Júlia Bányai

Júlia Bányai (1824 – November 1, 1883), was a Hungarian freedom fighter in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.[1]

Bányai was born in 1824 to a poor salt miner in the town of Vízakna (Ocna Sibiului) in Transylvania (today part of Romania) and became an equestrian in the circus.[1] She married the lawyer and human rights activist Gyula Sárossy but he died a few months after the wedding from an illness.

In 1848, she dressed in a man's uniform and enlisted in the Hungarian forces under the name Gyula Bányai, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and then captain for military service.[1] After this, she served as a spy in Hungarian service, for which she was given military recognition. After the defeat, she emigrated to the Ottoman Empire. She married Captain Eduard Matta in 1850. In 1851-1852, she participated in the uprising against Austria in Transylvania. After it was defeated, she emigrated to Turkey then to Egypt, where she and her husband settled in Cairo.

References
  1. "Júlia Bányai: The Woman in Men's Clothes Who Became a Military Hero in the Revolution of 1848". Hungary Today. 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  • Magyar Nagylexikon. Főszerk. Élesztős László (1-5. k.), Berényi Gábor (6. k.), Bárány Lászlóné (8-). Bp., Akadémiai Kiadó, 1993-.
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