40
BEFORE 1000 CE
In June 955 CE, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I, on campaign against Slavic tribes
near Magdeburg, received the alarming
news that a large Magyar force
was bearing down upon the
Bavarian city of Augsburg.
Otto mustered a force of
8,000 Germans and Bohemians and rushed to
Bavaria. He avoided the open Hungarian
plain, where the Magyar horse-archers
could decimate his army, instead
taking the more protected route
through the Rauherhorst forest.
On hearing of Otto’s approach, the
Magyar commanders Lel and
Bulcsú broke o their siege of
Augsburg and rushed to meet him.
Part of the 25,000-strong Magyar
force ambushed the German rearguard as
it entered the forest. It then set to looting
Otto’s baggage train, which allowed the emperor
to send a detachment of Franconians back through
the forest to scatter the disordered attackers. The main
Magyar army lay in wait in a crescent formation to the east
of the forest; they expected an infantry assault directed at their
center, which their cavalry wings could then enfold and crush.
However, Otto launched cavalry attacks at the same time as the
infantry moved on the Magyar center. The Magyar right broke,
their infantry were overwhelmed, and only the left wing escaped
intact, to be ambushed several days later as it tried to cross the
swollen Isar river. The Magyars, their main force decimated, found
themselves conned to Hungary from that point onward, and no
longer presented a serious threat to the German Empire.
Lechfeld
955 CE
◼
BAVARIA
◼
EAST FRANKS VS. MAGYARS
MAGYAR INVASIONS
… the victory over this savage people
was not without some cost in blood.
WIDUKIND OF CORVEY, DEEDS OF THE SAXONS, C.973 CE
Bishop Ulrich
rides next
to Otto I
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41
LECHFELD
◼
955 CE
In context
2
FRANKISH KNIGHTS
Traditionally, the strength of the
Frankish army lay in its infantry,
particularly its ax-wielding
footmen. However, the threat
of horseborne enemies such
as the Lombards, Avars, Arabs,
and Magyars forced the Franks
to adapt. By the time of the
battle of Lechfeld, the Frankish
cavalry was second to none,
and so brought ruin upon the
Magyars. Highly disciplined, they
wore little more than padded
cloth for armor, which gave
them freedom of movement in
the melee following a charge.
2
ULRICH’S CROSS
This late
15th-century cross shows Bishop
Ulrich of Augsburg riding alongside
Emperor Otto I at the battle of
Lechfeld. The bishop played a crucial
role in strengthening the defenses
of Augsburg, which gave Otto time
to come to the city’s relief. Ulrich
was canonized in 993
CE. He is
venerated as having particular power
over oods, a reference to the swollen
waters that destroyed the Magyar
army as it retreated.
Magyars flee the
battlefield
4
A BLOODY VICTORY
This
15th-century illuminated
manuscript shows the
erceness of the ghting at
Lechfeld. The Magyars normally
relied on the mobility of their
cavalry, but Otto’s tactics and
the unusually large number
of infantry commanded by Lel
and Bulcsú denied them this
advantage, with catastrophic
consequences. The eeing
Magyar leaders were captured
during the subsequent ghting
at Isar and were hanged
in Augsburg.
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