Widukind on King Otto I of Germany, the Magyars (Hungarians), and the Battle of the Lechfeld
(955)
Excerpted in A Source Book for
Mediæval History, ed. Oliver Joseph Thatcher, Edgar
Holmes McNeal (Charles Scribner & sons, 1906)
28. Otto I And The Hungarians.
Widukind, III. chs. 44
ff; M. G. SS. folio, III, pp. 457 f.
The
Hungarians appear on the borders of the empire about the end of the ninth
century. From that time they are a continual source of trouble to the kings of Germany.
Arnulf had made an alliance with them against the Slavs; the reigns of Ludwig
the Child and Conrad I had suffered from their attacks, and Henry I had
succeeded in forcing them to make a truce. Otto then
defeated them in the battle of the Lechfeld (955),
which is narrated here, after which they settled in the region where they are
found to-day.
44.
While Otto was in Saxony,
ambassadors of the Hungarians came to him, under the pretext of the old
alliance and friendship, but in reality, it was supposed, in order to discover
the outcome of the civil war in which Otto had been
f-ngaged. After he had entertained them and sent them away with gifts, he
received a message from his brother, the
duke of
Bavaria,
saying: " Lo, the Hungarians are overrunning your land, and are preparing
to make war upon you." As soon as the king heard this, he immediately
marched against this enemy, taking with him only a few Saxons, since the rest
were occupied at that time with a conflict against the Slavs. He pitched his
camp in the territory of the city of Augsburg
and was joined there by the army of the Franconians and Bavarians and by duke Conrad with a large following of knights. Conrad's
arrival so encouraged the warriors that they wished to attack, the enemy
immediately. Conrad was by nature very bold, and at
the same time very wise in council, two things which are not usually found in
the same man. He was irresistible in war, whether on foot or on horseback; and
was dear to his friends in peace as well as in war. It now became apparent
through the skirmishes of the advance posts that the two armies were not far
apart. A fast was proclaimed in the camp, and all were commanded to be ready
for battle on the next morning. At the first gleam of dawn they all arose, made
peace with one another, and promised to aid first their own leaders and then
each other. Then they marched out of the camp with standards raised, some eight
legions in all. The army was led by a steep and difficult way in order to avoid
the darts of the enemy, which they use with great effect if they can find any bushes
to hide behind. The first, second, and third lines were composed of Bavarians
led by the officers of duke Henry, who himself was
lying sick some distance from the field of battle—a sickness from which he died
not long after. The fourth legion was composed of Franconians, under the
command of duke Conrad. The king commanded the fifth
line. This was called the royal legion and was made up of selected warriors,
brave youths, who guarded the standard of the angel, the emblem of victory. The
sixth and seventh lines were composed of Suabians, commanded by duke Burchard,
who had
married the daughter of the brother of Otto [Hedwig, daughter of Henry]. The eighth was made up of a
thousand chosen warriors of the Bohemians, whose equipment was better than
their fortune; here was the baggage and the impedimenta, because the rear was
thought to be the safest place. But it did not prove to be so in the outcome,
for the Hungarians crossed the Lech unexpectedly, and turned the flank of the
army and fell upon the rear line, first with darts and then at close quarters.
Many were slain or captured, the whole of the baggage seized, and the line put
to rout . In like manner the Hungarians fell upon the
seventh and sixth lines, slew a great many and put the rest to flight. But when
the king perceived that there was a conflict going on in front and that the
lines behind him were also being attacked, he sent duke
Conrad with the fourth line against those in the rear. Conrad freed the
captives, recovered the booty, and drove off the enemy. Then he returned to the
king, victorious, having defeated with youthful and untried warriors an enemy
that had put to flight experienced and renowned soldiers.
46. ... When the king saw
that the whole brunt of the attack was now in front ... he seized his shield
and lance, and rode out against the enemy at the head of his followers. The
braver warriors among the enemy withstood the attack at first, but when they
saw that their companions had fled, they were overcome with dismay and were
slain. Some of the enemy sought refuge in near-by villages, their horses being
worn out; these were surrounded and burnt to death within the walls. Others
swam the river, but were drowned by the caving in of the bank as they attempted
to climb out on the other side. The strongholds were taken and the captives
released on the day of the battle; during the next two days the remnants of the
enemy were captured in the neighboring towns, so that scarcely any escaped.
Never was so bloody a victory gained over so savage a people.