The Battle of Wels (10/12Widukind of Corvey; Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach (eds.), ''Deeds of the Saxons'' (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2014), p. 91. August 943) was fought between a joint Bavarian– Carantanian army and a Hungarian force near

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the eighth largest city in Austria. Geography Wels is in the H ...

in the Traungau, on the plain of the Welser Heide, nowadays a part of Austria. The battle took place at the height of the

Hungarian invasions of Europe The Hungarian invasions of Europe ( hu, kalandozások, german: Ungarneinfälle) took place in the 9th and 10th centuries, the period of transition in the history of Europe in the Early Middle Ages, when the territory of the former Carolingian Em ...

. The Bavarians and Carantanians were victorious under the command of the Bavarian leader

Berthold Berthold or Berchtold is a Germanic given name and surname. It is derived from two elements, ''berht'' meaning "bright" and ''wald'' meaning "(to) rule". It may refer to: *Bertholdt Hoover, a fictional List_of_Attack_on_Titan_characters, character ...

. The victory is mentioned widely in contemporary histories. It is mentioned in

Widukind of Corvey Widukind of Corvey (c. 925after 973) was a medieval Saxon chronicler. His three-volume ''Res gestae Saxonicae sive annalium libri tres'' is an important chronicle of 10th-century Germany during the rule of the Ottonian dynasty. Life In view of ...

's ''Deeds of the Saxons'', in

Hermann of Reichenau Blessed Hermann of Reichenau (18 July 1013– 24 September 1054), also known by other names, was an 11th-century Benedictine monk and scholar. He composed works on history, music theory, mathematics, and astronomy, as well as many hymns. ...

's ''Chronicon'' and by Adalbert of Weissenburg in his continuation of the ''Chronicon'' of

Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum ( la, Regino Prumiensis, german: Regino von Prüm; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm (892–99) and later of Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is an important s ...

. It is also mentioned in the '' Annals of Saint Gall'', the ''

Annals of Salzburg The ''Annales iuvavenses'' or Annals of Salzburg were a series of annals written in the 9th and 10th centuries at Salzburg (the former Roman ''Iuvavum'') in the East Frankish stem duchy of Bavaria. They are a useful source for southeastern German ...

'' and the '' Annals of Magdeburg'', and in the necrology of

Freising Cathedral Freising Cathedral, also called Saint Mary and Corbinian Cathedral (German: Mariendom), is a romanesque basilica in Freising, Bavaria. It is the co-cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Freising Cathedral is also known fo ...

.Charles R. Bowlus, ''The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955: The End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin West'' (Ashgate, 2006), p. 145. While the sources do not provide details on the battle itself, the historian Charles Bowlus has suggested that the Hungarians may have been surprised by the Bavarians and Carantanians while returning from pasturing their horses on the steppe-like grasslands of the Welser Heide. There was a crossing of the

Enns river The Enns (, ) is a southern tributary of the river Danube, joining northward at Enns, Austria. The Enns spans , in a flat-J-shape. It flows from its source near the village Flachau, generally eastward through Radstadt, Schladming, and Liezen, then ...

at Ennsburg. At the time, Welser Heide lay on the Bavarian side of the border with Hungary, which was the Enns. Wels lies on the

Traun Traun () is an Austrian city located on the north bank of the river Traun and borders Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, to the east. The name ''Traun'' is derived from the Celtic word for river (''dru''). Traun is the fifth largest city in U ...

, and the site of the battle may have been a no-man's-land between the Enns and the Traun. It was essentially a border action and not deep within Bavaria, which the Hungarians had penetrated many times before.Karl J. Leyser, "The Battle at the Lech, 955: A Study in Tenth-Century Warfare", ''History'' 50 (1965), pp. 1–25, at 7.

Herwig Wolfram Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Scho ...

, on the other hand, believes that they were defeated at the outset of a new expedition before they had gotten much further than their own frontier.Herwig Wolfram, "Bavaria in the Tenth and Early Eleventh Centuries", in Timothy Reuter (ed.), ''The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, c. 900 – c. 1024'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 293–309, at 303–04. The cause of the battle may have originated with the Bavarians, since under the previous duke,

Eberhard Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar. People First name *Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire *Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian *Eberhard I, Du ...

, they had been on good relations with the Hungarians and poor relations with the

king of Germany This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Empir ...

. Berthold, who was the brother of Eberhard's father, Duke

Arnulf Arnulf is a masculine German given name. It is composed of the Germanic elements ''arn'' "eagle" and ''ulf'' "wolf". The ''-ulf, -olf'' suffix was an extremely frequent element in Germanic onomastics and from an early time was perceived as a mere ...

, is said by Widukind to have been "administering" Bavaria on behalf of King

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

after Eberhard's banishment in 938. The change in government in Bavaria may have precipitated the war. As recently as 937, Arnulf had allowed the Hungarians to pass peacefully through Bavaria to raid parts further west. Under Arnulf, Berthold had been duke of a region south of the Alps and attached to Bavaria, the old region of

Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania ( sl, Karantanija, german: Karantanien, in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern ...

, the future

Duchy of Carinthia The Duchy of Carinthia (german: Herzogtum Kärnten; sl, Vojvodina Koroška) was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial Sta ...

. After 938, the Bavarians and Carantanians were thus united under a single ruler,Bowlus (2006), p. 87. a factor Adalbert may have seen as critical to their success in 943. According to Widukind, Berthold was "renowned for this celebrated triumph". Adalbert, who identifies the place of the battle as Wels but places it in the year 944, states that the Hungarians were defeated "as they had never been defeated by our men before". The ''Annals of Salzburg'' add that "only a few Hungarians escaped", while those of Saint Gall that "their entire army was wiped out". These comments suggest that the victory of 943 was superior to that of King

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...

at the

Battle of Riade 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 b ...

(933) ten years earlier, although it would be superseded by Otto's victory at the Lechfeld in 955.

References

{{coord missing, Hungary 943 10th century in East Francia 10th century in Hungary Duchy of Bavaria

Wels 943