Bél Mátyás (Matej Bel or, in Latinized form, Matthias Belius, 1684–1749) was a teacher, pastor and polymath writer. His principal work, Notitia Hungariae novae historico geographica (“Historical-geographical description of the new Hungary”), a source of history and related sciences, presented an extensive description of the counties of the early 18th century Kingdom of Hungary, full of data related to the physical geography, natural history and people of the counties, the folk customs and the state of the important towns. During the author’s life, only the description of 11 counties was published in 5 volumes.
