The Árpád-era history of Berettyóújfalu, like the Kingdom of Hungary was characterised by a dense network of small settlements. On the two banks of the Berettyó River, a few kilometres apart, there were only a dozen villages of plots of land, living in loose neighbourly relations. One can list about a dozen pre-settlements in the present administrative area of Berettyóújfalu – and Berettyószentmárton, which was merged with it in 1970 – or in terrains closely connected to it. There were countless villages on the two banks of the Berettyó, which have now been lost to oblivion. On the northern bank of the river located Újfalu, Herpály, Szentdemeter, Szentkozmadamján, Kengyel, Palocsa, Andaháza, Mácsó and Inke, which existed for a shorter or longer period in the period of the 11^th – 14^th centuries. On the southern bank of the river, the villages of Bolcs, Szentmárton, Újlak and a little further on Nyék and Szomajom can be found in old maps and documents. Herpály on the north bank and Bolcs on the south bank were the prominent, leading villages and estates. The lords of the area organised a manor around the former, and Bolcs played an important role in the trade of the region until the end of the 15th century, due to the bridges over the river that belonged to this settlement. King Mátyás even granted Bolcs the right to hold fairs, but the estate, which was stagnating in development, disappeared – together with Herpálly – into the abyss of history and later merged to the lands of Újfalu and Szentmárton, but their original names have been preserved for posterity.

The people who lived here in the Árpád-era were able to cultivate regularly the dry patches of land – the foothills – that their location, fertility and cultivability allowed, due to the water flow that occupied a considerable vast area. The areas more frequently covered by water were used for grazing and mowing. Villages of the time tended to be loosely clustered dwellings of lightweight houses, which could be left behind overnight and then repopulated after the disaster had passed, or a fresh settlement could be established a little further away.