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 THREE – Archaeological, anthropological and radiological data
the metal remains of a wooden coffin, and the skeletons of a female and a fetus. The female skeleton buried in the coffin was lost, but the fetus is accounted for (its unused number is II/52_4). With the help a genetic analysis of the fetus, we determined that the person found in the fourth grave was Princess Predslava of Kiev (Chapter 10, Point 3). Directly next to the fourth grave, a fifth grave was found with a wooden coffin and brick walls, but the skeleton it contained was so fragmented that it was not kept. We have certain knowledge that the remains of Princess Predslava’s husband, Prince Álmos of the Árpád Dynasty, who died in 1127 in exile in Constantinople were repatriated by Béla II (the Blind) and buried in 1137 in the royal Basilica of Székesfehérvár (Biczó 2016). These facts help us to determine where Prince Álmos of the Árpád Dynasty may have been buried. Before the bones of Álmos were placed in their final resting place, they were neglected for 10 years, which explains their poor condition; furthermore, according to the burial customs of that period, close relatives were buried next to each other. All of these facts combined suggest that the person resting in the fifth grave may have been Prince Álmos of the Árpád Dynasty, who was buried next to Predslava of Kiev (fl 116) in the fourth grave. (Up until this point, we do not know of any brick-lined Árpád-era graves in the Royal Basilica). The five graves and the skeletons they contained were drawn at the site by the engineer Varsányi (Figure 13), who was brought to Székesfehérvár by Érdy. On December 17, 1848, Érdy brought only four skeletons to Budapest: the bone fragments in the fifth grave were found to be in such poor condition that they were not kept. Back in Budapest, a medical committee of unknown members examined the four 66
