Forensic analysis of a 750-year-old skeleton reveals that a Hungarian duke was brutally murdered by at least three assailants. Duke Béla of Masso was stabbed more than 20 times with weapons such as sabers and long swords, according to a new study.
“By looking at how the blows overlap and how the body reacts, we reconstructed the order in which the blows landed, and then reconstructed which parts of the body would be exposed to receive the next blow,” study co-author Martin Trautmann, an osteoarchaeologist at the University of Helsinki, told Live Science.
The research team counted 26 injuries by the time of death. Nine of them were skulls and 17 were other bones. Their research will be published in the February 2026 issue of the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics.
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But discovering the cause of Bella’s death is only part of a twisting medieval murder mystery. During archaeological excavations in 1915, the remains of a young man were discovered in a 13th-century Dominican monastery on Margaret Island in the Danube near Budapest.
According to historical records of the assassination of young Béla in 1272, the burial site and the signs of trauma on the bones suggest that the body belonged to Béla, the grandson of Béla IV, King of Hungary, who was born around 1243. The account indicates that the dismembered body was collected by his sister Margaret and niece Elizabeth and buried in the monastery.
Initial examination revealed numerous sword cuts and skull wounds on the skeleton, but the bones went missing during World War II.
In 2018, the bones were rediscovered in a wooden box at the Hungarian Museum of Natural History. However, it was unclear whether the body was indeed that of Prince Béla, so the study’s lead author, Tamás Hajdu, an archaeologist at Eötvös Lorán University in Hungary, and colleagues set out to investigate the mystery.
skeleton study
Their analysis quickly hit a dead end when radiocarbon dating came back before Bella was born.
“When we first got the radiocarbon results, we were shocked,” Hajdu told Live Science. But if the wrasse ate a lot of seafood, as royalty did at the time, it could confuse radiocarbon dating, Hajdu said. This is due to the phenomenon that aquatic animals consume old carbon and old calcium carbonate from the deep sea and build shells, making their carbon appear older than it actually is. This old carbon has a similar effect on the bones of those who eat it.
A new analysis of microfossils found in the young man’s teeth shows that he ate bread and cooked semolina, as well as large amounts of animal protein, as would be expected for royalty. It was also discovered that they ate large amounts of aquatic animals such as fish.
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Adjusting for this shift away from oceanic diets brought the date to about the right time, Hajdu said.
The researchers then compared the skeleton’s DNA to that of two of its relatives: Béla III (who lived from 1148 to 1196) and Ladislaus I (who lived from 1040 to 1095). This confirmed that the long-lost skeleton belonged to the grandson of King Béla IV, and the team reported that the young man must be Béla, Duke of Maxo.
severe injury
A detailed examination of Bella’s skeleton has revealed previously unknown details of his tragic death.
Troutman said Berra had defensive wounds on his arms and hands, and likely did not have a sword or shield to fend off the blows. The depth of the cuts on his body suggest that he was not wearing armor at the time, indicating an organized and premeditated assassination that would have been very bloody.
“The attack probably started from the front, with the first blow hitting the head and upper body,” Troutman said. Analysis revealed that the cutting was carried out with at least two different weapons. “That means there are at least two different assailants,” Troutman said. One came from the front with a saber, the other from the side with a long sword.
The duke probably stumbled, was hit in the side, hit his head on the floor and fell hard. “He was probably very dazed after this impact and tried to fend off further attacks with his arms and legs, which had defensive damage from the parried blow,” Trautmann said.
Troutman said one of the attackers stabbed the duke in the back, likely paralyzing him, and Vera was finished off with another blow to the head.
Troutman said there were injuries beyond what was necessary for murder, which is known forensically as an overkill, and suggests an event filled with hostile emotions.
One historical account stated that Béla was killed by another nobleman, Henryk Kuszegi, and his allies. Bela and Kushegi were friends, and Kushegi was originally Bela’s mentor, but their relationship ended after they lost the fight and things escalated, Troutman said.
At the time, rival factions of the nobility were fighting for power, and Béla, as a claimant to the throne, was likely seen as a threat to be assassinated. “I think it was very personal,” Troutman said.
Eleanor Graham, a forensic scientist at Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science via email that although initial radiocarbon dating results did not match the wrasse’s lifespan, she was confident of its identification.
“The article’s claims are largely well hedged, supported by scientific evidence, including a forensic trauma assessment that shows an extremely violent death, and appear to be consistent with the historical explanation of the Duke’s death,” Graham said.
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