Knez (Vlach leader)


A knez or kenez was the hereditary leader of the Vlach communities, primarily in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary.

Terminology

Official documents, written in Latin, applied multiple terms when they mentioned the Vlach leaders in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 13th and 14th centuries. The most widely used termskenezius and its variantsderrived from the Slavic knyaz. The office was closely associated with communities living according to the "Vlach law", thus the term knez was replaced by the term scultetus in the northeastern regions, where German law prevailed. A territory subjected to the authority of a knez was known as keneziatus. Several keneziates formed a voivodate, which was subjected to a higher official, the voivode.