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'''Bleda''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|l|ɛ|d|ə|,_|ˈ|b|l|eɪ|d|ə}}) was a [[Social:Huns|Hunnic]] ruler, the brother of [[Social:Attila|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=75}}</ref>

As nephews to [[Social:Rugila|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<ref>Jordanes. ''[https://www.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html The Origin and Deeds of the Goths]'' XXXV. Translated by Mierow, Charles C.</ref> that Attila murdered him on a hunting trip, it is unknown exactly how he died. However, there is an alternative theory that Bleda attempted to kill Attila on a hunting trip, but Attila being a skilled warrior defeated Bleda. One of the few things known about Bleda is that, after the great Hun campaign of 441, he acquired a Moorish 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 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 [[Social:Altaic languages|Altaic]] origin.{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=202}} In 455 is recorded the [[Religion: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 |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 generals also had the same name.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=388}}  Maenchen-Helfen noted that the possibility Hunnic names were Gothicized, and undergone morphological and manuscript changes, can not be overlooked.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|p=385, 389}}

Omeljan Pritsak considered its root ''bli-'' had typical vocalic metathesis of [[Social:Oghur languages|Oghur-Bulgar]] language from < ''*bil-'', which is [[Social: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}} István Bóna argued the same derivation, and considered the resemblance to the Gothic ''Blædila'' only superficial.{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=177}} Hyun Jin Kim considered Turkic derivation more natural and probable.{{sfn|Kim|2013|p=30, 177}}

==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 [[Social:Mundzuk|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 ''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 [[Place:Danube|Danube]].

For the next five years, the Huns stayed out of Roman sight as they tried to invade the Persian Empire. A crushing defeat in [[Place:Armenia|Armenia]] caused them to abandon this attempt and return their attentions to [[Earth:Europe|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 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 Moesians in [[Place:Illyria|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 [[Place:Balkans|Balkans]], which they invaded in 441. The Hunnish army, having sacked Margus and Viminacium, took Singidunum (modern [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]]) and [[Biology:Sirmium|Sirmium]] (modern Sremska Mitrovica) before halting. A lull followed in 442, and, during this time, Theodosius recalled his troops from [[Place:North Africa|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 [[Place:Niš|Niš]]) with battering rams and rolling towers (military sophistication that was new to the Hun repertory), then, pushing along the Nišava, they took Serdica (Sofia), [[Place:Plovdiv|Philippopolis]] (Plovdiv) and 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 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.

==References==
{{reflist}}

;Sources
* Priscus. ''Byzantine History''. 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); Dindorf, Ludwig (1870) (the original Greek). ''Historici Graeci Minores''. Leipzig: Teubner.
* {{cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |date=1973 |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=hr&id=CrUdgzSICxcC |title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520015968 |ref={{harvid|Maenchen-Helfen1973}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Pritsak |first=Omeljan |date=1982 |title=The Hunnic Language of the Attila Clan  |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 |ref={{harvid|Pritsak1982}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Sinor |first=Denis|date=1990 |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521243049 |ref={{harvid|Sinor1990}}}}
* {{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}}}}

==External links==

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{{succession box | before = [[Social:Rugila|Rugila]]| title = Hunnic rulers | years = Joint rule <br>Attila & Bleda<br>c. 435–445 | after = Attila}}
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[[Category:Huns]]

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