Battle of the Leitha (1246)

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Battle of the Leitha
Part of: Austro-Hungarian border conflicts in the Middle Ages
Death of Frederick II in the battle of the Leitha; Representation in the Babenberger family tree from the 15th century
Death of Frederick II in the battle of the Leitha; Representation in the Babenberger family tree from the 15th century
date June 15, 1246
place on the Leitha , probably near Ebenfurth or Neufeld , Austria
output Austrian victory
Parties to the conflict

Duchy of Austria

Kingdom of Hungary and allies

Commander

Friedrich II. †

Béla IV.
Rastislav of Kiev and Halych

Troop strength
unknown, relatively low unknown, significantly larger
losses

unknown

unknown

The battle of the Leitha was fought on June 15, 1246 between an armed force commanded by the Babenberg duke Friedrich II of Austria (r. 1230-1246) and an army of the Hungarian king Béla IV (ruled 1235-1270). The in and for itself insignificant clash between the two armed forces, which ended with an Austrian victory, turned out to be momentous, as the childless Duke Friedrich II, known as “the arrogant”, was killed during the fighting under unexplained circumstances. Lichinovsky writes that Friedrich II fell in battle with Friedrich von Veglia, later called Frankopan . With Friedrich's death, the male line of the Babenbergs died out and a period known as the Austrian interregnum began , during which the lands of Frederick II got caught up in a prolonged play of forces between rival powers.

Localization of the slaughter site

Exactly where the Leithaschlacht took place can no longer be determined today. The indication of a Hungarian source, which gives the location of the slaughter site " sub Nova Civitate iuxta fluvium Saar " (German: " Unter Neustadt an der Leitha"; Hungarian Sár = Leitha), as well as the description by the minstrel Ulrich von Liechtenstein († 1275) According to, who was an eyewitness to the fighting, one can assume that the battle site was near Ebenfurth or opposite it on the then Hungarian side (in the area of ​​today's Neufeld ).

literature

  • Heide Dienst : The Battle of the Leitha 1246 (= Military History Series, Issue 19). Österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1st edition, Vienna 1971, ISBN 3-215-02786-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Dienst (1971), pp. 16-19.