Hungarian chronicles preserved contradictory reports of Gyula's family. According to the "Gesta Hungarorum", Gyula, or "the younger Gyula", was the son of Zombor and nephew of the elder Gyula. The same chronicle said that Zombor's grandfather, Tétényone of the seven chieftains of the Magyars, or Hungarians, at the time of their conquest of the Carpathian Basinhad defeated Gelou, the Vlach ruler of Transylvania, forcing Gelou's Slav and Vlach subjects to yield to him. Historian Florin Curta writes that the "Gesta Hungarorum" presented Gyula's family based on a local legend which "seems to have been blown out of proportions and linked to an earlier confusion between a family name and the name of a military rank ["gyula"] in the Magyar federation of tribes". Historian Gyula Kristó says that the anonymous writer of the "Gesta" arbitrarily made a connection between the noble Gyula-Zombor kindred of Pest and Nógrád counties and the family of the "gyulas" of Transylvania when writing about Gyula's ancestors. Simon of Kéza's "Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum" listed one Gyula among the seven chieftains of the conquering Hungarians, stating that "[a]lthough he came into Pannonia with the others, Gyula finally settled in Transylvania." Finally, the 14th- and 15th-century chronicles (including the "Illuminated Chronicle") distinguished three Gyulas, among whom the first Gyulaone of the seven Magyar chieftains"found a great city which had been built in former times by the Romans" while he was hunting in Transylvania. The great city is identified as Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia in Romania).