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
on that, it was probably a secular burial ground and they may have been members of the royal family. We cannot confirm the gender identification, however, since the skeleton has been lost. The northern isle was usually the burial ground of the clergy during the Middle Ages. In the 14th and 15th centuries, two provostship chapels stood on the north side (the chapel built by provosts Miklós Bodó Györgyi and Domonkos Kálmáncsehi). The two persons buried in grave F contradict the theory of a royal burial, but these skeletons have also been lost. The second persons bones formerly buried here were put to the back of the grave. In the Middle Ages, this was a common practice, but it is hardly imaginable in the case of the royal family. If an important persons remains were in the way, they were put in a small chest and reburied elsewhere. Regrettably, besides the remains of Béla III and his wife, not only are we missing the skeletons of four out of our other five 12th century kings, we cannot even confirm their final resting places. In 1839, on the church’s western side, 4+1 graves were excavated. Of these, one was from the Árpád period beyond doubt: based on the gold jewellery, the person may have been a royal or related to the royal family. Henszlmann saw the graves’ location and shows them to be on the main aisle’s northern half on his map. It is unknown, however, whether he was able to correctly perceive their location: they may well have been at the northern aisle. In that case, the possibility of a royal burial in the northern aisle should be considered. Figure 15 shows the schematics for the Royal Basilica of Székesfehérvár, where the graves excavated by János Érdy, Imre Henszlmann, Alán Kralovánszky and Piroska Biczó, and the grave of Princess Katalin are marked. 73
