Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Queen Mary's Treasure

No, not Queen Mary I of England, nor the ship of the same name, but Queen Mary of Hungary.

In 1526, following the defeat of the Hungarians and the death of her husband King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the Battle of Mohacs, and in the face of the ever encroaching Ottoman army, 21yo Queen Mary of Hungary fled to Vienna. Her journey was by boat along the Danube. However, all was not smooth sailing, and a number of ships sank, with her belongings still aboard.

The whereabouts of this queenly regalia remained unknown for many centuries - until now.

"According to inforadio.hu, a team of Hungarian archaeologists are launching an underwater excavation of the Danube to find ships identified by American radar technology. The investigation is bound to be interesting, says Attila J. Tóth, departmental leader of the Hungarian Alliance Archeology and History of Art (Magyar Régészeti és Művészettörténeti Társulat), but whether or not the remains of the submerged sunken ships actually belong to the Hapsburg Queen's caravan can only be determined with intensive scuba diving. The team is serious in their quest, the portal reports, and plans to explore more than ten kilometers of the Danube. So far, Hungarian divers have had successful underwater historical excavations. Previously they unearthed remains of ships, pile-dwellings and an underwater village. Perhaps the most interesting find was a fleet of 30 ships with copper vessels inside that dated to the Ottoman era in Hungary."


1 comment:

ExecutedToday said...

It's that Niebelungen gold in the Rhine that I want to get my hands on.