of interest of success, Katona's stage play became symbol of the Hungarian national revival; it was presented on the eve of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Based on Katona's work, Ferenc Erkel composed an opera in 3 acts with the same name, also using the libretto by Béni Egressy. The opera was first performed at the Pesti Nemzeti Magyar Szinház in Pest on 9 March 1861. The Bánk bán is labelled as Hungary's national opera. In the play and the opera, the character of Bánk appears as a tragic hero and "defender" of the Hungarian national interests against the "oppressive" Queen Gertrude and her foreign courtiers. Since the early 19th-century historiography still assumed identity between Bánk and Benedict, son of Korlát, Katona called Bánk as "the son of Conrad" and modeled his fictional wife Melinda on the "beautiful" court lady Tota, who was the spouse of Benedict. As Tota belonged to the Nagymartoni family of Aragonese origin, Katona mistakenly connected "Melinda" to the kinship. In his play, Melinda's brothers, bans Mikhal and Simon of Boioth were of Spanish origin. Both of them are involved in the assassination. In fact, another couple of brothers, Simon and Michael Kacsics were that nobles, who were embroiled in suspicion of their involvement in the murder. In Katona's stage play, Gertrude's another brother Otto, who raped Bánk's wife, instead of Archbishop Berthold. In reality, Otto never stayed in Hungary. References Sources Primary sources Secondary sources External links Bank Bans of Slavonia Judges royal Palatines of Hungary 12th-century Hungarian people 13th-century Hungarian people