Liüntika

The Magyar band sent to Arnulf had reported back that the plains across the Carpathian Mountains would form a suitable new homeland that could be easily conquered and defended from the rear.

The tribes elect as their unifying leader Árpád, the leader of their most powerful tribe, and, with nowhere else to turn, plan a movement westward from their home in the northern Caucasus.

The earliest reliable source of Árpád's life is an early tenth-century document, the Continuation of the Chronicle by George the Monk.

It narrates that the Emperor Leo VI the Wise sent his envoy Nicetas Sclerus to the Magyars in 894 or 895 "to give presents" and incite them against the Bulgarian Empire.

Sclerus met with their two leaders, Árpád and Kurszán, at the Lower Danube.

Sclerus's mission succeeded: a Magyar army soon crossed the Danube on imperial ships against Bulgaria.

An interpolation in Porphyrogenitus's text suggests that the invading Hungarians were under the command of Árpád's son, Liüntika.

The positions held by Árpád and Kurszán at the time of their negotiations with Sclerus are debated by historians.

Spinei wrote that Árpád was the gyula, and Kurszán was the kende.

In contrast, Kristó said that Kurszán was the gyula and Árpád represented his father, Álmos kende.

The Magyar army defeated the Bulgarians, but the latter hired the Pechenegs against them.

The Bulgarians and Pechenegs simultaneously invaded the Hungarians' territories in the western regions of the Pontic steppes in 895 or 896.

The destruction of their dwelling places by the Pechenegs forced the Hungarians to leave for a new homeland across the Carpathian Mountains towards the Pannonian Plain.

Constantinople, unable to effectively respond to the Bulgarian campaign due to the engagement of its forces against the Arabs, persuades the Magyars to attack Bulgaria, promising to transport them across the Danube using the imperial navy.

Leo VI may have also concluded an agreement with Arnulf to make sure that the Franks do not support Simeon against the Magyars.

In addition, the talented commander Nikephoros Phokas is called back from southern Italy to lead a separate army against Bulgaria in 895 with the mere intention to overawe the Bulgarians.

Simeon, unaware of the threat from the north, rushes to meet Phokas' forces, but the two armies do not engage in a fight.

Instead, Constantinople offers peace, informing him of both the imperial foot and maritime campaign, but intentionally does not notify him of the planned Magyar attack.

Simeon does not trust the envoy and, after sending him to prison, orders the imperial navy's route into the Danube closed off with ropes and chains, intending to hold it until he has dealt with Phokas.

Despite the problems they encounter because of the fencing, the imperial forces ultimately manage to ferry the Magyar forces led by Árpád's son Liüntika across the Danube, possibly near modern Galaţi, and assists them in pillaging the nearby Bulgarian lands.

Once notified of the surprise invasion, Simeon heads north to stop the Magyars, leaving some of his troops at the southern border to prevent a possible attack by Phokas.

Simeon's two encounters with the enemy in Northern Dobruja result in Magyar victories, forcing him to retreat to Drǎstǎr.