The skull of the investigated individual from the 13th century Dominican monastery on Margaret Island, Budapest. Credit: Eötvös Loránd University

A rediscovered skeleton found on Budapest’s Margaret Island has been confirmed as Duke Béla of Macsó, a descendant of Hungary’s Árpád and Rurik dynasties.

An international team of Hungarian-led researchers has conclusively identified the centuries-old remains of Duke Béla, Ban of Macsó, a descendant of both the Árpád and Rurik royal dynasties. Their findings have resolved an archaeological mystery that puzzled historians for more than a hundred years.

The research, directed by Tamás Hajdu (Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE TTK)), brought together experts from several fields. Genetic analyses were carried out by Anna Szécsényi-Nagy and Noémi Borbély from the Institute of Archaeogenomics, ELTE RCH. Their collaboration demonstrates how the humanities and natural sciences can jointly confirm historical evidence and reconstruct violent events from the distant past with remarkable precision. The study was published in Forensic Science International: Genetics.

In 1915, archaeologists excavating the Dominican monastery on Margaret Island (Budapest) uncovered the bones of a young man buried in the sacristy. Based on the burial site, historical documentation, and evidence of severe injuries on the skeleton, experts at the time suggested that the remains could belong to Béla, Duke of Macsó, a member of the Árpád dynasty.

Béla of Macsó (born after 1243 – died November 1272) was the grandson of King Béla IV of Hungary through his mother and a descendant of the Rurik dynasty on his father’s side. The Rurik family, of northern Scandinavian origin, ruled Kievan Rus for nearly seven centuries beginning in the 9th century. According to Austrian chronicles from the 13th century, Duke Béla was assassinated in November 1272 by Ban Henrik “Kőszegi” of the Héder family and his followers. Contemporary sources recount that Béla’s mutilated body was recovered by his sister Margit and niece Erzsébet, who arranged for his burial within the Dominican monastery on the island.

From Forgotten Bones to Rediscovery

After the initial excavation, the bones were transferred to anthropologist Lajos Bartucz at the Budapest University’s Institute of Anthropology (now the Department of Anthropology, ELTE TTK) for examination. Bartucz documented 23 sword wounds on the skeleton, including multiple fatal blows to the head. He concluded that the duke had not died in a duel but had been surrounded and attacked by several assailants, even while already on the ground.

Bartucz briefly mentioned the find in a 1936 newspaper article and later published a photograph of the skull in his 1938 book. After that, the remains vanished from public view, and for decades, many assumed they had been destroyed during World War II.

In 2018, however, researchers made an unexpected discovery. The postcranial bones were found in a wooden box stored within the Hungarian Museum of Natural History’s vast anthropological collection, which contains tens of thousands of specimens. The skull, meanwhile, was located in the Aurél Török Collection at ELTE’s Department of Anthropology, allowing scientists to reunite the long-lost remains for the first time in over a century.

Moreover, its study will provide data not only on the genetic background of the House of Árpád, but also on that of the Rurik dynasty. The international collaboration involved researchers from the Universities of Vienna, Bologna and Helsinki, Harvard University, and Hungarian researchers from the Department of Biological Anthropology at ELTE, the Institute of Archaeogenomics at ELTE RCH, the Budapest History Museum, the Hungarian Natural History Museum, the HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, and the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Debrecen.

Scientific Analysis and Radiocarbon Dating

Biological anthropological analyses re-conducted within the framework of the project revealed that the individual buried under the floor in the sacristy of the Dominican monastery on Margaret Island was a young man in his early twenties. The radiocarbon dating of the bone samples was performed by two independent laboratories simultaneously to provide an exact date of the finds, as the first 14C results showed an earlier date than expected (second half of the 13th century). However, a series of measurements conducted by the researchers of the Nuclear Research Institute (Debrecen) has successfully shown that this phenomenon can be traced back to dietary reasons. Namely, the individual in question consumed large amounts of animal protein, including a significant amount of aquatic animals (fish and perhaps shellfish) that fed on ancient carbon sources, which had a so-called “reservoir” effect on the bones.

The dental calculus of the individual was analysed for further reconstruction of the diet. More than a thousand microfossils were preserved in the tartar. The identified starch grains originated from wheat and barley, with traces of milling, cooking, and baking. The remains indicated the consumption of cooked wheat semolina and baked wheat bread.

Based on the measurements of strontium isotope ratios, which indicate past individual mobility, the investigated man was not born and did not spend his early childhood in the same place where he was buried. The values ​​in early childhood correspond to those measured in the region of Vukovar and Syrmia (now part of Croatia and Serbia; earlier this region was a part of the Macso Banat of the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary), among several other areas of the Carpathian Basin. In late childhood, the person in question moved to another region (possibly even the area around present-day Budapest).

Genetic Confirmation of Royal Lineage

The conclusive genetic identification of the examined man was carried out at the Institute of Archaeogenomics of ELTE RCH by Anna Szécsényi-Nagy and Noémi Borbély. The genealogy indicated by historical sources can be supported by several pieces of mutually reinforcing genetic evidence. The data clearly prove that Béla, Duke of Macsó was the great-grandson (fourth-degree descendant) of King Béla III, and in accordance with this fact and with the historical facts, the genetic distance of the duke to Saint Ladislaus is approximately double.

The result of the genetic composition estimation based on whole-genome data indicates a largely Scandinavian genetic component (almost half), in addition to a significant amount of Eastern Mediterranean components and a smaller amount of an early medieval Central European component. The northern component present in exceptionally high quantities supports the Rurik origin of the investigated individual. The Eastern Mediterranean connection may point to the maternal grandmother of the examined man. The maternal grandmother of Duke Béla of Macsó was Maria Laskarina, who was the wife of Béla IV, and a member of the Byzantine imperial family. Y-chromosome studies confirmed the historical data regarding the Rurik paternal line of the examined individual.

In 2023, a Russian archaeogenomic study revealed, that the remains of a 13th-century Rurikid (Dmitry Alexandrovich) belonged to the same paternal lineage; on this paternal line, the dynastic genealogy can be traced back to Yaroslav I (Yaroslav Vladimirovich, also known as Yaroslav the Wise). In addition, the well-researched genetic data of the descendants of the Rurik dynasty living today also strongly support Duke Béla’s paternal connection to the Rurikids.

Forensic Reconstruction of the Assassination

In order to reconstruct the exact circumstances of the duke’s death and to compare them with known historical sources, a detailed forensic anthropological analysis was also carried out. Forensic anthropological and dental analysis of the skeleton revealed 26 perimortem injuries, nine to the skull and 17 to the postcranial bones, all of which were caused by a single violent incident.

The injuries likely indicated a coordinated attack by three people. One attacker approached the victim from the front; the other two attacked the victim simultaneously from the left and the right. The location of the injuries suggests that the duke faced his assassins in an open confrontation, was aware of the aggression, and attempted to defend himself. The attackers used two different types of weapons to commit the murder, likely a sabre and a longsword. The clear and deep cut marks indicate that the victim was not wearing armor at the time of the assassination.

The new reconstruction of the sequence of attacks suggests that the assault began with sword blows to the head and upper body, and then, while the victim tried to block further blows and cuts, he suffered severe defensive injuries. Finally, the attackers incapacitated the victim permanently with further blows from the side. They continued the attack, and when the duke fell to the ground, the assailants inflicted fatal injuries on the head and face.

The intensity of the aggression, as well as the numerous cuts and blows to the face, indicated intense emotional involvement (e.g. sudden anger, hatred), while the coordinated nature of the injuries suggests a premeditated murder. Based on the above, although the assassination of Duke Béla of Macsó in November 1272 was partly or completely premeditated, it was by no means carried out in cold blood.

Reference: “Murder in cold blood? Forensic and bioarchaeological identification of the skeletal remains of Béla, Duke of Macsó (c. 1245–1272)” by Tamás Hajdu, Noémi Borbély, Zsolt Bernert, Ágota Buzár, Tamás Szeniczey, István Major, Claudio Cavazzuti, Mihály Molnár, Anikó Horváth, László Palcsu, Barna Árpád Kelentey, János Angyal, Balázs Gusztáv Mende, Kristóf Jakab, Zsuzsa Lisztes-Szabó, Ágoston Takács, Olivia Cheronet, Ron Pinhasi, David Emil Reich, Martin Trautmann and Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, 26 October 2025, Forensic Science International: Genetics. DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2025.103381

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