Titel

Titel (Тител, Titel) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town of Titel has a population of 5,247, while the population of the municipality of Titel is 15,738. It is located in southeastern part of the geographical region of Bačka, known as Šajkaška. In Serbian, the town is known as Titel (Тител), in Hungarian as Titel, in German as Titel (and sometimes Theisshügel), and in Latin as Titulium. The Titel Plateau is an elevated region between the Danube and Tisza rivers, close to the confluence; about ; roughly . It has an ellipsoid form and is characterized by steep slopes at the margins. It has a substantial loess cover and is often called the Titel Loess Plateau; the loess on the plateau is considered to contain the most detailed terrestrial palaeoclimate records in Europe, with a thick and apparently continuous record extending to the middle and late Early Pleistocene. It represents a major archaeological site at the Danube-Tisza confluence with prehistoric and ancient findings. Early medieval sources are scarce. Slavs are mentioned in the area in the late seventh and early eighth century, while Magyars (Hungarians) settled the Pannonian Plain in 896, already in the next century holding the Tisa-Danube confluence. Grand Prince Árpád (r. 895–907) is believed to have defeated the Bulgars (Salan) at Titel. Titel was an important strategical location, and was included in the Bács County. Ladislaus I of Hungary (r. 1077–95) and his brother Lampert founded an Augustinian monastery here. On 17 October 1389 a Clement was inscribed at the Vienna University, who in Titel taught reading and cantillation. In the 1400s, Titel belonged to the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. In 1439 Albert II's army awaited in Titel military aid from the county to help Đurađ Branković defend Smederevo, but the aid never arrived. From 1526, the town was part of the Ottoman Empire. According to the first Ottoman census from 1546, the town had 87 houses, of which most were Serb, three were Croat, one Hungarian, and one Vlach.