Voivode of Transylvania The Voivode of Transylvania ( , , , ) was the highest - ranking official in Transylvania within the Kingdom of Hungary from the 12th century to the 16th century . Appointed by the monarchs , the voivode sthemselves also the heads or " ispáns " of Fehér County were the superiors of the " ispáns " of all the other counties in the province . They had wide - ranging administrative , military and judicial powers , but their jurisdiction never covered the whole province . The Saxon and Székely communitiesorganized into their own districts or " seats " from the 13th centurywere independent of the voivodes . The kings also exempted some Transylvanian towns and villages from their authority over the centuries . Even so , the voivodeship of Transylvania " was the largest single administrative entity " in the entire kingdom in the 15th century . Voivodes enjoyed income from the royal estates attached to their office , but the right to " grant lands , collect taxes and tolls , or coin money " was reserved for the monarchs . Although Roland Borsa , Ladislaus Kán and some other voivodes rebelled against the sovereign , most remained faithful royal officials . Because of the gradual disintegration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary in the 16th century , the last voivodes of Transylvania , who came from the Báthory family , ceased to be high - ranking officials . Instead they were the heads of state , although under Ottoman suzerainty , of a new principality emerging in the eastern territories of the kingdom . Accordingly , Stephen Báthory , the voivode elected by the Diet of the new realm , officially abandoned the title of voivode and adopted that of prince in 1576 , upon his election as King of Poland . Origins . The origin of the office is unclear . The title voivode is of Slavic origin with a meaning of " commander , lieutenant " . Although Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos wrote of the voivodes or chieftains of the Hungarian tribes around 950 , he seems to have adopted the term used by a Slavic interpreter . The border position of Transylvania led to the formation of the voivodeship , since the monarchs could not maintain direct control over this remote region . Thus the voivodes were never autonomous , but remained provincial officials . The voivodes were heads of Fehér County from 1201 , which may indicate that their position had its origin in the office of that county ' s " ispán " . Two royal charters issued in 1111 and 1113 mention one Mercurius " " princeps Ultrasilvanus " " , but he may have been only an important landowner in Transylvania without holding any specific office . The title voivode was first documented in 1199 , but a certain Leustachius voivode living some years earlier was mentioned by a document from 1230 . In addition to voivode , royal charters used the titles " banus " , " dux " and " herzog " for the same office in the next decades , showing that the terminology remained uncertain until the second half of the 13th century . Functions . Jurisdiction . The territories under the jurisdiction of the voivodes are known as Voivodeship of Transylvania or Voivodate of Transylvania ( , ) . Voivodes were the chiefs of the " ispáns " of the Transylvanian counties . Although the counties in Transylvania were first attested from the 1170s , earlier references to fortresses at their seats and archaeological finds suggest that a system of counties existed in the 11th century . For instance , Torda County was first mentioned in a charter of 1227 , but a royal castle at Torda ( Turda ) had already been documented in 1097 , and three burials coin - dated to the reign of Stephen I of Hungary ( 1000 or 1001 – 1038 ) were unearthed in the same fortress . The " ispáns " of the Transylvanian counties of Doboka , Hunyad , Kolozs , Küküllő and Torda were not listed among the witnesses of royal charters from the beginning of the 13th century , hinting that their direct connection to the monarchs had by that time been interrupted . Thereafter they were employed by the voivode who appointed and dismissed them at will . Only the heads of Szolnok County remained directly connected to the monarchs for a longer period , until their office was united with the voivodeship in the 1260s . Similarly , the voivodes were simultaneously the " ispáns " of the nearby Arad County between 1321 and 1412 . The kings exempted some communities from the jurisdiction of the voivodes . The " Diploma Andreanum " , a royal charter of 1224 , placed the territory of the Saxons between Broos ( Szászváros , Orăștie ) and Barót ( Baraolt ) under the authority of the Count of Hermannstadt ( Nagyszeben , Sibiu ) , who was appointed by and directly subordinate to the monarchs . Likewise , a special royal official , the Count of the Székelys , administered the Székely community from around 1228 . In the latter case , the two offices were united by custom in 1462 : from then on each voivode was also appointed Count of the Székelys . Following the Mongol invasion of 1241 and 1242 , King Béla IV of Hungary exempted the inhabitants of Bilak ( Mărişelu ) , Gyalu ( Gilău ) , Gyulafehérvár ( Alba Iulia ) , Harina ( Herina ) , Tasnád ( Tășnad ) and Zilah ( Zalău ) . King Charles I of Hungary granted immunity to the Saxon communities of Birthälm ( Berethalom , Biertan ) , Kleinschelken ( Kisselyk , Şeica Mică ) , and Mediasch ( Medgyes , Mediaș ) in 1315 , but the same monarch annulled other communities ' similar privileges in 1324 . Altrodenau ( Radna , Rodna ) and Bistritz ( Beszterce , Bistrița ) received immunity in 1366 . Honour of the voivodes . The office of voivode was one of the most important royal honours in the kingdom . All income from lands attached to the Transylvanian royal castles was collected for the voivodes . They enjoyed the income from fines , but royal revenues from taxes , tolls and mines remained the kings ' due . During most of the 14th century , the voivodes held the castles at Bánffyhunyad ( Huedin ) , Boroskrakkó ( Cricău ) , Csicsóújfalu ( Ciceu - Mihăieşti ) , Déva ( Deva ) , Hátszeg ( Hațeg ) , Kőhalom ( Rupea ) , Küküllővár ( Cetatea de Baltă ) , Léta ( Lita ) , Nagy - Talmács ( Tălmaciu ) , Torja ( Turia ) and Újvár ( Gogan Varolea ) , together with their lands . Additionally , the voivodes enjoyed the revenues of royal estates in Transylvania . For instance , the estates at Bonchida ( Bonțida ) and Vajdahunyad ( Hunedoara ) were attached to them for decades . However , the monarchs started to grant their castles and estates to noblemen , to the bishops of Transylvania or to the Saxon community after 1387 . Consequently , Küküllővár and the lands pertaining to it remained the last piece of the " voivodal domain " in the 1450s . The inhabitants of the Transylvanian counties were compelled to accommodate the voivodes and their officials . The " guest settlers " at Boroskrakkó , Magyarigen ( Ighiu ) and Romosz ( Romos ) were the first to be released from this duty in 1206 . In Alvinc ( Vinţu de Jos ) and Borberek ( Vurpăr ) , the obligation itself was not abolished , but limited to two occasions a year . Finally King Charles I exempted all Transylvanian noblemen and their serfs from this irksome duty in 1324 . The voivodes who preferred to stay in the royal court seldom resided in their province , but were represented by their deputies . The earliest record of a vicar of a voivode dates from 1221 . Later the title " vice - voivode " , first documented in 1278 , came into general use . In addition to vice - voivodes and " ispáns " of the Transylvanian counties , the voivodes appointed the castellan s of the royal fortresses . They tended to choose from among the noblemen serving in their own retinue , which ensured that their followers received a fair share of their revenues . Accordingly , when a king dismissed a voivode , his men were also replaced with his successor ' s men . Judicial functions . Along with the palatine , the judge royal and the ban , the voivode was one of the Kingdom ' s highest judges . In this capacity , he was authorized to issue " credible " charters . The earliest preserved charter dates to 1248 . The voivodes or their vice - voivodes always heard disputes together with local noblemen who knew local customs . Initially , the voivodes and their deputies held their courts at Marosszentimre ( Sântimbru ) , but they heard disputes at their own abodes from the 14th century . Voivodes rarely headed their courts after the 1340s and were rather represented by their deputies . Although limiting his own jurisdiction , in 1342 voivode Thomas Szécsényi recognized the right of Transylvanian noblemen to judge legal cases of peasants owning parcels in their estates , " with the exception of three cases , such as robbery , highway robbery , and violent trespass " . This concession was confirmed in 1365 by King Louis I of Hungary . Furthermore , the monarchs granted " jus gladii " ( the right to the application of capital punishment ) to more and more nobles in the course of the same century . According to customary law , noblemen could not be sued outside the province until the 15th century . King Louis I even prohibited all prelates and noblemen who owned lands in Transylvania from bringing legal proceedings of lesser importance concerning these estates to the royal court . Nevertheless , legal actions between Transylvanians and the inhabitants of other parts of the kingdom remained outside the jurisdiction of the voivodes . Litigants could appeal to the royal court against the decision of the voivode from the 14th century , but the voivode often remained involved in the proceedings . Legislation prescribed that appeals against decisions of the voivodes were to be addressed to the judge royal only from 1444 . " General assemblies " convoked and presided over by the principal judges of the realm became important judicial institutions in the last decade of the 13th century . General assemblies for the representatives of the Transylvanian counties were presided over by the voivode or the vice - voivode . The first such assembly was held on June 8 , 1288 . They became important legal institutions from 1322 . Thereafter they were held on a regular basis , at least once a year at Keresztes ( Cristiş ) near Torda . With the authority of the monarch , the voivodes occasionally also invited the representatives of the Saxon and Székely communities to the counties ' general meetings . This contributed to the development of legal connections among the future " Three Nations of Transylvania " . The threat from the peasants ' revolt of 1437 gave rise to the first joint meeting of the Hungarian noblemen and the representatives of the Saxons and the Székelys , which was convoked without a former royal authorization by the vice - voivode . Romanian " cneazes " were only once , in 1355 , invited to the general assembly . Otherwise , the vice - voivodes organized separate meetings for them . Military functions . The etymology of the title ( " commander " ) suggests that voivodes had significant military duties . They were the supreme leader of the troops recruited in the counties under their jurisdiction . Although law obliged noblemen to fight in the king ' s army , Transylvanian nobles fought under the command of the voivode . Furthermore , the voivodes had their own private retinue , formed primarily by armed noblemen . Their right to raise an army under their own flag was confirmed by legislation in 1498 . Military functions are attested , for instance , by Pousa , the voivode at the time of the Mongol invasion who fell in battle on March 31 , 1241 . Voivode Lawrence of the Aba clan fought in the royal army in a war against Austria in 1246 . A Mongol army attacking the southern regions of Transylvania was defeated by voivode Ernye of the Ákos clan in 1260 . Roland Borsa fought against the invading Mongols in 1285 . Voivode Nicholas Csáki failed to repel an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania in 1420 . In contrast , John Hunyadi , voivode between 1441 and 1446 , defeated a major Ottoman army at Gyulafehérvár in 1442 . His successor Stephen Báthory likewise won a resounding victory at Kenyérmező ( Câmpul Pâinii ) on October 13 , 1479 . By contrast , John Szapolyai , the last voivode before the battle of Mohács on August 29 , 1526 did not arrive to the battlefield in time , summoned too late . The battle ended with the Ottomans ' annihilation of the royal army . King Louis II of Hungary was also killed on the battlefield . Monarchs and their voivodes . Appointment and dismissal . The voivodes had power concentrated in their hands , impelling the monarchs to replace them frequently : forty - three voivodes ruled between 1199 and 1288 . Monarchs usually refrained from appointing as voivode noblemen who owned Transylvanian estates . Michael of the Kacsics clan was the first voivode to receive a land grant in the province , around 1210 . However , these originally uninhabited lands along the upper courses of the river Mureș ( Maros ) were confiscated in 1228 . The era beginning with 1288 was characterized by longer periods in office . Roland Borsa survived 10 years , while his successor , Ladislaus Kán , lasted 20 years . This apparent stability was the consequence of the weakening of central government under the last two kings of the Árpád dynasty , Ladislaus IV ( 1272 – 1290 ) and Andrew III ( 1290 – 1301 ) . Royal power was only restored in the reign of Charles I ( 1308 – 1342 ) who one by one defeated the rebellious noblemen throughout his kingdom . In Transylvania , he was assisted by Thomas Szécsényi , the voivode between 1320 and 1342 . Ioan - Aurel Pop characterizes the following period as including " voidvodal dynasties " : five members of the Lackfi family ( father and four sons ) were successively appointed between 1356 and 1376 . Likewise , Nicholas Csáki ( 1415 to 1426 ) was succeeded by his son Ladislaus . The pair preferred to entrust their vice - voivode Roland Lépes to represent them , instead of visiting the province . From the middle of the 15th century it was not unusual for two or even three noblemen to hold the office at the same time . For instance , John Hunyadi was appointed together with Nicholas Újlaki in 1441 by King Wladislas I . Cooperation and conflicts . The Mongols comprehensively plundered the eastern territories of the Kingdom of Hungary , including Transylvania , during both their invasion in 1241 and their withdrawal the following year . The consolidation of the province was the main task of Lawrence of the Aba clan , who was appointed by Béla IV and held the office for 10 years from 1242 . One of his successors , also appointed by Béla IV , " banus " Ernye of the Ákos clan , was dismissed in 1260 by the king ' s son , Stephen who had just taken over Transylvania with the title of duke . The duke ' s action showed emerging tensions between father and son , rather than conflicts between the duke and the " banus " . The first years of the reign of the minor Ladislaus IV were characterized by armed conflicts between parties of the leading noble families . Although Roland Borsa , voivode in 1282 and between 1284 and 1294 , was initially among the nobles assisting the king in consolidating royal power , he himself became the source of new conflicts . First he prevented the canons of the Gyulafehérvár Chapter from collecting their income in 1289 . Next he unlawfully compelled noblemen and Saxon landowners in Transylvania to accommodate him and his retinue . Later Borsa fought the bishop of Várad ( Oradea ) and even resisted King Andrew III who besieged him in the fortress of Adorján ( Adrian ) at Szalárd ( Sălard ) for three months in 1294 . Borsa ' s successor Ladislaus Kán went even further by usurping royal prerogative during his voivodeship between 1294 and 1315 . He arbitrarily assumed the titles of count of Bistritz , Hermannstadt and the Székelys to expand his authority over Saxon and Székely communities exempted from voivodal authority . He set up a tax - collecting body , seemingly covering the entire province . He captured Otto of Bavaria , a claimant to the Hungarian throne and seized the Holy Crown of Hungary from him in the first half of 1307 . He handed the royal diadem to King Charles I in 1310 , but continued to rule Transylvania " de facto " independently until his death in 1315 . His son of the same name declared himself voivode , a title even used by the monarch when referring to him in a charter of August 12 , 1315 . Dózsa Debreceni , the voivode King Charles I appointed in 1318 , defeated some rebellious minor lords , but royal authority in Transylvania was only restored by Thomas Szécsényi in the 1320s . The next rebellion against royal power in Transylvania broke out in 1467 . Irritated by a new tax that King Matthias Corvinus had just introduced , representatives of the Three Nations concluded an alliance against the monarch and declared the three incumbent voivodes ( the brothers Counts John and Sigismund Szentgyörgyi and Berthold Ellerbach ) their leaders . The king put down the revolt in a week , but did not sentence the three voivodes , because their active role in the revolt was never proven . End of the office . The barons did not find a compromise candidate to succeed King Louis II who perished in the battle of Mohács in 1526 . First the voivode , John Szapolyai was proclaimed king by a group of nobles , but the opposing party also elected its own king , Ferdinand I , a scion of the Habsburg family , by the end of the year . King John I accepted Ottoman suzerainty in 1529 , but in the Treaty of Nagyvárad of 1538 he conceded the right of the Habsburgs to succeed him after his death . At that point his voivodes , Stephen Majláth and Emeric Balassa , decided to separate Transylvania from the kingdom in order to save the province from an Ottoman invasion . Although other leading Transylvanian noblemen soon joined them , King John I overcame their rebellion in some weeks . Following John ' s death , Ottoman troops occupied the central parts of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1541 . Sultan Suleiman I permitted the king ' s widow , Queen Isabella , to retain the territories east of the river Tisza ( Tisa ) , including Transylvania , in the name of her infant son , John Sigismund . George Martinuzzi , bishop of Várad , soon started to reorganize the government in the name of the dowager queen and her son . The Ottomans assisted the bishop by capturing his opponent , Stephen Majláth , although the sultan had earlier confirmed the latter ' s position as voivode . An assembly of the Three Nations elected George Martinuzzi as governor on behalf of the infant king in 1542 . The office of voivode was vacant until September 1549 , when Ferdinand ( who had not given up the idea of reuniting the territories of the entire kingdom ) appointed Martinuzzi to this post . However , Isabella and his son only left their realm in 1551 . Thereafter , Transylvania was again under the rule of voivodes appointed by the monarch , ending with István Dobó . He administered the province until 1556 , when Isabella and John Sigismund returned . John Sigismund ceased to style himself king of Hungary after the Treaty of Speyer of 1570 , under which he adopted the title of " Prince of Transylvania and parts of the Kingdom of Hungary " . His successor Stephen Báthory ( who was elected ruler by the assembly of the Three Nations ) revived the title of voivode , initially for himself . He adopted the title of " prince of Transylvania " when he was elected king of Poland in 1576 . At the same time , he conferred the title voivode on his brother Christopher in 1576 . Christopher Báthory was followed in 1581 by his minor son Sigismund who continued to style himself voivode until the death of his uncle , Stephen Báthory in 1586 . Sigismund Báthory ' s title of prince was acknowledged in 1595 by Emperor Rudolph ( also king of Hungary ) .