Battle on the Elster

Battle on the Elster
Part of the Great Saxon Revolt
Rudolph, Anti-Emperor of Henry IV, Loses His Arm in Combat, engraving by Bernhard Rode, 1781
Date October 14, 1080 Location near Hohenmölsen on the White Elster Result Military victory for Rudolf, political victory for Henry
Belligerents
Henry IV of Germany	Rudolf of Swabia

Battle on the Elster (German: Schlacht bei Hohenmölsen) was the third and last battle between the Salian king Henry IV of Germany and anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, fought on October 14, 1080 near Hohenmölsen on the White Elster river. Rudolf's forces were victorious, however, he was mortally wounded and succumbed to his injuries the next day.

In February 1076 Pope Gregory VII had excommunicated Henry over the Investiture Controversy. In turn, the rebellious German princes met at Trebur in October and resolved upon his deposition, if he would not be able to obtain the revocation of the ban within a year. By his Walk to Canossa in January 1077, the king received absolution, nevertheless the princes elected Rudolf of Rheinfelden anti-king on March 15.

Henry placed Rudolf under imperial ban and marched against him. Their forces first met in the Battle of Mellrichstadt on 7 August 1078 and again in the Battle of Flarchheim on 27 January 1080. Both encounters remained inconclusive.

Henry marched through Thuringia trying to unite his forces from southern and western Germany with those of Duke Vratislaus II of Bohemia and Margrave Egbert II of Meissen. To do so Henry had to bypass Rudolf's Saxon allies. Henry successfully drew off the Saxons by feignting a move toward Goslar, while his main army approached Erfurt eastwards along Saxony's southern border. Henry plundered the city and proceeded to Naumburg, hoping to meet up with the other half of his forces on the Saale or Elster rivers.

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