Bleda
Bleda | |
---|---|
Chieftain of the Huns (co-rulership) | |
Reign | 434–445 |
Predecessor | Ruga |
Successor | Attila |
Born | c. 400 |
Died | c. 445 (aged 45) |
Father | Mundzuk |
Bleda (/ˈblɛdə, ˈbleɪdə/) was a Hunnic ruler, the brother of Attila the Hun.[1]
As nephews to
. Bleda was highly amused by Zerco and went so far as to make a suit of armor for the dwarf so that Zerco could accompany him on campaign.Etymology
Greek sources have Βλήδας and Βλέδας (Bledas), Chronicon Paschale Βλίδας (Blidas),[3] and Latin Bleda.[4]
Bleda and Attila's rule
By 432, the Huns were united under Rugila. His death in 434 left his nephews Attila and Bleda (the sons of his brother Mundzuk) in control over all the united Hun tribes. At the time of their accession, the Huns were bargaining with Byzantine emperor Theodosius II's envoys over the return of several renegade tribes who had taken refuge within the Roman Empire. The following year, Attila and Bleda met with the imperial legation at Margus (present-day Požarevac) and, all seated on horseback in the Hunnic manner, negotiated a successful treaty: the Romans agreed not only to return the fugitive tribes (who had been a welcome aid against the Vandals), but also to double their previous tribute of 350 Roman pounds (ca. 114.5 kg) of gold, open their markets to Hunnish traders, and pay a ransom of eight solidi for each Roman taken prisoner by the Huns. The Huns, satisfied with the treaty, decamped from the empire and returned to their home, perhaps to consolidate and strengthen their empire. Theodosius used this opportunity to strengthen the walls of Constantinople, building the city's first sea wall, and to build up his border defenses along the Danube.
For the next five years, the Huns stayed out of Roman sight as they tried to invade the
Theodosius had stripped the river's defenses in response to the Vandal
Attila and Bleda responded by renewing their campaign in 443. Striking along the Danube, they overran the military centers of
Their demands met for a time, the Hun kings withdrew into the interior of their empire. According to Jordanes (following Priscus), sometime during the peace following the Huns' withdrawal from Byzantium (probably around 445), Bleda died (killed by his brother, according to the classical sources), and Attila took the throne for himself. A few sources indicate that Bleda tried to kill Attila first, to which Attila retaliated.
In 448, Priscus encountered Bleda's widow, then governor of an unnamed village, while on an embassy to Attila's court.
Legacy
Bleda is known by Hungarian literature as Buda. According to medieval sources, Buda the name of the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary derived from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of Hunnic ruler Attila. The name of the capital city of Hungary, Budapest also comes from his name.
Attila went in the city of Sicambria in Pannonia, where he killed Buda, his brother, and he threw his corpse into the Danube. For while Attila was in the west, his brother crossed the boundaries in his reign, because he named Sicambria after his own name Buda's Castle. And though King Attila forbade the Huns and the other peoples to call that city Buda's Castle, but he called it Attila's Capital, the Germans who were terrified by the prohibition named the city as Eccylburg, which means Attila Castle, however, the Hungarians did not care about the ban and call it Óbuda [Old Buda] and call it to this day.
The Scythians are certainly an ancient people and the strength of Scythia lies in the east, as we said above. And the first king of Scythia was Magog, son of Japhet, and his people were called Magyars [Hungarians] after their King Magog, from whose royal line the most renowned and mighty King Attila descended, who, in the 451st year of Our Lord's birth, coming down from Scythia, entered Pannonia with a mighty force and, putting the Romans to flight, took the realm and made a royal residence for himself beside the Danube above the hot springs, and he ordered all the old buildings that he found there to be restored and he built them in a circular and very strong wall that in the Hungarian language is now called Budavár [Buda Castle] and by the Germans Etzelburg [Attila Castle]
Portrayals
- Ettore Manni portrayed Bleda in the 1954 Anthony Quinn film.
- Leo Gordon was Bleda in Sign of the Pagan, released the same year.
- Scottish actor Tommy Flanagan played Bleda in the 2001 mini-series, opposite Gerard Butler, as Attila.
References
- ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
- Mierow, Charles C.
- ^ a b c Pritsak 1982, p. 443.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 387.
- ^ a b Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 388.
- ^ Sinor 1990, p. 202.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 387–288.
- ISBN 9781409473282.
- ISBN 9781473890329. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ Mark of Kalt: Chronicon Pictum https://mek.oszk.hu/10600/10642/10642.htm
- ^ Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/18975/1/18975.pdf
Sources
- Teubner.
- ISBN 9780520015968.
- ISSN 0363-5570. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2015-11-20.
- ISBN 9780521243049.
- ISBN 9781107009066.
- Heather, Peter (2006). The fall of the Roman Empire : a new history of Rome and the Barbarians (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 300–312. ISBN 9780195325416.
External links
- Media related to Bleda at Wikimedia Commons