Vas County (former)

Vas County
County of the Kingdom of Hungary
12th century–1920
Coat of arms
Location of Vas
Capital		Szombathely
History
•	Established	12th century
•	Treaty of Trianon	June 4, 1920
Area
•	1910	5,474 km2 (2,114 sq mi)
Population
•	1910	435,793
	Density	79.6 /km2  (206.2 /sq mi)
Today part of		Slovenia, Austria, Hungary

Vas (German: Eisenburg, Slovene: Železna županija or Železna) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in western Hungary, eastern Austria and eastern Slovenia (Prekmurje). The capital of the county was Szombathely.

Geography

Vas County shared borders with the Austrian lands Lower Austria and Styria and the Hungarian counties Sopron, Veszprém and Zala. It stretched between the river Mura in the south, the foothills of the Alps in the west and the river Marcal in the east. The Rába River flowed through the county. Its area was 5472 km² around 1910.

History

Vas County arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1918 (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon 1920), the western part of the county became part of the new Austrian land Burgenland, and a small part in the southwest became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia). The remainder stayed in Hungary, as the present Hungarian Vas County. A small part of former Sopron county went to Vas county. Some villages north of Zalaegerszeg went to Zala County, and a small region west of Pápa went to Veszprém County.

Since 1991, when Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavian part of former Vas county (known in Slovenian as Prekmurje) has been part of the Republic of Slovenia. In 1919 there was briefly proclaimed the Republic of Prekmurje, but it existed only 6 days, alike the Lajtabánság.

Demographics

1900

In 1900, the county had a population of 418,905 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:

Total:

• Hungarian: 222,474 (53.0%)
• German: 125,570 (30.0%)
• Croatian: 17,896 (4.3%)
• Slovak: 284 (0.1%)
• Romanian: 43 (0.0%)
• Serbian: 21 (0.0%)
• Ruthenian: 4 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 52,613 (12.6%)

According to the census of 1900, the county was composed of the following religious communities:

Total:

• Roman Catholic: 313,858 (74.9%)
• Lutheran: 83,340 (19.9%)
• Calvinist: 12,151 (2.9%)
• Jewish: 9,429 (2.3%)
• Greek Catholic: 47 (0.0%)
• Greek Orthodox: 47 (0.0%)
• Unitarian: 15 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 18 (0.0%)

1910

File:Vas ethnic map.png

Ethnic map of the county with data of the 1910 census (see the key in the description).

In 1910, the county had a population of 435,793 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:

Total:

• Hungarian: 247,985 (56.9%)
• German: 117,169 (26.9%)
• Croatian: 16,230 (3.7%)
• Slovak: 288 (0.1%)
• Ruthenian: 48 (0.0%)
• Serbian: 23 (0.0%)
• Romanian: 14 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 54,036 (12.4%)

According to the census of 1910, the county was composed of the following religious communities:

Total:

• Roman Catholic: 331,269 (76.0%)
• Lutheran: 82,027 (18.8%)
• Calvinist: 12,597 (3.0%)
• Jewish: 9,649 (2.9%)
• Greek Catholic: 151 (0.0%)
• Greek Orthodox: 71 (0.0%)
• Unitarian: 19 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 10 (0.0%)

Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Vas county were:

Districts (járás)
District	Capital
Celldömölk	Celldömölk
Felsőőr	Felsőőr, AT Oberwart
Körmend	Körmend
Kőszeg	Kőszeg
Muraszombat	Muraszombat, SI Murska Sobota
Németújvár	Németújvár, AT Güssing
Sárvár	Sárvár
Szentgotthárd	Szentgotthárd
Szombathely	Szombathely
Vasvár	Vasvár
Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)
Kőszeg
Szombathely

The towns of Oberwart and Güssing are now in Austria; Murska Sobota is now in Slovenia.