarian scholars) with the help of the Ottomans.

filius, Dei gratia princeps Transsylvaniae ac partium regni Hungariae" (John, son of the late most serene king John of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc., by the grace of God prince of Transylvania and parts of the Kingdom of Hungary), from which derives the name Partium.

[2] On 5 September 1619, the prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen captured Kassa (now Košice) in Partium Abaúj County with the assistance of the future George I Rákóczi in another anti-Habsburg insurrection.

By the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621, the Habsburgs restored the religious toleration agreement of 1606 and recognized Transylvanian rule over seven stated Partium counties: Ugocsa, Bereg, Zemplén, Borsod, Szabolcs, Szatmár and Abaúj.

Seven additional counties (Borsod, Abaúj, Zemplén, Szabolcs, Bereg, Ugocsa and Szatmár) were briefly ceded to Transylvania and thus the Partium between 1621-1629 and 1645-1648.

In this war, Transylvania lost many of its border regions: most of Szörény, Arad, Zaránd and Bihar counties, including the important city of Várad (Oradea), around which the Ottomans organised a new vilayet.

The Hungarian nobility demanded the return of the Partium multiple times (1741, 1792, 1836), but it was never enacted until the Revolution of 1848.

In present-day Hungarian usage, Partium chiefly refers to the part of the region that lies in Romania.

[7] The Council approved a new flag for Partium in 2015 composed of a Patriarchal cross and Árpád stripes, both traditional symbols of the Hungarian nation featured on the coat of arms of Hungary.

Partium, depicted in the darker colour, and the Principality of Transylvania , 1570
Principality of Transylvania under Gabriel Bethlen, including the seven Partium counties ceded to him at the Peace of Nikolsburg in 1621: Ugocsa, Bereg, Zemplén, Borsod, Szabolcs, Szatmár and Abaúj.