lords. When the king departed for a new campaign against Halych in summer 1213, taking advantage of his absence, Hungarian lords who were aggrieved at Queen Gertrude's favoritism towards her German entourage captured and murdered her and many of her courtiers in the Pilis Hills on 28 September. John's participation in the assassination is unclear. His involvement in the murder is mentioned by Italian scholar Boncompagno da Signa's tractate Rhetorica novissima, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines' Chronica and Matthew of Paris' Chronica Majora and Historia Anglorum. These works unanimously note John's famous phrase in his letter to Hungarian nobles planning the assassination of Gertrude: "Reginam occidere nolite timere bonum est si omnes consentiunt ego non contradico", can be roughly translated into "Kill Queen you must not fear will be good if all agree I do not oppose". The meaning is highly dependent on punctuation: either the speaker wishes a queen killed ("Kill Queen, you must not fear, will be good if all agree, I do not oppose") or not ("Kill Queen you must not, fear will be good, if all agree I do not, oppose"). Historian László Veszprémy considers the anecdote first appeared in the Annales iuvavenses (or "Annals of Salzburg") after an oral spread among the lower clergymen. On the other hand, Tamás Körmendi argues the ambiguous letter was subscribed as a result of a subsequent insertion. It is possible that Boncompagno heard the story in the Roman Curia and incorporated it into his rhetoric dissertation and textbook (published in 1235, the first written source of John's alleged letter). Both Boncompagno and Alberic mention that Andrew accused John of participating in the murder before the Holy See. However Pope Innocent, pointing out the correct use of commas, acquitted the archbishop from the charges. These references emphasize the letter's unintended ambiguity and, thus, John's approval of murder. Körmendi emphasizes the historiographical doubts regarding the authenticity of the letter, as John retained his influence in the upcoming years after the assassination. It is also unlikely that John's proverb was revealed after his active political role, as the anecdote's other protagonist Pope Innocent III died on 16 July 1216. Furthermore, Körmendi argues the preservation of the letter would have been irrational step, moreover the majority of the Hungarian nobility were illiterate during that time. Already 19th-century historian László Nogáll doubted the authenticity of the anecdote. Andrew sent a letter in 1214 to Pope Innocent,