| Leitha Lajta | |
|---|---|
 The Leitha nearKleinwolkersdorf | |
  | |
| Location | |
| Countries | Austria andHungary |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Lanzenkirchen, southernVienna Basin |
| • coordinates | 47°44′11″N16°13′49″E / 47.73639°N 16.23028°E /47.73639; 16.23028 |
| Mouth | |
• location | Danube nearMosonmagyaróvár |
• coordinates | 47°52′8″N17°17′17″E / 47.86889°N 17.28806°E /47.86889; 17.28806 |
| Length | 120.8 km (75.1 mi)[1] |
| Basin size | 2,138 km2 (825 sq mi) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Danube→Black Sea |
TheLeitha (German:[ˈlaɪtaː]ⓘ;Hungarian:Lajta, formerlySár(-víz);Slovene:Litva;Czech andSlovak:Litava) is a river inAustria andHungary, a right tributary of theDanube. It is 120.8 km (75.1 mi) long (168.5 km (104.7 mi) including its source riverSchwarza).[1] Its basin area is 2,138 km2 (825 sq mi).[2]
TheLithaha River in the CarolingianAvar March was first mentioned in an 833 deed issued byLouis the German, son of theCarolingian emperorLouis the Pious and ruler over thestem duchy ofBavaria. TheOld High German namelît probably referred to aPannonian (Illyrian) denotation for "mud", as maintained in the former Hungarian nameSár (comparemocsár, 'swamp').
The Leitha rises inLower Austria at the confluence of its two headstreams, theSchwarza, discharging theSchneeberg,Rax andSchneealpe ranges of theNorthern Limestone Alps, and thePitten. BetweenEbenfurth andLeithaprodersdorf, and betweenBruck an der Leitha andGattendorf,[3] the Leitha forms part of the border between the Austrianstates ofLower Austria andBurgenland. East ofNickelsdorf, the river passes intoHungary, where it flows into the Moson arm of the Danube west ofSzigetköz Island nearMosonmagyaróvár. Important towns on its course areWiener Neustadt, Bruck and Mosonmagyaróvár.
Large amounts of the Schwarza headstream waters are diverted to supply theWiener Neustadt Canal and thedrinking water supply ofVienna. Furthermore, several canals diverge from the Leitha, feedingspinning companies in the past, today smallhydroelectric power plants.
BetweenSeibersdorf andHof am Leithaberge, most of the water in the Leitha is removed for this purpose. From there on, the Leitha usually runs dry, unless its flow further upstream is abnormally high. Downriver fromKatzelsdorf the river bed is almost completely dry as well.
At the Leitha Ursprung (or Source) in the small town ofLanzenkirchen, there is a hiking trail, a stone with a plaque to mark the origin point and three wooden figures that represent the legendary Leitha Hexen (witches).
According to the sign next to the three wooden women, "Once upon a time, real witches lived in the waters of the Leitha. They were small, like children, skinny and hunchbacked, with tangled hair that reached down to their knees and webbed fingers and toes."
"The witches mostly splashed around under the bridges, but anyone who teased them or watched them met a bad end."
"One evening a man was overcome by the desire to tempt the Leitha witches. When he heard them in the water, he put both hands around his mouth and shouted:'Hoo hoo!' ”
"Then he hurried away laughing. But he didn't get far, because suddenly countless bony hands wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground! No amount of struggling and struggling helped; he couldn't even call for help. He only felt a wet cloth being pressed over his mouth, then his senses faded."
"When he came to again, he was lying on the banks of the Leitha, on the border with Katzelsdorf. But the Leitha witches were nowhere to be seen or heard."[4]
After theHungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century, theMagyar horsemen dared furtherinvasions into the adjacentEast Frankish lands, until they were finally defeated by KingOtto I in the 955Battle of Lechfeld. Thereafter the forces of the Bavarian dukeHenry the Wrangler gradually re-conquered the lands beyond theVienna Woods up to the Leitha River, where about 976 theMarch of Austria (Ostarrîchi) was established under theBabenberg margraveLeopold I.
Around the turn to the 2nd millennium, the Hungarian frontier (Gyepű) ran along the Leitha shore, from 1156 onwards it formed the eastern border of theDuchy of Austria with fortresses erected at Wiener Neustadt, Bruck andHainburg. The last Babenberg dukeFrederick II of Austria was killed in the 1246Battle of the Leitha River against KingBéla IV of Hungary. The course of the border was confirmed in a 1411 deed issued by KingSigismund, when his daughterElizabeth married theHabsburg dukeAlbert II of Austria. The placenamesCisleithania,Transleithania andLajtabánság are all derived from the Leitha River. After theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which created theDual Monarchy,Transleithanien ("beyond the Leitha") was theViennese colloquial word for the region beyond the Leitha (meaning Hungary or theKingdom of Hungary), whileCisleithanien ("on this side of the Leitha") denoted the Austrian lands. These names reflected the Viennese and Austrian perspectives towards the rest of theEmpire, because Vienna lay on 'this' side, and the other half, Hungary, lay on 'that' side.[5] Nevertheless, the Leitha did not form the entire border between the two: for instanceGalicia andBukovina, which were part of Cisleithania, were north-east ofHungary. Likewise, theMorava River formed the border between CisleithanianMoravia and the Transleithanian lands of present-daySlovakia (Upper Hungary).
Upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary afterWorld War I, the 1920Treaty of Trianon adjudicated the West Hungarian territory of the proclaimedLajtabánság (LeithaBanat) to theRepublic of Austria (as Burgenland), whereby the course of the river became an inner Austrian border.
