Editing Bleda

{{about|the brother of [[Attila the Hun]]|the community in the United States|Bleda, Missouri|the [[bulbul]] genus|Bleda (bird)}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Bleda
| image        = 
| image_size   = 
| alt          = Colored lithograph
| caption      = 
| succession   = [[List of Hunnic rulers|Chieftain]] of the [[Huns]] ([[Coregency|co-rulership]])
| reign        = 434–445
| predecessor  = [[Rugila|Ruga]]
| successor    = [[Attila]]
| birth_date   = {{circa|400}}
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{nowr|{{circa|445}} (aged 45)}}
| death_place  = 
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = 
| issue        = 
| father       = [[Mundzuk]]
| religion     = 
| module       = 
}}

'''Bleda''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|l|ɛ|d|ə|,_|ˈ|b|l|eɪ|d|ə}}) was a [[Huns|Hunnic]] ruler, the brother of [[Attila]] the Hun.<ref name=Rene>{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=0-8135-1304-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/75 75] |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/75 }}</ref> As nephews to [[Rugila]], Attila and his elder brother Bleda succeeded him to the [[throne]]. Bleda's reign lasted for eleven years until his death. While it has been speculated by [[Jordanes]] that Attila murdered him on a hunting trip,<ref>[[Jordanes]]. ''[https://www.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html The Origin and Deeds of the Goths]'' XXXV. Translated by [[Charles C. Mierow|Mierow, Charles C.]]</ref> it is unknown exactly how he died. One of the few things known about Bleda is that, after the great Hun campaign of 441, he acquired a [[Moorish]] [[dwarfism|dwarf]] named [[Zerco]]. 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),{{sfn|Pritsak|1982|p=443}} and Latin ''Bleda''.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=387}}

[[Otto Maenchen-Helfen]] considered the name to be of [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] or Germanized origin, a short form of ''Bladardus'', ''Blatgildus'', ''Blatgisus''.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=388}} [[Denis Sinor]] considered that the name begins with consonant cluster, and as such it cannot be of [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] origin.{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=202}} In 455 is recorded the [[Arianism|Arian]] bishop Bleda along [[Genseric]] and the [[Vandals]],{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=387–288}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Berndt |first1=Guido M |last2=Steinacher |first2=Roland |author-link=Denis Sinor |date=2014 |title=Arianism: Roman Heresy and Barbarian Creed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |pages=153–154 |isbn=9781409473282}}</ref> and one of [[Totila]]'s generals also had the same name.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=388}}

[[Omeljan Pritsak]] considered its root ''bli-'' had typical vocalic metathesis of [[Oghur languages|Oghur-Bulgar]] language from < ''*bil-'', which is [[Old Turkic language|Old Turkic]] "to know".{{sfn|Pritsak|1982|p=443}} Thus Hunnic ''*bildä'' > ''blidä'' was actually Old Turkic ''bilgä'' (wise, sovereign).{{sfn|Pritsak|1982|p=443}}

==Bleda and Attila's rule==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2015}}

[[File:Buda Litho 2.jpg|thumb|right|Bleda in a lithograph by [[Josef Kriehuber]] (ca. 1828).]]
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&nbsp;kg) of gold, open their markets to Hunnish traders, and pay a ransom of eight ''[[Solidus (coin)|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 [[Sassanid Empire|Persian Empire]]. A crushing defeat in [[Armenia]] caused them to abandon this attempt and return their attentions to [[Europe]]. In 440, they reappeared on the borders of the Roman Empire, attacking the merchants at the market on the north bank of the Danube that had been established by the treaty. Attila and Bleda threatened further war, claiming that the Romans had failed to fulfill their treaty obligations and that the Bishop of [[Požarevac|Margus]] had crossed the Danube to ransack and desecrate the royal Hun graves on the Danube's north bank. They crossed the Danube and laid waste to Illyrian cities and forts on the river, among them, according to Priscus, [[Viminacium]] (present-day [[Kostolac]]), which was a city of the [[Moesia]]ns in [[Illyria]]. Their advance began at Margus, for when the Romans discussed handing over the offending bishop, he slipped away secretly to the Huns and betrayed the city to them.

Theodosius had stripped the river's defenses in response to the Vandal [[Gaiseric]]'s capture of [[Carthage]] in 440 and the [[Sassanid]] [[Yazdegerd II]]'s invasion of Armenia in 441. This left Attila and Bleda a clear path through Illyria into the [[Balkans]], which they invaded in 441. The Hunnish army, having sacked Margus and Viminacium, took Singidunum (modern [[Belgrade]]) and [[Sirmium]] (modern [[Sremska Mitrovica]]) before halting. A lull followed in 442, and, during this time, Theodosius recalled his troops from [[North Africa]] and ordered a large new issue of coins to finance operations against the Huns. Having made these preparations, he thought it safe to refuse the Hunnish kings' demands.

Attila and Bleda responded by renewing their campaign in 443. Striking along the Danube, they overran the military centers of [[Ratiaria]] and successfully besieged [[Naissus]] (modern [[Niš]]) with [[battering ram]]s and other [[siege engine]]s (military sophistication that was new to the Hun repertory), then, pushing along the [[Nišava]], they took [[Serdica]] (Sofia), [[Plovdiv|Philippopolis]] (Plovdiv) and [[Arcadiopolis in Europa|Arcadiopolis]] (Luleburgaz). They encountered and destroyed the Roman force outside Constantinople and were only halted by their lack of siege equipment capable of breaching the city's massive walls. Theodosius admitted defeat and sent the court official [[Anatolius (consul 440)|Anatolius]] to negotiate peace terms, which were harsher than the previous treaty: the Emperor agreed to hand over 6,000 Roman pounds (ca. 1,963&nbsp;kg) of gold as punishment for having disobeyed the terms of the treaty during the invasion; the yearly tribute was tripled, rising to 2,100 Roman pounds (ca. 687&nbsp;kg) in gold; and the ransom for each Roman prisoner rose to twelve ''solidi.''

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.
[[File:Nuremberg_chronicles_-_BVJA.png|thumb|400x400px|[[Buda]] in the Middle Ages ([[Nuremberg Chronicle]], 1493) ]]
{{Blockquote|''[[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.''|[[Mark of Kalt]]: ''[[Chronicon Pictum]]''<ref>''Mark of Kalt: Chronicon Pictum'' https://mek.oszk.hu/10600/10642/10642.htm</ref>}}{{Blockquote|''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]''|[[Anonymus (notary of Béla III)|Anonymus]]: ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]''<ref>''Anonymus, Notary of King Béla: The Deeds of the Hungarians'' https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/18975/1/18975.pdf</ref>}}

== Portrayals ==
[[File:Attila il flagello di Dio (1954) Ettore Manni 3.png|thumb|Bleda portrayed by [[Ettore Manni]] in ''[[Attila (1954 film)|Attila]]'']]
* [[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 (actor)|Tommy Flanagan]] played Bleda in the 2001 mini-series, opposite [[Gerard Butler]], as Attila.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[Priscus]]. ''Byzantine History''. [[J. B. Bury|Bury, J. B.]] (English translation). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20010204040700/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/priscus.html Priscus at the court of Attila]'' (online); [[Ludwig Dindorf|Dindorf, Ludwig]] (1870) (the original Greek). ''Historici Graeci Minores''. Leipzig: [[Teubner]].
* {{cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |date=1973 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC_2 |title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=9780520015968 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Pritsak |first=Omeljan |author-link=Omeljan Pritsak |date=1982 |title=The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |url=http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/huri/files/vvi_n4_dec1982.pdf |publisher=[[Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]] |place=Cambridge, Massachusetts |volume=IV |issue=4 |issn=0363-5570 |access-date=2015-11-20 |archive-date=2016-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213172602/http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/huri/files/vvi_n4_dec1982.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book |last=Sinor |first=Denis|author-link=Denis Sinor |date=1990 |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521243049 }}
* {{cite book |author=[[Hyun Jin Kim]] |year=2013 |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jCpncXFzoFgC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107009066 |ref={{harvid|Kim2013}}}}
* {{cite book |last1=Heather |first1=Peter |title=The fall of the Roman Empire : a new history of Rome and the Barbarians |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195325416 |pages=300–312 |edition=1st }}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline|Bleda}}

{{s-start}}
{{succession box | before = [[Rugila]]| title = [[List of Hunnish rulers|Hunnic rulers]] | years = Joint rule <br>[[Attila the Hun|Attila]] & Bleda<br>c. 435–445 | after = [[Attila the Hun|Attila]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Huns}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleda}}
[[Category:400s births]]
[[Category:440s deaths]]
[[Category:Kings of the Huns]]
[[Category:5th-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:5th-century monarchs in Europe]]
[[Category:5th-century Hunnic kings]]