in Székesfehérvár or Esztergom, he and one of his clerics, Walther, stayed in a manor where a slave woman was singing while making flour on a grinder. Gerard referred to the music as the "symphonia Ungarorum" (or "drum of the Hungarians"), associating the sound of the grinder with a drum roll. Being touched by her cheerfulness while making a hard work, Gerard gave the woman precious gifts. Stephen I died on 15 August 1038. His nephew, the Venetian Peter Orseolo mounted the throne, but he was dethroned in 1041. Peter's successor, Samuel Aba, had many lords executed. He visited Csanád, asking Gerard to put a crown on his head during the mass on Resurrection Sunday. He refused Aba, but the bishops who accompanied the king to Csanád, performed the coronation. Gerard went to the pulpit, declaring that the "sword of vengeance will descend" upon Aba's head in three years, because he had gained the kingdom by deceit. The credibility of the report of the Long Life of Aba's visit in Gerard's see is subject to scholarly debates. Martyrdom The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, invaded Hungary and defeated Aba in the Battle of Ménfő in 1044. Peter Orseolo was restored, but his rule was unpopular, because he favored his German and Italian retaineers. Gerard's martyrdom took place on 24 September 1046, during the Vata pagan uprising. His co-martyrs were Bystrik and Buldus. There are various accounts of his death. According to one, he was stoned, pierced with a lance, and his body thrown from the Blocksberg cliff into the Danube. An alternate account claims that he was placed on a two-wheel cart, hauled to the hilltop and rolled down a hill of Buda, now named Gellert Hill, then still being alive at the bottom, was beaten to death. Other unverified tales report him as being put into a spiked barrel and rolled down the hill during a mass revolt of pagans. Canonized in 1083, along with St. Stephen and St. Emeric, Gerard is currently one of the patron saints of Hungary. His feast day is 24 September. See also Banat in the Middle Ages References Sources External links http://www.planetware.com/budapest/gellert-hill-h-ps-gh.htm 1046 deaths 11th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Hungary 11th-century Venetian people 11th-century Hungarian people 11th-century Christian martyrs Italian Benedictines Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Benedictine bishops Bishops of Csanád Benedictine martyrs Martyred Roman Catholic bishops 11th-century Christian saints Medieval Hungarian saints Hungarian