Szatmári Gizella: Signs of Remembrance - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2005)

■ Hiá Royal HiqhneM, the Prince

agreed to have the remains of the long-dead exiles returned to Hungarian soil. Repatriation did in fact occur on 27 October 1906, after parliament formally rehabilitated Rákóczi and his associates on the 22nd of the same month.

That the protocol of the reburial must have stirred up heated debates is shown by comments made by Zuboly (the pen-name of Elemér Bányai) in the pages of Vaiárnapí Új&ág. As the pseudonymous commentator saw fit to point out"... the various measures taken to provide for the pomp and circumstance surrounding the burial... are of a symbolic significance.” For that reason, goes the argument, it would be a grave mistake if the army was absent because "Rákóczi, as the ruling prince of the country, is entitled to the mournful presence of the armed forces." True as that might be, Rákóczi had "risen against” the anointed monarch of the land, going as far as declaring, at the Parliament of Ónod, separation from the Hapsburg crown and the independence of the Hungarian nation. According to the pictorial coverage that the event received in the newspaper, mounted escort was eventually provided by the Kuruc banderia from Zemplén and Abony as well as the Bercsényi Hussars.

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