Researchers may detect the earthly remains of 15 Hungarian Medieval kings

Miklós Kásler, the former health minister of Hungary and newly-appointed director of the Institue of Hungarian Research (Magyarságkutató Intézet) shared some details about how they would like to identify the earthly remains of the Medieval kings of the Árpád dynasty.

A grandiose reburial of multiple Hungarian Medieval kings from the Árpád dynasty is on the horizon. At least that is the final aim of the relevant research conducted by the Institute of Hungarian Research.

The Hungarian kings (and queens, princes, etc.) were buried in Székesfehérvár during the Árpád dynasty (1000-1301), with only a few exceptions. During the Ottoman occupation (1541-1686), the church’s crypt was looted, and the graves were opened and robbed. Furthermore, the bones found in them were placed in an ossuary.

According to Kásler, there are 600 bones in it containing the earthly remains of 15 Hungarian kings. They aim to identify those with the help of science and rebury. There is a unique gene segment typical for the male members of the dynasty. That was identified in the National Oncology Institute (Kásler is an oncologist).

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We need foreign help to identify our kings

As a result, they know which bones belong to an Árpád descendant. However, we do not know who was who. Therefore, they analyse the genetic remains of their relatives (parents, kids, siblings) and compare them. That is why he wrote letters to churches and cloisters all over Europe to get permission for acquiring samples. They received positive answers already from three places.

But identification is just the first step. In the long run, the institution would like to create a national memorial in Székesfehérvár for the 15 kings of the Árpád dynasty resting there.