Gál Éva: Margaret Island - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2000)

It may need an explanation, however, why Béla IV should have built a cloister for his beloved daughter on an island endangered by floods. It is possible, therefore, that the old stone walls seen by many along the banks in 1850 were used for the purposes of flood control. It is also conceivable that the tall stone buildings themselves provided sufficient protection against the floods. However, the likeliest explanation for the construction work carried out on Margaret Island is probably the fact that Margaret Island was included in the system of fortresses built or reinforced by Béla IV after the Mongol invasion. As suggested above, further strong buildings appeared alongside the cloister at the same time: the above-mentioned castles at the southern and northern tips, and the Franciscan monastery in the middle. Standing right next to the northern sanctuary wall of the Dominican church, the royal palace, extended at about the same time, is also likely to have been a reinforced structure. In its deed of foundation Béla IV says that the cloister where he was to install his daughter was to be built next to his castle (castrum). Fatherly love might have played a part in the selection of the spot, even though there are few precedents of such sentimental considerations affecting a ruler’s decisions at the time.

Under Turkish Rule

According to contemporary sources, the monks and the nuns escaped from the island not later than the conquest of Buda by the Turks. The territory thus became completely deserted by the middle of the sixteenth century. During the century and a half of Ottoman rule, the buildings began to decay, but did not completely disappear from the face of the earth, as the Turks did not normally destroy the constructions on the occupied territories on purpose; it was only their neglect of maintenance that contributed to the destruction of these buildings. Only unverifiable reports have come down to us about the use of the island during the Ottoman period. According to these the Turks pastured the horses of the Pasha of Buda and kept their “women of ill repute” here.

17