Skeleton with brutal injuries identified as duke assassinated in 1272

More than 700 years ago, a Hungarian duke was killed in a brutal and very bloody attack in a monastery. Now researchers studying an ancient skeleton unearthed in Budapest have confirmed it belonged to the Duke and revealed shocking details of his murder.

“There were many more serious injuries than it takes to kill someone,” says Martin Trautmann at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

Archaeologists discovered the man's remains, which were buried in dismembered pieces on the floor of a monastery, during excavations of a Dominican monastery in 1915 on Margaret Island, in the middle of the Danube River in Budapest. At the time, researchers suspected that the body might be that of 29-year-old Béla Maxo, the grandson of King Béla IV, who built the monastery.

Historical records from 13th-century Austria indicate that the young duke was killed on the island due to a feud for the Hungarian throne in November 1272. The bones showed numerous signs of trauma, but scientists did not have the tools or technology to confirm their suspicions.

The skeleton was apparently lost during World War II, says Tamás Hajdu at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, but in 2018 it reappeared in a wooden box at the Hungarian Museum of Natural History. Its rediscovery prompted research using modern techniques, including facial reconstruction last year.

The skeleton had nine injuries to the head and face and another 17 to other parts of the body, all of which occurred at the time of death, Hajdu said. To determine how the attack unfolded, Trautmann and his colleagues marked the skeleton of the educational model with the same cuts and played out different scenarios. “It was step by step, injury by injury, like a stop-motion movie,” he says.

Judging by the injuries, two or three people attacked the man from the front and sides, and he blocked the blows with his hands, Trautmann said. “They flanked the victim, so there was no easy way to escape.”

He eventually fell and cracked his skull, but continued to fight with his left leg, lying on his side, until someone pierced his spine. The attackers then inflicted multiple injuries on his head and face.

It may have been fatal, but it is also possible that the man bled to death. “There was a lot of bleeding,” Trautmann says.

Radiocarbon dating dated the death to the mid-13th century.^th century Plaque analysis showed that he ate a sumptuous diet that included boiled wheat semolina and baked wheat bread.

DNA analysis determined the man to be a fourth-generation descendant of the Hungarian king Béla III and an eighth-generation relative of the 13th-century regional Russian prince Dmitry Alexandrovich, consistent with historical records of the duke's family history.

Additional genetic analysis showed Eastern Mediterranean ancestry on his mother's side and Scandinavian ancestry on his father's side – consistent with historical knowledge of the Duke's ancestry – and that he likely had dark skin, dark curly hair and light brown eyes.

Scientists say the study sheds “compelling” light on a poorly understood historical event with few documented details. Tamás Kadarindependent medieval historian from Budapest. The Austrian text, without direct witnesses, basically states that the Duke “was killed in a terrible massacre on an island near Buda” and his limbs “cut into pieces” which were collected by his sister and aunt.

New scientific work reveals murderous passion, says Kadar, who wrote biography of Bela Maxo. “The fact that his body was hacked to pieces and possibly further mutilated after death certainly indicates great animosity and hatred,” he says. “The main goal was to kill Bela, to eliminate him. The main goal was his quick and certain death.”

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