Lehel ( hu, Lél; died 955), a member of the

Árpád dynasty The Árpád dynasty, consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád (), also known as Árpáds ( hu, Árpádok, hr, Arpadovići). They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingd ...

, was a Magyar

chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categorized as ...

and, together with

Bulcsú Bulcsú (or Vérbulcsú; died 10 August 955) was a Hungarian chieftain, one of the military leaders of prince Taksony of Hungary, a descendant of Árpád. He held the title of horka. He was one of the most important figures of the Hungarian inv ...

, one of the most important figures of the

Hungarian invasions of Europe The Hungarian invasions of Europe ( hu, kalandozások, german: Ungarneinfälle) took place in the 9th and 10th centuries, the period of transition in the history of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, when the territory of the former Carolingian E ...

. After the Magyar defeat at the

Battle of Lechfeld The Battle of Lechfeld was a series of military engagements over the course of three days from 10–12 August 955 in which the Kingdom of Germany, led by King Otto I the Great, annihilated the Hungarian army led by '' Harka '' Bulcsú and the c ...

, he was executed in Regensburg.

Origin

The medieval chronicler

Anonymus Anonymus is the Latin spelling of anonymity, anonymous, traditionally used by scholars in the humanities for any ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Such writers have left valuable historical or literary recor ...

calls Lehel the son of Tas, who was one of the "

seven chieftains of the Magyars The Seven chieftains of the Magyars (or Hungarians) were the leaders of the seven tribes of the Hungarians at the time of their arrival in the Carpathian Basin in AD 895. Constantine VII, emperor of the Byzantine Empire names the seven tribes in ...

", and a descendant of late Grand Prince

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

. Most historians agree that there is a mismatch in the timing, though he shoul