NO COUNTRY FOR OLD WOMEN: BURIAL PRACTICES AND PATTERNS OF HUNGARIAN QUEENS OF THE ÁRPÁD DYNASTY (975-1301)

Abstract

Recent studies of Árpádian queens of Hungary have shown promise. Unlike previous research however, the goal of this thesis is not to examine the lives of the Hungarian queens, but rather their deaths and their burials. Utilizing what little information is known, the queens will be divided into four groups of individual case study. Considering that the vast majority of Hungarian queens were buried outside Hungary, the central issue to this thesis will be researching the causality for this. Ultimately, all twenty-four women in this study have two main factors in relation to their burial. First, their close familial link with particular branches of the Árpád dynasty could prove problematic upon the death of their husband. Second, the perceived danger of the widowed queen is a testament not only to fears of her as a foreigner and a woman, but also fears of power she exercised in her own right.