Archbishop of Esztergom, he wrote that "the powerful of those lands" had seized the property of the Diocese of Cumania. Hoping to receive royal support for his plan, the pope decided to make the Franciscan Vitus de Monteferreo (Charles I of Hungary's chaplain) bishop of Milkovia. Although the pope confirmed Vitus's ordination two years later, no evidence exists that the bishop ever visited his diocese. Other bishops were ordained to the see of Milkovia during the next century, but their attempts to regain the properties of the Diocese of Cumania were unsuccessful. Territory and see The borders of the Diocese of Cumania cannot be exactly determined. Roger of Torre Maggiore wrote that the Mongols crossed the Siret River before entering the Diocese of Cumania, which indicates that the river was the diocese's eastern border. A 1235 list of the Premonstratensians' houses in Hungary noted that "Corona" (now Brașov in Romania) was in the Cumanian diocese, suggesting that it included southeastern Transylvania. According to historian Victor Spinei, "Southeastern Transylvania was included within the bishopric most likely to secure a constant source of revenue from the collection of tithes for the emerging ecclesiastical structure during the first years after the conversion of the Cumans". Spinei wrote that the Trotuș River must have formed the diocese's northeastern border, and the Buzău River its southeastern frontier. The location of the episcopal see is the subject of scholarly debate. In his 1278 letter, Pope Nicholas III wrote that the civitas de Mylco (on the Milcov River) was the seat of the Cumanian bishop. Nicolae Iorga identified civitas de Mylco with Odobești; Constantin C. Giurescu with Reghiu and then with Odobești, and Carol Auner with the Crăciuna Citadel at Câmpineanca. According to archaeologists Adrian Andrei Rusu and Anton Paragină, the see of the bishopric was in Focșani or Vârteșcoiu (where small 13th-century forts were excavated). Two Cuman chieftains were buried "in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin", according to The Lives of the Brethren, indicating that at least one chapel was built in the see of the bishopric. The 1278 letter of Pope Nicholas also referred to the cathedral which had been destroyed by the Mongols. The Dominican Theodoric served as bishop under Robert, Archbishop of Esztergom from 1228 to 1234 or later; papal documents note an unnamed bishop of Cumania in 1235 and 1238. References Sources Primary sources Anna Comnena: The Alexiad (Translated by E.