Battle of Lechfeld

For half a century Magyar horse-archers had raided Germany, Italy and France, and in 955 a large army besieged Augsburg. Otto I marched to its relief with a force drawn from across his kingdom. The two armies met on the plain by the River Lech on 10 August, and the Magyars' fast encircling attack on the German rear overran the rear division and the baggage. Otto's heavy cavalry rallied, and the Magyar force was driven off and then hunted down. After the defeat the raids largely ceased, and the Magyars settled to build a Christian kingdom.

The sources for the battle are sparse and the exact site is disputed: it was fought somewhere in the Lech plain near Augsburg, but modern scholars have proposed locations differing by tens of kilometres. The traditional story that the battle ended Magyar raids is probably too simple, since raids had already declined, and the Magyars had suffered earlier defeats. Even so, Lechfeld became a founding moment for the idea of Otto as a defender of Christendom, which helped him gain the imperial crown in 962. The Holy Lance, said to have been carried in the German army, became an important symbol.