The Red Wedding from Game of Thrones has happened in the past in Hungary

There is no need to introduce one of the most iconic scenes in Game of Thrones, where the Freys and the traitor Boltons massacre Robb Stark’s retinue and army. When writing the Red Wedding scene, George R.R. Martin used two events from Scottish history as his inspiration. However, it did not only happen in Scottish history that a peaceful assembly turned into a bloody massacre. There were cases of such during the Hungarian Middle Ages, from which we will introduce three to you.

According to George R. R. Martin’s own admission, he mentions two events from Scottish history that helped him to develop the exact happenings of the Red Wedding Scene. The first one of these was The Black Dinner which happened in 1440, and the other was the Glencoe Massacre that happened in 1692 – can be read on Index.hu.

The dark shadows of a blind king

Probably the most well-known Hungarian event that is similar to the one depicted in the Game of Thrones series has happened after the reign of István II (1116-1131). István might have had poor health because the Hungarian Chronicles mention several pretenders wanting the throne. The idyllic description sometimes presented in literary works which suggest that István II brought back his blinded cousin Béla in order to mend his father’s wrongdoings is probably false. Eventually, Béla II was crowned as the Hungarian king, but his reign was probably unsteady, so, during the assembly of Arad in 1131, he resolved to a drastic step. The participants of the assembly had no idea of the plot. When Queen Ilona appeared with her young boys, she asked the assembled people to name those who took her husband’s sight. The men present not only did so but murdered their marked victims. According to the account of chronicles, a total of 68 people were killed, and their families lost their wealth.

The reign of Béla was still endangered by Kálmán’s illegitimate son, Prince Borisz, who attempted to take the throne a year later, in 1132. Before the battle near Sajó, the events of Arad almost entirely recurred. This time, the king asked who thought that Borisz was a bastard, and those who did not answer with an enthusiastic yes, they immediately killed. This reckoning probably contributed to Béla’s victory.

If you are interested in Hungarian history, then these two articles might be just for you. We wrote a series about Hungarians who were the best at something. In THIS article, you can read about how three Hungarians tricked their enemies, and in THIS one, you can read about those Hungarians whom whole Europe feared.

The final days of a family from the Anjou-era

The Lackfi family emerged thanks to the donations of Károly I and Lajos I. After the death of Lajos I, István Csáktornyai Lackfi sympathised with Károly II but eventually changed to later support the side of Zsigmond. After the triumph of Zsigmond, he had to create an equilibrium between the different Baron leagues, and the continuous demand for the throne by King László Neapolitan also meant a considerable risk. Zsigmond, leading an international coalition, was overwhelmed by the Turks in the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. There was no information about the king for weeks, and Lackfi, as part of the Board of Governors, tried to make steps towards László of Naples.