Battle of the River Leyte

Opposition of Austria and Hungary

The standoff between Austria and Hungary begins almost immediately after the entry of Frederick II the Militant (or Warmaster) on the Austrian throne. In 1230, Frederick II, taking advantage of the participation of Andrash II in the struggle for Galich, attacked the western Hungarian possessions. The reciprocal action took place in 1235 (after the Hungarians were finally expelled from Galicia) - the army of András managed to reach the Austrian capital, Vienna , but then was forced to retreat, and soon András II died, and Bela IV became the king of Hungary. In 1236 Frederick II fought again in Hungary.

Meanwhile, Europe faces a new threat, against which the confrontation between Austria and Hungary subsides briefly - the invasion of Mongolian troops into Russian lands, which continued with the invasion of Eastern Europe. In April 1241, the army of Bela IV was defeated by the troops of Batu Khan on the river Shayo , after which Bela was forced to flee to Bratislava , and from there to the Austrian Hainburg , asking for help from the former enemy, the Austrian duke. Taking advantage of the plight of the King of Hungary, Friedrich of Austria captivated him in Hainburg and called the condition for helping Bele - the transfer of three border Hungarian committees to Austria. After the death of Ogedei , the great Khan of Mongolia , the Mongolian troops finally stopped the Western campaign and left the territory of Europe. Shortly thereafter, the Austro-Hungarian and Austro-imperial confrontations broke out with a new force. Duke Frederick II Militant refused to return to Hungary the three committees received for supporting Bele IV during the Mongol invasion of Hungary. In 1242, Bela IV launched a war against Austria. The result of the campaign was the seizure by Hungarians of Sopron and Koseg and the refusal of the Duke Frederick from the Hungarian committees.

Austria’s relations with the Holy Roman Empire , the Czech Republic, and the Galician-Volyn principality

Since the very accession to the throne, Frederick II of Austria has been in conflict not only with the rulers of Hungary, but also with the kings of Bohemia . In 1231, the Czech ruler Vaclav I invaded Austria and burned Krems . Austria responded to this two years later, when the Duke Frederick took advantage of the conflict between Wenceslas I and his brother Premysl Moravsky and captured the castle of Bitov . However, due to illness, he soon came back.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Frederick II of Austria and his namesake, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II , who condemned the Austrian duke for his unwillingness to take part in imperial affairs (formally Austria was part of the empire), became complicated. Disgrace was imposed on the duke, and the emperor summoned the Austrian ruler several times to court, and after the absence of the latter, the imperial army invaded Austria, seized Vienna, and the duke was forced to flee and hide. It is noteworthy that the princes Daniil Galitsky and Vasilko Volynsky intended to assist the Duke Frederick II, but the Hungarian King Bela IV dissuaded them (according to the chronicle version - he forbade them to participate: “delight itti Danil and his brother Vasilkom Gertsikov for help, the Queen regained his help. his land ” ^[2] ). Historian A.V. Mayorov sees in this the refusal of Daniel and Vasilko Romanovich from an alliance with Austria, concluded on the basis of kinship (the mother of Daniil and Vasilko, Euphrosyne-Anna , was a relative of Theodora Angel, mother of Frederick II of Austria) and the accession of Romanovich to the anti-Austrian union, which included Hungary and the Sacred The Roman Empire ^[3] , which led to the "rise" of Daniel and his status at the imperial court (mention in the imperial documents not as "the Duke of Russia", but already as the "King of Russia").

However, soon the emperor began to have serious problems with the Italian possessions, and his army left Vienna. Taking advantage of this, Friedrich of Austria returns to Austria and again takes power over the region.

The situation may have changed in 1245 , when the real threat of the power of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II appeared. After convened at the initiative of Pope Innocent IV of Lyon, the emperor was excommunicated (condemned for alliance with the “ heretic ” and “ schismatic ” by John Vatac , emperor Nikaia ), declared deposed, which led to a sharp political destabilization within the empire. Under these conditions, the emperor was forced to reconsider his attitude towards the Austrian duke. Between the two Friedrichs, a preliminary agreement was reached, under the terms of which the emperor promised to transfer the region to Austria, and he himself was to marry Gertrude , the niece of the Austrian duke. However, this union and marriage did not take place (largely due to the position of the 17-year-old Gertruda, who did not want to become the wife of the 50-year-old emperor). The possible reason for the fact that the marriage was not concluded is also the name of love between Gertrude and Vladislav Moravsky, the son of Wenceslas I, which led to the unification of the duke of Frederick and King Wenceslas against Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire.

Despite the fact that an agreement with the emperor was not reached, Frederick of Austria in 1245 still invaded Krainy and subordinated it to Austria, and also began a new campaign against Hungary, intending to retake the border committees again. During the Austro-Hungarian conflict of 1245-1246, the battle on Leyte took place.

From the descriptions of the battle, made by the Austrian poet Ulrich from Liechtenstein and the Hungarian chronicler Simon from Keza , there are two supposed places of battle - Wiener Neustadt (from Simon from Keza), or somewhere between Ebenfurt and Neufeld in Leith (Ulrich) .

The event took place on June 15, 1246. Details about the course of the battle, the number of troops and the losses of the chronicles are not saved. It is known that the Austrian troops won a victory in the battle, but it was given to them at a high price - at the cost of the death of the Duke Frederick II. The circumstances of the death of the Duke, however, remain unclear, as the sources provide different and contradictory information. A number of Hungarian chroniclers noted that Frederick was killed by Hungarian troops ^[4] , in the Melk Annals it is said that the duke died "it is not known what accident happened" ^[5] , and the Salzburg chronicler, though not with full confidence, says that the duke he was killed by his own people ^[5] .

It is the latter point of view that subsequently spread widely. It was even reflected in the Russian chronicles ^[2] , and in the chronicle of Magnus Reichersberg for the first time, the name of the duke’s killer Heinrich von Hassbach ^[6] is directly stated. However, there is one more version, which says that the Duke Frederick was killed in a duel with an unnamed King of Russia (see below).

After the death of the Duke Frederick, the conflict began with the division of the inheritance of the Austrian Babenberg. Frederick II was the last male dynasty representative, and the ruling clan in Austria was stopped, and various rulers began to make claims to the Austrian inheritance, supporting their claims with a factor of dynastic kinship, as well as marriages with the closest relatives of the late Duke, niece Gertruda and sister Margarita . At first, the Czech king Wenceslas I decided to take advantage of the situation. Knowing about the relationship between Gertrude and his son Wenceslaus, he quickly arranged a marriage between them and hurried to declare the couple “the duke and duchess of Austria”, but in 1247 the young Wenceslaus died. Then Pope Innocent IV organized the marriage of Gertrude and Margrave Hermann of Baden , but the reign of Hermann in Austria was unsuccessful because of his low popularity among the Austrian nobility. In 1250, Herman died, leaving power in the hands of a young widow and one-year-old son of Friedrich of Baden . This was used again by the Czech Republic (Bohemia), whose new king, Premysl Otakar II , seized Austria and annexed it to his possessions, reinforcing the conquest of marriage with Margarita von Babenberg. In 1253, Roman Danilovich , the son of Daniil Galitsky, who married Gertrude von Babenberg, declared his rights to the Austrian crown. But the joint Galician-Hungarian campaign against Austria was not crowned with success.

In 1276 Premysl lost to Rudolf I in a new phase of the struggle for the Austrian lands, and a new dynasty, the Hapsburgs, was established in Austria.

"King of Russia" in the battle of Leyte

Annals of the monastery of St. Panteleimon, speaking of the battle on Leyte, mention the episode of the battle in the duel between Frederick II of Austria and a certain "King of Russia" who defeated the duke and killed him ^[7] . Researchers interpret this episode in different ways and express different opinions about who can be considered this “king”. Many researchers ^[8] identify this figure as Rostislav Mikhailovich , former prince of Chernigov and Galitsky , who a year before the Battle of Leith was defeated by the troops of Daniel Galitsky in the battle of Yaroslav , after which he fled to Hungary, where he married Anna , the daughter of King Bela IV and subsequently received possession of Slavonia and Machva .

In contrast to these opinions, A.V. Mayorov, who proposed to consider "the king of Russia" Daniil Romanovich Galitsky . Maiorov cites a chain of arguments in support of this version - for example, the kinship between Daniel Romanovich and Frederick II (Daniil Euphrosyne’s mother, Anna Angelina was a relative of Frederick Theodora Angelina’s mother), giving Daniel the right to make claims to the Austrian throne, as well as evidence from German sources ( particular documents of the Imperial Chancellery), in which the term “King of Russia” was allegedly used earlier in relation to Daniil Romanovich. Opponents Mayorov noted that there is no evidence in favor of the possibility of the participation of Daniel in the battle, and all the evidence was called indirect and based on very strong assumptions. Nevertheless, Maiorov presents a picture of events in such a way that Bela IV, frightened by the devastating actions of the Mongols in 1240–1241, having learned about Daniel’s receiving the Khan's label and patronage, decided to initiate peace and alliance with the Galician-Volyn principality (with which time conflicted). This led to the fact that immediately after the return of Daniel from the Horde, Bela invited him to conclude an alliance, which was marked by the marriage of Lev Danilovich with Bela's daughter Constance and the subsequent help that Bela had provided to printer Cyril , a companion of Daniel, whom the Hungarian king “spent” to the Patriarch of Constantinople for delivery to the metropolitan . For Daniel, the condition for the union was military assistance in the Austrian Bela campaign.

Thus, this question remains open. Supporters have both points of view.

Heide Dienst. Die Schlacht an der Leitha 1246. - Wien: Militärhistorische Schriftenreihe, 1971. - ISBN 13: 9783215027864.