Gyula (title)

Gyula (Yula, Gula, Gila) 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.

[1] 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 (1000/1001–1038).

According to Lóránd Benkő, the word originates from Old Turkic, where it can be found as a personal- (altaic: Kaltanjula), genus- (Bulgar: Дуло - Dulo) and tribal (Pecheneg: Yula, Bashkir: Yulaman) name.

[9] This theory was criticized by János B. Szabó and Balázs Sudár: "Recently, Dániel Németh presented a strongly hypothetical etymological proposal based on both a Turkic and Finno-Ugric linguistic background, deviating from historical data.

"[9] 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.

[10] 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 (the kende) who had little influence on army-related issues.

What the jula commands, the Majgars do.Following the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin around 896, the title gyula can be found in the De administrando imperio ("On the Governance of the Empire") written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus.

[11] 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.

This was later so done, for the posterity of Tuhutum up to the time of the holy King Stephen held the land of Transylvania and would have held it longer, had the younger Gyula with his two sons, Bolya and Bonyha, wished to be Christians and not always opposed the holy king, as will be said in the following.As he was in flight, hastening to his castle beside the Szamos River, Tuhutum’s warriors, boldly pursuing Duke Gelou, slew him beside the Kapus River.

Zumbor begat the younger Geula, father of Bua and Bucna, during whose time the holy King Stephen subjugated to himself the land of Transylvania and led Geula in fetters to Hungary and held him imprisoned for all the days of his life because he was false in faith and refused to be a Christian and did many things against the holy King Stephen, even though he was of the line of his mother.The family tree of the gyulas according to the anonymous author of the Gesta Hungarorum:[11][14] Simon of Kéza, who wrote his Gesta Hungarorum between 1280 and 1285,[1] inserted Gyula /Iula/ in connection to Transylvania in the list of the seven Hungarian conqueror chiefs.

Then, after he was awarded the crown of royal majesty by divine ordinance, the blessed Stephen waged a war of fame and of gain upon his uncle, by name Gyula, who at that time held sway over the whole country of Transylvania.

[1] Many historians (e.g., György Györffy, Florin Curta) suggest that at the time of the Hungarian conquest Árpád was the gyula,[1][17] who was later considered to be the ancestor of the dynasty that ruled Hungary until 1301.