Dead Reckoning - The Asimov Press

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If you like Forensic Science, this article is for you.

Bioarchaeologists recently identified a murdered medieval royal. Now, they are trying to shed light on other ancient deaths.
Asimov Press
Mar 07, 2026

By David Brzostowicki

In November 1272, on the Island of Hares — home to both a nunnery and the Hungarian king's summer residence — a nobleman was lured to a purported council meeting, only to be murdered. His name was Béla, Duke of Macsó, a province nestled along the Danube in modern-day Serbia. He was in his early to mid-twenties, childless, and, depending on whom you asked, either a stabilizing force in a fractured kingdom or a dangerous threat.

Through his mother, Princess Anna of Hungary, Béla was reputed to be the grandson of King Béla IV and a member of the House of Árpád, the dynasty that had ruled Hungary for three centuries. Through his father, Rostislav, Prince of Halych, he claimed descent from the Rurikids, the royal house of Kievan Rus’, the predecessor to modern Russia. If true, he bridged two of medieval Europe’s most powerful dynasties.

For over a decade, King Béla IV and his heir Stephen V had fought for control of Hungary. After Stephen V won a decisive victory at the Battle of Isaszeg in 1265, forcing his father to cede the eastern half of the kingdom, Duke Béla found himself on the losing side of a civil war.

When King Stephen V died unexpectedly in 1272, his son, Ladislaus IV, was only ten years old. As the oldest male cousin of the child king, Béla stood next in line to the throne, eligible to serve as regent, or even king, if anything happened to Ladislaus IV. He controlled vast estates in southern Hungary and commanded loyalty from powerful allies. To some nobles, he represented order in a kingdom teetering on chaos. To others, including Ladislaus IV’s mother, he was a threat.

Henrik Kőszegi, head of the powerful House of Héder, also had a personal vendetta against Béla. Once Béla’s mentor, the two had fought side by side in Hungary’s civil wars. But at the Battle of Isaszeg, Béla fled the field while Kőszegi was captured. His subsequent years of imprisonment gave Kőszegi ample reason for resentment.

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https://open.substack.com/pub/cell/p/dead-reckoning