the Pannonians and Avars" before attacking "the lands of the Carinthians, Moravians and Bulgars", according to the contemporaneous Regino of Prüm. The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin is the principal subject of the Gesta Hungarorum, which is the earliest extant Hungarian chronicle. Most scholars agree that a notary of Béla III of Hungary, who ruled between 1173 and 1196, wrote the Gesta after the king's death. According to an alternative theory, the author of the Gesta, who is now known as Anonymus, had served Béla II of Hungary before starting to complete his work around 1150. Anonymus did not write of Svatopluk I of Moravia, Braslav, Duke of Lower Pannonia and the invading Magyars' other opponents who had been mentioned in works written in earlier centuries. Neither did he refer to the Magyars' fights with the Moravians, Franks and Bavarians which had been described in earlier annals and chronicles. On the other hand, Anonymus wrote of local polities and rulersincluding Gelou, the Vlach duke of Transylvania, Menumorut, the lord of the regions between the rivers Mureș, Someș and Tisza, and Salanus, the Bulgar ruler of the lands between the Danube and the Tiszaunknown from other primary sources. Banat on the eve of the Hungarian Conquest Stirrups, horse bits and spear points from inhumation graves unearthed at Sânpetru German suggest that the Avars settled along the Mureș River in Banat soon after their conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 560s. However, most archaeological finds in the lands south of the Mureș that had been attributed to the Avars are dated to the "Late Avar" period. Written sources show the survival of Gepids under Avar rule in the wider region of the Timiș River. For instance, the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta wrote of "three Gepid settlements" which were destroyed by an invading Byzantine army in 599 or 600. A rich burial yielding weapons unearthed at Pančevo and the Treasure of Sânnicolau Mare show that an important center of power existed in Banat in the "Late Avar" period, according to archaeologist Florin Curta. However, "Late Avar" cemeteries did not survive the 8th century. The Franks launched a series of expeditions against the Avar Khaganate in 790s, causing its disintegration. Krum of Bulgaria, who reigned between around 802 and 814, soon tried to take advantage of the fall of the Avars and invaded former Avar territories, but no contemporaneous report mentioned