TheBattle on the Marchfeld (i.e.Morava Field;German:Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld;Czech:Bitva na Moravském poli;Hungarian:Második morvamezei csata / dürnkruti csata);Polish:Bitwa pod Suchymi Krutami atDürnkrut andJedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history ofCentral Europe for the following centuries. The opponents were aBohemian (Czech) army led by thePřemyslid kingOttokar II of Bohemia and theGerman army under the German kingRudolph I of Habsburg in alliance with KingLadislaus IV of Hungary. With 15,300 mounted troops, it was one of the largest cavalry battles in Central Europe during theMiddle Ages.^[1] The Hungarian cavalry played a significant role in the outcome of the battle.

Battle on the Marchfeld
Part of theGreat Interregnum and theWar of the Babenberg Succession
Meeting ofKing Ladislas IV of Hungary andRudolph of Habsburg on the Battlefield of Marchfeld, painting byMór Than, 1873
Date 26 August 1278 Location betweenDürnkrut andJedenspeigen in the present-dayAustrian state ofLower Austria Result German-Hungarian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Hungary (includingCumans andSzeklers) Kingdom of Germany Duchy of Austria Burgraviate of Nuremberg Mercenaries: Duchy of Swabia Duchy of Styria Duchy of Upper Bavaria	Czech lands Kingdom of Bohemia Margraviate of Moravia Duchy of Głogów Duchy of Lower Bavaria Duchy of Silesia Mercenaries: March of Brandenburg Duchy of Styria March of Meissen Lesser Poland Greater Poland
Commanders and leaders
Ladislaus IV of Hungary Rudolf I of Habsburg Ludwig II Frederick III	Ottokar II Přemysl † Henry III Otto IV Henry I Milota of Dědice(heavy cavalry)
Strength
18,000 men and cavalry 2,000 men	6,000 cavalry 1,000 heavy cavalry 5,000 light cavalry
Casualties and losses
Heavy; greater than Ottokar coalition about 12,000	Heavy; 6,000 men

King Ottokar II of Bohemia expanded his territories considerably from 1250 to 1273, but suffered a devastating defeat in November 1276, when the newly elected German kingRudolph I of Habsburg imposed theImperial ban on Ottokar, declaring him anoutlaw and took over Ottokar's holdings inAustria,Carinthia,Carniola, andStyria. Ottokar was reduced to his possessions in Bohemia andMoravia, but was determined to regain his dominions, power, and influence. In 1278 he invaded Austria, where parts of the local population, especially inVienna, resented Habsburg rule. Rudolf allied himself with King Ladislaus IV ofHungary and mustered forces for a decisive confrontation.

Ottokar abandoned hissiege ofLaa an der Thaya and advanced to meet the allies near Dürnkrut, north of Vienna. Both armies were composed purely of cavalry and were divided into three divisions that attacked the enemy piecemeal. In the first phase of the battle, theCumanhorse archers in the Hungarian army outflanked and distracted the Bohemian left flank by launchingarrows while the Hungarian light cavalry crashed into the Bohemians, driving them from the field. In the second phase, a great collision ofknights andheavy cavalry took place in the center, with Rudolf's forces being driven back. Rudolf's third division, led by the king personally, attacked and halted Ottokar's charge. Rudolf was unhorsed in the melee and nearly killed. At a decisive moment, a German cavalry force of 200 riders, commanded by Ulrich von Kapellen,ambushed and attacked the Bohemian right flank from the rear. Assailed from two directions at once, Ottokar's army disintegrated into a rout, and Ottokar himself was killed in the confusion and slaughter. The Cumans pursued and killed the fleeing Bohemians with impunity.

The battle marked the beginning of the ascendancy of theHouse of Habsburg in Austria and Central Europe. The influence of the Přemyslid kings of Bohemia was diminished and restricted to their inheritance in Bohemia and Moravia.

The death of EmperorFrederick II of Hohenstaufen in 1250 and subsequently his sonConrad IV of Germany, created a grave crisis for theHoly Roman Empire, as in the following decades several nobles were elected asRex Romanorum and Emperor-to-be, none of whom were able to gain actual governing power upon the Emperor's death in 1250. That same year, Ottokar II, son of KingWenceslaus I of Bohemia, moved into the princeless Duchies ofAustria andStyria. The lastBabenberg dukeFrederick II of Austria had been killed at the 1246Battle of the Leitha River, in a border conflict he had picked with KingBéla IV of Hungary. Ottokar II gained the support of the local nobility and was proclaimed Austrian and Styrian duke by the estates one year later.^[2]

In 1253, Ottokar II became Bohemian king upon the death of his father; the concentration of power on the western Hungarian border was viewed with suspicion by King Béla IV, who campaigned against Austria and Styria but was finally defeated at the 1260Battle of Kressenbrunn. In 1268 Ottokar signed a contract of inheritance withUlrich III, the lastCarinthian duke of theHouse of Sponheim, and thus acquired Carinthia including theMarch of Carniola and theWindic March one year later. At the height of his power he aimed at the Imperial crown, but thePrinces-Electors (Kurfürsten), distrustful of his steep rise, elected the "poorSwabian count" Rudolph of Habsburg King of the Romans on 29 September 1273.^[2]

As the election had taken place in his absence, Ottokar did not acknowledge Rudolph as King. Rudolph himself had promised to regain the "alienated" territories which had to be conferred by the Imperial power with consent of the Prince-electors. He claimed the Austrian and Carinthian territories for the Empire and summoned Ottokar to the 1275Reichstag atWürzburg. By not appearing before the Diet, Ottokar set the events of his demise in motion. He was placed under theImperial ban and had all his territorial rights revoked, including even his Bohemian inheritance.^[2]

Meanwhile, Rudolph was gathering allies and preparing for battle. He achieved two of these alliances through the classic Habsburg style – marriage. First, he married his sonAlbert toElisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol. In return, her father CountMeinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol received the Duchy of Carinthia as a fief. Second, he established an — unstable — alliance withDuke Henry I of Lower Bavaria by offering Rudolph's daughter Katharina as wife for the Duke's son,Otto, in addition to the region of present-dayUpper Austria as a pledge for her dowry. He also concluded an alliance with KingLadislaus IV of Hungary, who intended to settle old scores with Ottokar.^[2]

Rudolph, so strengthened, besieged Ottokar at the Austrian capitalVienna in 1276. Ottokar was forced to surrender and to renounce all his acquisitions, receiving only Bohemia and Moravia as a fief from King Rudolph. Heavily deprived by this, he was determined to regain his territories and contracted an alliance with the AscanianMargraves of Brandenburg and thePolish princes. In 1278 he campaigned against Austria, supported by Duke Henry I of Lower Bavaria, who had switched sides. Ottokar first laid siege to the towns ofDrosendorf andLaa an der Thaya near the Austrian border, while Rudolph decided to leave Vienna and to face the Bohemian army in open battle in the Morava basin north of the capital, where the Cuman cavalry of King Ladislaus could easily join his forces.^[3]

Ottakar fielded 6,000 cavalry, of which 1,000 were heavily armed and armored and 5,000 lightly equipped riders.^[3] Ottokar's heavy cavalry rodearmored horses.^[3] About one third of Ottakar’s knights were Poles from Silesia, Greater Poland and Lesser Poland. Rudolf had 300 heavy cavalry and 4,000 light cavalry, of which an indeterminate number were Hungarians.^[3] Rudolf's force included a force of 5,000 Cumanhorse archers.^[3]

Surprised by Rudolph's maneuver, Ottokar quickly abandoned the siege at Laa, marched southwards, and on August 26 met the united German and Hungarian forces near Dürnkrut.^[3] When he arrived his enemies had already taken the opportunity to explore the topography of the future battleground.^[3] From the early morning, the left wing of the advancing Bohemian troops were embroiled in impetuous attacks by the Cuman forces, which the heavily armed knights could not ward off.^[3] Nevertheless, as the main armies collided and the battle wore on, Ottokar's outnumbering cavalry seemed to gain the upper hand, when even Rudolph's horse was stabbed under him and the 60-year-old narrowly escaped with his life, rescued by his liensmen.^[3]

After three hours of continuous fighting on a hot summer day, Ottokar's knights in their heavy armour were suffering from heat exhaustion and were not able to move. At noon Rudolph ordered a fresh heavy cavalry regiment he had concealed behind nearby hills and woods to attack the right flank of Ottokar's troops.^[4] Such ambushes were commonly regarded as dishonourable in medieval warfare and Rudolph's commander Ulrich von Kapellen apologized to his own men in advance.^[4] Nevertheless, the attack prevailed in splitting and stampeding the Bohemian troops. Ottokar became aware of the surprise attack and tried to lead a remaining reserve contingent in the rear of von Kapellen's troops, a maneuver that was misinterpreted as arout by the Bohemian forces. The resulting collapse led to a complete victory for Rudolph and his allies.^[4] Ottokar's camp was plundered, and he himself was found slain on the battlefield.^[5][4]

Rudolph, to demonstrate his victory, had Ottokar's body displayed in Vienna. The "poor count" from SwabianHabsburg Castle assured his possession of the Duchies of Austria and Styria, the heartland and foundation of the rise of theHouse of Habsburg. At the 1282Diet of Augsburg, he installed his sonsAlbert andRudolf II as Austrian dukes; their descendants held the ducal dignity until 1918. However, in Bohemia, Rudolph acted cautiously and reached an agreement with the nobility and Ottokar's widowKunigunda of Slavonia on the succession of her sonWenceslaus II to the throne. On the same occasion he reconciled with the Brandenburg margraves, ceding them the guardianship over the minor heir apparent. King Ladislaus IV exerted himself in thechristianization of the Cuman warriors, before he was assassinated in 1290.

Ottokar's son, the young king Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, turned out to be a capable ruler. In 1291 he acquired the PolishSeniorate Province atKraków and was crownedKing of Poland in 1300. He was even able to secure the Hungarian crown for his sonWenceslaus III, still a minor, who nevertheless was murdered in 1306, one year after his father's death, whereby the Přemyslid dynasty became extinct.

No exact data on casualties is available, but Ottokar's losses were considerably higher than Rudolf's.^[4]

The battle was depicted in art especially during the rise ofnationalism in the 19th century, when it was viewed as the example of a traditional co-operation between the Habsburg dynasty (Austria) and the Kingdom of Hungary, from one side, and the traditional tension between the Habsburg dynasty and Bohemia, from the Czech side.

The tragedyKönig Ottokars Glück und Ende written byFranz Grillparzer in 1823 is based on the rise and fall of king Ottokar II. The drama was originally inspired by the life ofNapoleon, but Grillparzer, fearingMetternich's censorship, chose to write the play about Ottokar, in whose story he found many parallels. It nevertheless was immediately forbidden and could not be performed until 1825. Grillparzer perpetuated the legend of Ottokar's wife,Margaret of Babenberg, unsuccessfully trying to reconcile the opponents on the eve of the battle. In fact, Margaret had died in 1266.

The operaThe Brandenburgers in Bohemia, by the Czech composerBedřich Smetana in 1863, was inspired by the battle and the following events.

• Battle of Kressenbrunn
• List of battles 601–1400
• Battle of Rozgony

• Bellum.cz – Battle on the Marchfeld 26 August 1278

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