King Louis the Great / Nagy Lajos (1342-1382) had a very good “media”. Even his enemies praised him during his life and after his death. After his death, stories spread about the righteous king who visited his subjects in disguise, similar to the legends of King Matthias. But while King Matthias (1458-1490) was harshly criticized during his severe reign, Louis was always regarded as a true champion, a knight.

Part of his reputation was true, but he also had good “propaganda” that portrayed him as a defender of Christianity and an enemy of heretics. Truly, he did his best to support his renown. The Marian legend of the famous Austrian Mariazell is closely connected with him. Historians date the origin of the legend to 1364, and there is a source from 1690 that claims it happened in 1363.

The legend says that the Tartars (Mongolians) were marching against Hungary with an army of 200,000 men, and our king had only 20,000 soldiers, and his situation was not very good. Then Louis began to pray before the picture of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of Hungary, asking her not to abandon the country in its time of need. In his dream, he saw the Virgin Mary who promised him victory, and asked him to build a church in Zell, Austria, and take her picture there after the battle.

When he awoke, he found the painting on his chest, which had been placed on a small altar. He took it as a divine sign and defeated the Tartars in the coming battle. Out of gratitude, he went with his whole army (!) to (Maria)Zell and had a church built there, giving lots of gold and diamonds along with the picture. However, we know that he defeated the Tatars in Transylvania in 1345, exactly on February 2, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

The Austrian historians say that the church of Mariazell was rebuilt in the Gothic style between 1340-1380. We can see the statue of the Hungarian king right before the gate, holding the miraculous painting in his hand.