Overview
- Radiocarbon results place the death in the mid‑13th century, while DNA ties the individual to King Béla III’s lineage in line with records of Béla of Macsó.
- The bones show 26 perimortem injuries, including nine to the head and face, indicating extreme violence at or near the time of death.
- Forensic reconstruction suggests two or three assailants attacked from the front and sides, with a sequence ending in a stabbing through the spinal column and crushing head trauma.
- The remains were excavated in 1915 at a Dominican convent on Budapest’s Margaret Island, went missing during World War II, and were found again in 2018 at the Hungarian Museum of Natural History.
- Findings align with a 13th‑century Austrian account describing a slaughter and dismemberment, which historians interpret as evidence of politically charged hostility.