What went to the bottom of the Danube is still there. We don't know that Queen Mary's ships would have been found at any time earlier - diving archaeologist J. Attila Tóth, who has been searching for treasured royal ships under Esztergom for years, told Vasárnap.

The treasures of the medieval Buda palace may one day be freed from the wave grave...

- We have already heard a lot about how Queen Mária hurriedly fled to Bratislava with her ships upon the news of the loss of the battle of Mohács. However, several treasure ships sank near Esztergom. What could have happened in September 1526?

- We have a contemporary source from the Viennese humanist writer Johannes Cuspinianus. He was a well-informed person, even in Queen Mary's court circles. We know from him that the Esztergom soldiers left behind raided the ships of the refugees. He reports that during the fighting, several ships were looted, and other ships had their towing ropes broken, so they drifted away and then sank.

"Tow ropes?"
- Yes, since the ships had to be rescued against the current, they were towed with oxen and horses. It should be known that it was a question of rafts, which were dragged along the river bank and tried to be transported to Bratislava.

– What led the commander of the Esztergom castle to attack the ships of the fleeing royal court?
- Even before the defeat of the Battle of Mohács, the Kingdom of Hungary was struggling with a very serious internal political crisis, as a result of which the Hungarian nobility split into several parties. II. After the news of Lajos's death, an anarchic situation occurred within a short time.

After losing the battle, a significant part of the Hungarian nobility did what they did in later decades: they only cared about increasing their own wealth. With the loss of the battle of Mohács, it became clear that the Turkish troops were unstoppably advancing along the Danube. The commander guarding the Esztergom castle tried to forge luck in his own favor. He could be sure that there would be no one to punish him and his troops for their depredations.

"What were on the ships?"
Are they really the treasures of the Buda Royal Palace? - After the loss of the battle of Mohács, no inventory or list of what was loaded onto the ships was made. So we don't know exactly what the cargo could have been, we can only guess. Indeed, many people think of these ships as vehicles carrying the treasures of the royal court. This was partially true, but it should be noted that at that time not only the royal court fled Buda, but also the citizens - they also left with loaded ships. It is not known which ships sank.

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