As a result of the Saxon immigration, the Székelys – Hungarian-speaking free warriors cultivating communal lands – were transferred to the southeast of the province. From the 13th century they were governed independently from the "voivode" by a royal official, the count of the Székelys. Besides the Saxons, the Cistercians became the agents of expansion in Transylvania. When their abbey at Cârța was established in the early 13th century, Andrew II ordered that the strip of land running up to the mountains between the rivers Olt, Cârţişoara and Arpaş be transferred from the Romanians to the new monastery.