Gelou

Although the Gesta Hungarorum, which was written after 1150, does not indicate the enemies of the conquering Hungarians (Magyars) known from earlier annals and chronicles, it refers to local rulers—including Gelou—who are not mentioned in other primary sources.

Consequently, historians debate whether Gelou was a historical person or an imaginary figure created by the unidentified author of the Gesta Hungarorum.

The Gesta Hungarorum describes pre-conquest Transylvania as a country rich in salt and gold, which was raided by Turkic peoples—"Cumans and Pechenegs"—before the arrival of the Magyars.

Archaeological research indicates that a people who cremated their dead inhabited the regions of the Transylvanian salt mines from the seventh to the ninth centuries.

[10] The names of many rivers in Transylvania—for instance, Bistrița ("swift"), Cerna ("black"), Dobra ("good") and Târnava ("thorny")—are of Slavic origin, indicating the historical presence of a Slavic-speaking population.

[19] Other historians (including Victor Spinei) reject this theory, saying that Dridu B ceramics can only prove cultural influences from the Balkan Peninsula.

[18] The so-called "Ciumbrud group" of cemeteries, which were also unearthed near Alba Iulia, yielded earrings and clothing accessories analogous to finds from the lower Danube region and Moravia.

[22] According to historians Vlad Georgescu, Ioan-Aurel Pop and Alexandru Madgearu, the existence of a ninth-century Vlach polity in the Carpatho-Danubian region is verified by the Gesta Hungarorum and contemporary sources.

[23][24][25] Alfred the Great's translation of the Historiae Adversus Paganos—a fifth-century work by Orosius—referred to "the Dacians, who were formerly Goths" and lived east of the Moravians and the "Vistula country".

[26][27] The 11th-century Persian scholar Gardizi, who studied the works of the late ninth-century Abu Abdallah al-Jayhani,[28] wrote about the Nandars—"a people of Rûm who are all Christians"[29]—who inhabited the lower Danube and the Carpathians.

[35][24] Manuscript studies indicate that the reference to Balak was interpolated after 1000, with the original text describing the "large country of Dacia"[37] and its 25 Slavic tribes.

[41][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] Although Romanian scholars have identified about a dozen Transylvanian fort sites in Gelou's duchy,[52] none can be definitively dated before the turn of the ninth and tenth centuries.

When Tuhutum heard this from an envoy, he readied himself with his warriors and, having left his companions there, went forth eastwards beyond the woods against Gelou, duke of the Vlachs.

[61][68] The Vlachs and Slavs of Transylvania were "the basest of the whole world" because "they had nothing else for arms than bows and arrows";[61][63] Transylvanian weakness was the result of frequent raids by "the Cumans and Pechenegs".

[61][69] According to Ioan Aurel Pop, Anonymus' description of Gelou's subjects indicates a sedentary people called to arms.

[69] Carlile Aylmer Macartney writes that the Blasii and Picenati words for Vlachs and Pechenegs and the reference to their "bows and arrows" suggest that Anonymus borrowed the text from a work describing the route of the Third or Fourth Crusade across the Balkans;[70][71] the late-12th-century Historia de expeditione Friderici imperatoris refers to Vlachs and Cumanians and their bows and arrows.

[77] The Gesta Hungarorum recounts a meeting of three Hungarian chieftains—Teteny (or Tuhutum), Szabolcs and Tas—after their victory over Menumorut, who is described as lord of Bihor.

[82][81] With Árpád's consent, Tétény hurried to the Mezeș Gates;[83] according to Madgearu, his attack was "clearly targeted toward the salt mine district" of Transylvania.

[81][82] The Gesta Hungarorum's reliability—particularly regarding Gelou, Glad, Menumorut and the other rulers described as fighting the conquering Magyars—has been debated by scholars since the publication of the chronicle during the late 18th century.

[89] Most Romanian historians (including Vlad Georgescu, Alexandru Madgearu and Victor Spinei) believe that Anonymus' story of the three dukes and their realms is reliable.

[90][24][91][92][93] Madgearu says that Anonymus' "account about the conquest" of Transylvania "combines data taken from oral tradition with invented facts", but "Gelou was a real person and his name could be considered authentic".

He argues that based on two pairs of silver pendants, similar to 9th-century Moravian jewellery, that were found at the site, may prove that the first encampment existed in the 9th century.

On the other hand, if the events related by Gesta Hungarorum occurred, mast probably, in the 930s, a date during the time of Gelou remains possible.

Dăbâca belongs to the group of early medieval Transylvanian fortifications with Slavic, pre-Hungarian names: Bălgrad (Alba-Iulia), Tiligrad (Blandiana), Moigrad.