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)
Foreword
a fortunate coincidence that molecular pathology - which examines DNA transmission to identify the changes in DNA leading to serious tumorous diseases - appeared in oncological diagnostics. Equally a special gift of fate, the first molecular pathology research profile in Central and Eastern Europe was established in the National Institute of Oncology, which I was the director of. As a result of this research of international significance, we identified and described several types of gene polymorphism in the DNA of tumours. By the beginning of the 2010s the number of molecular analyses reached several thousand per year. Pursuing this brand-new science required a genuinely innovative approach, as solutions had to be found to an extremely large number of problems. In this situation, and full of these recurring emotions, together with Professor Szentirmay I was listening to a lecture of Professor István Raskovits in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca in Romania) on his archaeogenetic analyses covering the period of the Hungarian Conquest. During these analyses they even examined the DNA of Hungarian horses used in those times to find the horse breeds whose DNA is closest. It was there that Professor Raskó said that the Turkmen horses he called “the Rolls-Royce of that age” were the closest. It was also fortunate that I listened to Professor Raskó because I could have done something different, but because I was in a student association at the Institute of Microbiology of the University of Szeged, and assistant lecturer Raskó was one of my mentors, I listened to his lecture out of respect. His lecture triggered a new idea. Namely, that given the competence of the institute, we should make an attempt to analyse the DNA of the bones found in Székesfehérvár and determine and identify our kings buried there, one by one. Given that King Béla III was the only king who could have 12
