Battle of Riade

Part of the Hungarian invasions of Europe

Henry I fights against the Magyars,
Sächsische Weltchronik, c. 1270

Date	15 March 933
Location	Central Germany, exact location unknown
Result	German victory

Belligerents

East Francia
(Kingdom of Germany)

Principality of Hungary

Commanders and leaders

Henry the Fowler, East Frankish king and duke of Saxony

Bulcsú, a harka
Lél and Súr, chieftains

Casualties and losses

Reportedly minor

The Battle of Riade or Battle of Merseburg was fought between the troops of East Francia under king Henry I and the Magyars at an unidentified location in northern Thuringia along the river Unstrut on 15 March 933. The battle was precipitated by the decision of the Synod of Erfurt to stop paying an annual tribute to the Magyars in 932. Recorded by the Saxon chronicler Widukind of Corvey, it was a morale-boosting victory for the East Franks.

The Magyars (Hungarians), Eurasian nomads who had originally served as mercenaries under Emperor Arnulf, after his death in 899 began to campaign in the Kingdom of Italy and East Francia. In 906 they broke up Great Moravia and one year later destroyed a Bavarian army under Margrave Luitpold at the Battle of Pressburg.

In 924 a Magyar army invading the German duchy of Saxony defeated King Henry I in the field, but an Árpád prince—probably Zoltán—captured near Pfalz Werla allowed Henry to negotiate for terms. A truce of nine years, during which annual tribute was required of the Germans, was declared in 926. During the truce, Henry reorganised the defences of his Saxonian duchy and subdued the Polabian Slavs in the east. At an 926 assembly, Henry secured the construction of new castles and the authorisation of a new form of garrison duty: the soldiery were organised into groups of nine agrarii milites (farmer-soldiers), one of which was doing guard duty at any given time while the other eight worked the fields. In time of invasion, all nine could man the castles.

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Wikipedia