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
Burial in their own churches may have been motivated by them wanting to distance themselves from István. The controversial nature of their relationship with the first king revealed itself: while it is true that as Christian kings they were his successors (and thus did not allow a pagan restoration of any kind), on a family and personal level they could not forget that they had only suffered losses at István ’s hands, and indeed András and Béla had to endure their fathers mutilation and their own exile. It took some time until the family would remember the first king more fondly. Reconciliation came from a political angle. A first sign of this was that Vazul’s grandson, László I, declared István I a saint. László ’s successor continued this trend of reconciliation on a family level. King Kálmán the Learned (1095-1116), son of Géza I, belonged to another generation, the first to be buried next to István. It is a mystery why his son, István II (1116-1131) did not follow him, choosing instead to be laid to rest near László at Nagyvárad. This is peculiar, because Kálmán - in order to secure the throne for his only son - had Prince Álmos and his innocent child Béla blinded. His case, however, mirrored István ’s fate: it was not the ruler who ordered the blindings, but rather the blinded themselves who became the patriarchs of future monarchs. The dynastic burial at Székesfehérvár took place after a change in the line of succession: The son of Prince Álmos, Béla II the Blind (1131-1141), ruled at the time. In 113 7, he had the remains of his father Álmos brought back from the Byzantine Empire where he had died in exile and buried him at Székesfehérvár, at the Virgin Mary Basilica. It is unlikely that his deed was to represent a post factum brotherly reconciliation between his uncle and his father, Kálmán and Álmos; 42
