The Battle of Kressenbrunn was fought in July 1260 near
Groissenbrunn in
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
between the
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...
and the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
for the possession of the duchies of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...
.
[''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', Vol. I, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), p. 283.] The Bohemian forces were led by King
Ottokar II Přemysl, while the Hungarians were led by his cousin, King
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father ...
.
In 1251, Ottokar's father King
Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav I.; c. 1205 – 23 September 1253), called One-Eyed, was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253.
Wenceslaus was a son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary.
Marriage and children
In 1224, Wencesl ...
had not only granted him the title of a
Margrave of Moravia
The Margraviate of Moravia ( cs, Markrabství moravské; german: Markgrafschaft Mähren) was one of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire existing from 1182 to 1918. It was officially administrated by a margrave in cooperat ...
, but also installed him as duke of Austria and Styria, territories that were princeless after the ruling
Babenberg dynasty
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...
had become extinct in 1246. To legitimate his succession, Ottokar in 1252 married the
Duchess Margaret of Austria, the sister of the last Babenberg duke and about 26 years his senior.
When Ottokar followed his father as King of Bohemia in 1253, Béla, distrustful of his rising power, claimed the Styrian duchy. Meanwhile, Margaret's niece
Gertrude had married
Roman Danylovich
Roman Danylovych (c. 1230 – c. 1261), Prince of Black Ruthenia (Navahradak) 1254–1258, Prince of Slonim?.
He was born as a younger son of Danylo of Halych, a powerful prince of lands east from Poland and later king of those regions, w ...
, son of King
Daniel of Galicia
Daniel of Galicia ( uk, Данило Романович (Галицький), Danylo Romanovych (Halytskyi); Old Ruthenian: Данило Романовичъ, ''Danylo Romanovyčъ''; pl, Daniel I Romanowicz Halicki; 1201 – 1264) was a King ...
and relative of the Árpád dynasty. The quarrels were at first settled with the aid of
Pope Innocent IV
Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.
Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
in 1254, when Béla received large parts of Styria and later installed his son
Stephen
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
as a duke. However, in 1260 the conflict rekindled, after the Styrian nobility had revolted against the Árpáds and Ottokar reclaimed the duchy. Béla allied with Daniel of Galicia and
Bolesław V the Chaste
Bolesław V the Chaste ( pl, Bolesław Wstydliwy; 21 June 1226 – 7 December 1279) was Duke of Sandomierz in Lesser Poland from 1232 and High Duke of Poland from 1243 until his death, as the last male representative of the Lesser Polish branch o ...
of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and marched against Ottokar. The Kingdom of Hungary couldn't recover from the devastation of the
Mongol invasion
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire ( 1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
of 1240 and 1241, therefore it lost much of its former political and military positions. Historians estimate that up to half of Hungary's then population of 2,000,000 were victims of the Mongol invasion
[The Mongol invasion: the last Arpad kings, Encyclopædia Britannica]
Ottokar's troops consisted of Bohemian-Moravian, German, Polish, Carinthian, Carniolan, and Styrian forces, while Bela's huge army gathered Hungarian,
Cuman
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Wallachian, Galician, Slavonian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Pecheneg, and Szekler contingents. Both sides met on different sides of the
Morava River
Morava may refer to:
Rivers
* Great Morava (''Velika Morava''; or only Morava), a river in central Serbia, and its tributaries:
** South Morava (''Južna Morava'')
*** Binač Morava (''Binačka Morava'')
** West Morava (''Zapadna Morava'')
* Mor ...
, where they eyed each other for some time. As none of the belligerents dared to cross the river, Ottokar proposed an agreement, that his troops would withdraw to give the Hungarians the opportunity to go reach the other bank. As they pulled back, Béla's son Stephen started an attack, went over the Morava and reached the retiring Bohemian cavalry at the village of Kressenbrunn. However Ottokar called back his forces and managed to repulse Stephen who was seriously injured. The returning Bohemian forces routed Béla's troops, many of which on the run drowned in the river.
The fight is considered one of the biggest battles in
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
in the Middle Ages, though scholars doubt the possibility of supplying such a vast number of mercenaries. After Ottokar's victory, King Béla renounced the Duchy of Styria and in 1261 even arranged the marriage of his granddaughter
Kunigunda of Slavonia
Kunigunda Rostislavna (1245 – 9 September 1285; Czech: ''Kunhuta Uherská'' or ''Kunhuta Haličská'') was Queen consort of Bohemia and its regent from 1278 until her death. She was a member of the House of Chernigov, and a daughter of Rostisl ...
with the Bohemian king. However his successors continued to challenge the Bohemian kingdom.
Memorial
![GuentherZ 2010-10-09 0030 Groissenbrunn Denkmal Schlacht Ottokar Bela](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/GuentherZ_2010-10-09_0030_Groissenbrunn_Denkmal_Schlacht_Ottokar_Bela.jpg)
The battle is commemorated by a memorial, unveiled in 2010, at the 750th anniversary of the battle. The memorial is located at the eastern edge of the Groissenbrunn municipality, near the road to the Morava river. The author of the memorial plaque's artistic design is Vladislav Plekanec.
See also
*
Battle on the Marchfeld
The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava Field''; german: Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld; cs, Bitva na Moravském poli; hu, Morvamezei csata) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history o ...
References
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Kressenbrunn
Kressenbrunn
Kressenbrunn
1260 in Europe
Kressenbrunn
Ottokar II of Bohemia