Sources for Lechfeld?

[Chris]

Hi,

Hope that I'm in the right area of the larger forum . . .

Have recently ordered The Battle of Lechfeld (by Professor Bowlus) through inter-library loan.

A search of the Web has turned up some material, but not a whole lot. Are there sources/accounts that I'm overlooking?

Appreciate any directions/recommendations that readers of this post can provide.

Thanks very much.

Chris

[Patrick Waterson]

From the Wikipedia article:

"There is no reliable source on the size of the armies and the numbers are still disputed."

"According to chronicles, the Hungarian army amounted to 25–50,000 men"

Although the Wikipedia entry lists several works in its bibliography (at the end of the entry) only one is a primary source (and a monk at that).

The list is:

Beeler, John (December 1973). Warfare in Feudal Europe, 730–1200. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9120-7.
Bowlus, Charles R. (2006). The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955: the End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin West. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-5470-4.
Delbrück, Hans (1982). History of the Art of War, Volume Three: Medieval Warfare. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-6585-9.
Platschka, Alfred. "Die Schlacht auf dem Lechfeld". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-09. (German)
Monk Widukind of Corvey's account
Weir, William (2009). 50 Battles That Changed the World: The Conflicts That Most Influenced the Course of History. Savage, MD: Barnes and Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-6609-6.

I get the impression that being able to read German would be immensely helpful in following up most of the work done on the subject.

Apologies if this simply duplicates what you have found.

[Erpingham]

Maybe something useful in this :

David Stewart Bachrach :Warfare in Tenth-century Germany, Boydell Press, 2012

[Chris]

Thanks gents!

[Duncan Head]

The theme for Mediaeval Warfare II.4 was the Magyar invasions - see here.

Konrad Leyser's 1965 article "The Battle on the Lech, 955" is collected in his Medieval Germany and its Neighbours 900-1250 (1982) - amazon currently have hardbacks from £14.98, though the ppbk edition I picked up a few years ago is now much more expensive!

[aligern]

Bowlus says some rather edgy things about the Hungarian horse archery including that they use arrows without flightsin order to maximise rate of fire. I was not impressed that he had a good source for this.
What he  is very good on is that the the Hungarians. are beaten by the German cavalry, gut are destroyed by having to cross swollen rivers defended by local infantry militias so that they cannot get away back to base  with few casualties as they had done before.

The Bachrach book is very good, but it is by the son of the professor who is the strongest advocate that Roman traditions continue in Early Med Europe and he too promotes that line. It is also very strong on the idea that fortification is all important in Germany and that chimes with many forts having been discovered. To the Bachrachs warfare in tenth century is about battles fought to raise or support  sieges, rather than about battles being decisive in warfare of themselves.
Roy

[Jim Webster]

Didn't Oman cover it in his battles of the Middle ages?

Jim

[Erpingham]

Didn't Oman cover it in his battles of the Middle ages?

Jim

Yes. The Art of War in the Middle Ages, Vol I, pp122-5

[Andreas Johansson]

The Bachrach book is very good, but it is by the son of the professor who is the strongest advocate that Roman traditions continue in Early Med Europe and he too promotes that line.

So he's the son of Bernard Bachrach? ETA: Looking at a review of the book I see he is.

[Dave Beatty]

As perhaps you have discovered, "Lechfeld" is really not a place; it is a generic name for the flood plain of the Lech River in and around Landsberg.  The location of the battlefield itself has been notoriously illusive although the city of Koenigsbrunn has long laid claim and there are some excellent museums in that city (and there is a most cool diorama of the battle complete with 7500 flats in the city hall - pictures here: http://www.koenigsbrunn.de/index.php?id=11554,367).  The museum there does not have an email for info, but you might try calling them at 08231-60 62 60.  They are actually constructing a "German-Hungarian meeting center" there.

In 2011, an amateur found some 10th century Magyar horse trappings 15 km northeast of Augsburg - http://jekely.blogspot.com/2013/12/hungarian-ornaments-found-at-site-of.html so the site of the battlefield is again in question.

I thought that I had read some years ago that some other artifacts had been found south of Augsburg but for the life of me I cannot find that info anywhere.

I actually have visited the battlefield several times, and even wandered around the German airbases at Landsberg and Lech a couple of times looking for clues.  I was last there in July 2013 - attached are some photos of the location of the old Roman bridge (now a modern 2 lane road) showing the width and depth of the river, as well as a photo of where I think the battle took place (north of Augsburg, not south).

There have been several major battles in the area - Blenheim is just down the road, and Tilly was killed by Gustav Adolophus' artillery in 1632 at the Battle of Rain (named after the village of Rain). 

You can find a transcript of Widikund here: http://www.usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/Widukind%20on%20Battle%20of%20Lechfeld.htm

Vita Sancti Uodalrici : die älteste Lebensbeschreibung des heiligen Ulrich : lateinisch-deutsch : mit der Kanonisationsurkunde von 993 is a good secondary source but good luck finding it in a library outside Germany.

You can get a copy of the 1999 translation of Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum on Amazon (ISBN 978-9639116313) or perhaps through your library.

The Chronicon Eberspergense has some info that pertains, apparently listing two Hungarian leaders who were involved in a later battle with the Counts of Ebersberg (east of Munich) although I have not been able to find that document.

The "Annales Sangallenses Maiores," a collection of annals of the monastery of St. Gall reports, "King Otto struggled with the Agarenern ( the Hungarians ) on the feast day of St. Lawrence and defeated them completely with God's help.  There were 100,000 of them, and many have been captured with their king named Pulszi and ended on the gallows." The name Pulszi is probably Bulcsu. 

Check the very good article on period weapons here: http://www.academia.edu/2651464/Dating_with_weapon_burials_and_the_Waffenwechsel._Preliminary_report_on_Viking-age_swords_in_the_Carpathian_Basin


An "out of the box" idea is to contact the Augsburg University "Friends of Ancient History" - they look to do mostly Roman stuff but may have a line on the 955 battle - website http://www.leg-xiii-gem.de/FAGUA/F.A.G.U.A..html

[aligern]

Nice Post  Dave
Roy

[Chris]

Gentlemen & Scholars,

Again, my sincere thanks for the veritable flood of information and directions on where to look. Very much appreciated.

Chris