Battle of Lechfeld - Background

Background

After having put down a rebellion by his son, Liudolf, Duke of Swabia and son-in-law, Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, Otto I the Great, King of the Germans, set out to Saxony, his duchy. Upon arriving in Magdeburg he received reports of the Hungarian invasion. The Hungarians had already invaded once before during the course of the rebellion. This occurred immediately after he had put down a revolt in Franconia. Because of unrest among the Polabian Slavs on the lower Elbe, Otto had to leave most of his Saxons at home. In addition to this, Saxony was distant from Augsburg and its environs, and considerable time would have elapsed waiting their arrival. The battle took place six weeks after the first report of an invasion, and historian Hans Delbrück asserts that they could not have possibly made the march in time.

The king ordered his troops to concentrate on the Danube, in the vicinity of Neuburg and Ingolstadt. He did this in order to march on the Hungarian line of communications and catch them in their rear while they were raiding northeast of Augsburg. It was also a central point of concentration for all the contingents that were assembling. Strategically therefore, this was the best location for Otto to concentrate his forces before making the final descent upon the Hungarians.

There were other troops that had an influence on the course of the battle. On previous occasions, in 932 and 954 for example, there had been Hungarian incursions which had invaded the Germanic lands to the South of the Danube, and then retreated back to their native country via Lotharingia, to the West Frankish Kingdom and finally, through Italy. That is to say, a wide sweeping U-turn that initially started westward, then progressed to the south, and then finally to the east back to their homeland; and thus escaping retribution in Germany. The king was aware of the escape of these Hungarians on the above mentioned occasions, and was determined to trap them. He therefore ordered his brother, Archbishop Bruno, to keep the Lotharingian forces in Lorraine. He did this with the fear that the Hungarians would follow their plan of retreat on the previous occasions. However, with a powerful enough force of knights pressing them in the front from the west, and a powerful force of knights chasing them from the East, the Hungarians would be unable to escape.

The Bishop Ulrich defended Augsburg, a border city of Swabia, with a contingent of soldiers. Motivating them with the 23rd Psalm ("Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"). While this defense was going on, the king was raising an army to march south.

There is no reliable source on the size of the armies and the numbers are still disputed. The most accepted view is that Otto called up about 8,000 men. The eight 1,000-strong legiones (divisions) included three from Bavaria, two from Swabia, one from Franconia and one from Bohemia under Prince Boleslav I. The eighth division, commanded by Otto and slightly larger than the others, included Saxons, Thuringians, and the king's personal guard. The king's contingent probably included seasoned knights of Frankish origin.

According to chronicles, the Hungarian army amounted to 25–50,000 men, but a more realistic figure is 10–25,000 men.

Gerhard writes that the Hungarian forces advanced to the Iller river and placed Augsburg under siege. At this time, Augsburg was not quite touching the left bank of the river, upon which it was basically situated. The fort was defended by bishop Ulrich. Most probably the fiercest battle took place on August 8 at the eastern gate when the Hungarians tried to invade the fort in large numbers. The bishop's men defended bravely and killed the leader of the attack, forcing the Hungarians to withdraw. The next day the Hungarians launched a wider general attack. During the battle, Berchtold of Risinesburg arrived, which heralded the approach of the German army. At the end of the day, the siege was suspended, and the Hungarians prepared for the next day's battle. Count Dietpald led soldiers to Otto's camp during the night.