Miklós Kásler - Zoltán Szentirmay (szerk.): Identifying the Árpád Dynasty Skeletons Interred in the Matthias Church. Applying data from historical, archaeological, anthropological, radiological, morphological, radiocarbon dating and genetic research (Budapest, 2021)
CHAPTER TWO – Historical background
we look at the results of the genetic examination of Béla Ill ’s skeletal remains. Regardless of this, Béla Il ’s lifestyle and especially his reign required the support of others: during his rule he relied on his wife Helena, her brother Belos, and a royal council composed of nobles loyal to them. Béla the Blind’s reign and family life should both be considered successful, but he could not overcome his personal tragedy, his blinding as a child, which resulted in his descent into alcoholism, which clearly contributed to king’s death at the age of 32. It is a strange fact of history that all three of Béla Il ’s sons who later became kings - Géza II, László II and István IV - died around the age of 32. As was the case with their father, a chronicler could write “his body lays at Fehérvár ”: it seems the blind king started a family tradition of burial in the Virgin Mary Basilica. (We should add to this that Béla the Blind had only one marriage, so the three brothers were from the same mother, Helena, which would make it extremely difficult for archaeogeneticists to identify their persons, if the royal skeletal remains from the mid-12th century were to be found.) The cause of Géza Il ’s death (1162) is unknown. His firstborn son, István III (1162-1172), however, was quickly sidelined due to the Byzantine Empire’s support for his uncles. A contemporary English source describes his final times in an interesting account: due to his taking the throne, the king found himself in opposition to the Archbishop of Esztergom, who, on Christmas eve of 1162, issued a curse-like prophecy of the king’s imminent death, which came true in January 1163 (we would not be surprised if it was revealed that humans helped guide the hand of divine providence). László II was followed by his younger brother, István IV, but his reign only lasted half a year, 45
