Gyula (title)


Gyula was, according to Muslim and Byzantine sources, the title of one of the leaders, the second in rank, of the Hungarian tribal federation in the 9th–10th centuries. In the earliest Hungarian sources, the title name is only recorded as a personal name.
According to the Hungarian chronicles, Transylvania was ruled by a line of princes called Gyula, and their country was occupied by King Stephen I of Hungary.

Etymology

The title name does not have convincing etymologies, but it is probably of Turkic origin.

The ''gyula''s in the 9th century

The first data of the title, recorded by Ibn Rusta and Gardizi, can be traced back to the earlier works of Abu Abdallah al-Jayhani. According to these earliest pieces of evidence, the Hungarians were ruled conjointly by two ‘kings’. The major one, called kende, enjoyed nominal leadership, while effective power was exercised by his colleague, inferior in rank, called the gyula. This peculiar form of governance is generally supposed to have been imitative of the Khazar Khaganate, which did indeed have a similar organization. However, the only thing that the Muslim sources tell us is that the gyula was in charge of the military matters of the tribal confederation; whereas there existed a legitimate ruler who had little influence on army-related issues.

The ''gyula''s in the 10th-11th centuries

Following the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 896, the title gyula can be found in the De administrando imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The emperor confirms that around 950 the gyla was one of the two important officers who assisted the leader of Hungarian tribal federation; also, each tribe had a chieftain.
The Byzantine Ioannes Skylitzes in the second half of the 11th century recounted the baptism of the Hungarian chieftain Gyula in Constantinople in the mid-10th century. According to Ioannes Skylitzes, Gyula stayed true to his new faith and took a missionary bishop, Hierotheos, with him. A Slavic source also contains related information.
The almost contemporary Annales Hildesheimenses recorded for 1003 that "King Stephen of Hungary led an army against his maternal uncle, King Gyula" and "obliged his country by force to adopt the Christian faith".

Persons named Gyula in the Hungarian chronicles

The ''Gesta Hungarorum'' written by an anonymous author

The anonymous writer of the Gesta Hungarorum was the first Hungarian chronicler who compiled the list of the seven Hungarian conqueror chiefs around 1210. At the seventh place we can find Tétény ', his son Horka ' and the latter's sons, Gyula ' and Zombor '. According to the author of the Gesta, Zombor ' was the father of the younger Gyula '. The Gesta also narrates that Tétény occupied the land of Transylvania from the Vlach Duke Gelou; neither Tétény nor Gelou are mentioned in other primary sources.
The family tree of the gyulas according to the anonymous author of the Gesta Hungarorum:
Tétény ' ♂
│
Horka ' ♂
┌───────────────────┴──────────────────────┐
Gyula ' ♂ Zombor ' ♂
┌───────────┴──────────┐ │
Karold ' ♀ Sarolt ' ♀ Gyula the Younger ' ♂
∞ Géza ♂ ┌─────────┴────────┐
│ Bolya ' ♂ Bonyha ' ♂
Stephen I ♂ │ │
Maglód kindred '

The ''Gesta Hungarorum'' written by Simon of Kéza

, who wrote his Gesta Hungarorum between 1280 and 1285, inserted Gyula /Iula/ in connection to Transylvania in the list of the seven Hungarian conqueror chiefs. He, as opposed to the anonymous writer of the Gesta Hungarorum, wrote not about two but only one Gyula.

The ''Chronicon Pictum''

The chronicle increased the members of the Gyula family with the same name to three. However, it caused a problem for the author to separate these three persons.
The chronicle attributes the finding of the ruins of Gyulafehérvár to the conqueror Gyula.
The family tree of the Gyula family according to the Chronicon Pictum:
Gyula I ♂
┌──────────┴─────────┐
Sarolt ♀ Gyula II ♂
∞ Géza ♂ │
Gyula III ♂

The list of the ''gyula''s

The list of persons who held the gyula office is still subject to debate.
Many historians suggest that at the time of the Hungarian conquest Árpád was the gyula, who was later considered to be the ancestor of the dynasty that ruled Hungary until 1301. At any rate, Hungarian chroniclers are unanimous in reporting that the conquest of the Carpathian Basin was directed by Árpád. Florin Curta suggests that when the kende of the conquest died in 902, the leadership passed onto Árpád, and one of Árpád's kinsmen became gyula.
Other scholars argues that Árpád was the kende, and the gyula was Kurszán whose name, in contrast to Árpád, can be found in contemporary Western texts.
The Slavic source narrating the baptism of the Gyula in Constantinople in the middle of the 10th century mentions that his baptismal name was Stefan. According to the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, the name of King Stephen's uncle whose country was occupied by the Hungarian king in 1003 was Procui.
The following is the list of the gyulas supposed by modern historians: