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The Legend of Saint Ladislaus Ladislaus I was a Hungarian king (1077-1095), several legends are connected to his name. He was the archetype of chivalrious king in Hungary and eventually he became the patron saint of the Hungarian soldiers. The legend I want to write you about is depicted on several churches of the Carpathian basin as fresco. He fought several battles against the Pechenegs and Cumans in his life and the legend is about one of these fights. There are several versions of the story I base my description the one in the Chronicon Pictum (~1360). During the reign of king Solomon (1063-1074) a great Cuman army attacked the country. Solomon with his two younger brother prince Géza and Ladislaus gathered their troops and went to intercept the Cumans. These occupied a hill with steep slopes in strong defensive position, their vanguard guarded the lower parts of the hill and started to shoot arrows at the approaching Hungarians. The knights of the Hungarian van led by Ladislaus stormed the lightly armored horse archers who struggled to evade uphills but they were too slow and became minced meat. Ladislaus himself was hit by an arrow but his wound miraculously closed and healed. Then the king and his other brother attacked the hill from two sides. The Cumans probably trapped this way on the hill and the Hungarian warriors "clenched the thirst of their swords with the intoxicating blood of the enemy". And here comes the actual legend: Some Cumans fled tho. Ladislaus noticed one of them carrying away a beautiful maiden on his horse. He pursued the enemy warrior on his horse, called Szög (Nail) but their horses matched in speed he couldn't stab the Cuman with his lance. So the prince called out to the girl to grab the Cuman by his belt and yank him off the horse. They fell to the ground then Ladislaus got off his horse and he started to brawl with the warrior as the maiden asked not to hurt the man of the steppes. They brawled for a while without any result then the girl took the prince's battleaxe and cut the Cuman's Achilles tendon. Ladislaus beheaded him then led the horses to a tree where he rested in the arms of the girl.