"After King Stephen V's death in August 1272, Hungary was thrown into turmoil. His young son, Ladislaus IV, had just ascended the throne, and rival factions of nobles fought for power. Duke Béla, then in his twenties, was the kingdom's most prominent surviving male of the royal house and a potential claimant to the throne. Invited to a council on the Island of Hares (today's Margaret Island), he walked into a trap."
"According to 13th-century sources, the meeting was orchestrated by Henrik (Kőszegi) of the Héder family and his allies. When Béla arrived, he was attacked and cut down inside the convent precinct. His body-mutilated beyond recognition-was retrieved by his sister, Saint Margaret of Hungary, and his niece Erzsébet and buried within the Dominican monastery's sacristy. During excavations of the monastery in 1915, archaeologists uncovered three graves in the sacristy."
Skeletal remains uncovered in 1915 on Margaret Island were identified as Duke Béla of Macsó, grandson of King Béla IV and descendant of the Rurikid princes of Kievan Rus'. The remains belonged to a dismembered young man with dozens of cut marks indicating extensive mutilation. The killing occurred after King Stephen V's death in 1272 amid noble factions vying for power; Béla, a leading male of the royal house and possible claimant, was lured to a council on the Island of Hares and murdered. DNA analysis, forensic anthropology, and archaeology were combined to confirm identity and reconstruct the politically motivated, dynastic murder.
Read at Medievalists.net
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