,
Romania. There are theories that it served as seat of the Metropolitanate of Tourkia, which was established under the reign of
Gyula II in the 1090s, with several Eastern Orthodox monasteries also marked on the map The Magyars (or Hungarians)
invaded the Carpathian Basin in 895 or 896. They settled in the lowlands along the
Middle Danube and consolidated their authority in the region during the subsequent decades. Contemporaneous Byzantine authors referred to them as ("Turks") and to their land as ("Turkey") in the 10th century. The Hungarians were pagans, described as
star- and
fire-worshipers by Muslim geographers. In search for booty, they made regular raids, primarily against Western Europe in the early 10th century. They also invaded the Balkan territories of the Byzantine Empire in 934 and 943, forcing the Byzantines to sign a peace treaty. One of the Hungarians' principal military commanders, the
Bulcsú, was baptised in
Constantinople in 948. Bulcsú's conversion was not sincere and he launched new plundering raids against the Byzantine Empire in the early 950s. The second-ranked Hungarian chieftain,
Gylas, received baptism in Constantinople around 952. The
Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus rewarded him with the honorary title of , entitling him to a yearly subsidy. The Ecumenical Patriarch tasked a monk, Hierotheos, with the conversion of Gylas' subjects and consecrated him bishop. Hierotheos accompanied Gylas back to his realm where he converted many Hungarians, according to the Byzantine historian
John Skylitzes. Porphyrogenitus associated with lands to the east of the river
Tisza in
one of his books written around the same time. Finds of 10th-century Byzantine coins, earrings, reliquary crosses and similar artefacts abound in the region of
Szeged. Both facts imply that Gylas' domains were located near the confluence of the Tisza and
Maros, but this interpretation is not universally accepted by modern historians. == Metropolitan of Tourkia ==