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In 1272 CE, a Hungarian duke was murdered in cold blood. Details surrounding the grisly killing of the 13th century Hungarian duke named Béla of Macsó have remained murky for centuries. The duke met his demise at the hand of enemies, but far less is known about what motivated his killers or how the attack really unfolded.
Now, after years of reexamination and interdisciplinary analysis, an international team of researchers has a much clearer and reliable picture of Béla’s fatal encounter. Their findings published in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics not only corroborate the dignitary’s skeletal remains–they show that the duke’s death was no crime of passion.
Who was Béla of Macsó?
Béla of Macsó was born into the House of Árpád some time around 1243 CE. The grandson of Hungarian King Béla IV on his mother’s side and part of the northern Scandinavian Rurik dynasty from his father, Béla eventually became the Ban (a title similar to a viceroy) of Macsó. Austrian records from the 13th century report that a fellow Ban named Henrik Kőszegi killed Béla sometime in November 1272 CE. His mutilated remains were later collected by his sister Margit and niece Erzsébet to be buried in a Dominican monastery’s sacristy near present-day Budapest.
Béla’s body remained interred for around 643 years, until an archaeological excavation in 1915. A subsequent bioanthropological analysis published in 1936 revealed the duke did not die in a duel contrary to some accounts. Instead, the 23 sword gashes and multiple fatal skull injuries indicate that an ambush from multiple assailants was the most likely cause of death. Anthropologists thought for decades that Béla’s bones likely disappeared sometime during World War II. However, his remains were before accidentally rediscovered in a wooden box at the Hungarian Museum of Natural Museum in 2018.