The Banat of Temeswar or Banat of Temes was a Habsburg province that existed between 1718 and 1778. It was located in the present day region of Banat, which was named after this province. The province was abolished in 1778 and the following year it was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.
Duality of name
In the official documents of the time and also in all of native languages of the region, the name of the province appears in two basic forms, first derived from the name of Temeswar (Timișoara), second derived from the name of Temes region: in German - , Romanian - , Serbian - , , Hungarian - and Latin - .
History
Before the Habsburg province was established, several other entities had existed in the Banat region, including: the Voivodeship of Glad (9th century), the Voivodeship of Ahtum (11th century), the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (11th - 16th century) and one of its frontier provinces the Banate of Severin (from 1233 to the 16th century), the Ottoman province named Eyalet of Temeşvar (1552–1716), and the Banate of Lugos and Karansebes province within the Principality of Transylvania (16th–17th century), which was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire as a whole.
Although after the Austro-Ottoman war (1683–1697) and before the treaty of Karlowitz (1699) most parts of Banat were temporarily controlled by the forces of Prince Eugene of Savoy; in consequence of the treaty, the Ottoman sovereignty was recognized over the region with the fort of Temeşvar. However, as a result of the Spanish Succession War and the Rákóczi's War for Independence, the Habsburgs were inclined to direct their attention elsewhere within their country, and there was no attempt on their part to gain any territories from the Ottomans until 1710.
In the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18, Prince Eugene of Savoy conquered the Banat region from the Ottoman Empire, which was recognized by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718). The Habsburg monarchy then established a new military administrative region there under the name of Banat of Temeswar. The capital of the province became Temeswar. The province remained under military administration until 1751 when civil administration was introduced in northern parts of the region by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.
From 1718 to 1739, Banat of Temeswar included not only the Banat region, but also parts of present-day eastern Serbia along the southern bank of the Danube river. Following the Treaty of Belgrade (1739), areas along the southern bank of Danube returned under Ottoman control. In 1751, the southern parts of Banat were excluded from the province and the Banatian Military Frontier was established in that area.
The Banat of Temeswar was abolished on 6 June 1778, and on 23 April 1779, it was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary, while its former territory was divided into three counties: Torontál, Temes and Krassó. The southern part of the Banat region, which was part of the Banat of Temeswar until 1751, remained part of the Military Frontier (Banat Krajina) until 1873.
In 1849 following the Revolutions of 1848/1849 the Banat of Temeswar was resurrected as part of the new Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeswar crown land, which combined the former lands of the Banat of Temeswar with most of those from the self-proclaimed Serbian Vojvodina (excluding those parts of both within the military frontier). The former Banat counties of Torontál, Temes and Krassó were transformed into the of Groß Bečkerek, Temesvár and Lugos respectively. It was once again abolished in 1860; the counties were restored and re-merged into Hungary.