Cserhalom, is the king, St. Ladislas (1092), who was the favourite character of legendary poetry. Cserhalom is the name of the battlefield where St. Ladislas vanquished the Kumanians. During the battle the circumstance happened which became so famous during the Middle Ages, that we find it depicted in fresco on the walls of old churches. According to the tradition, St. Ladislas, after his victory, observed that one of the flying Kumanians was carrying a Hungarian maiden on his horse. The chivalrous king rode after the Kumanian to rescue the girl, but since his charger was fatigued by the battle he could not easily overtake him, and the distance between the two riders did not diminish. St. Ladislas then cried out : "Fair maiden, take hold of the soldier's belt and throw yourself to the ground, that you may bring him down too." The maiden did as the king bade her, and the king soon came up with the soldier, disarmed him, and only spared his life at the maiden's request. Vörösmarty's poem is based upon the incident, which, however, he expanded and altered.
Vörösmarty's most famous but most terrible epic is entitled The Two Castles. The story is that of a family feud existing in the Middle Ages, between the owners of two neighbouring castles. Such ferocious events are narrated that a colleague of Vörösmarty, Daniel Berzsenyi, characterised the epic as "a cannibal poem." The feúd had persisted for a long time, and once when Tihamér, a son of one of the noblemen, returned from the wars, a dreadful scene met his eyes. He found every member of his family slain, parents, brothers, all. Tihamér vowed an awful revenge. He would destroy his foe's whole family. He challenged all the members, one by one, to a duel. At last only two were left alive,
