The latter would often implore God to deliver them from these accursed equestrian warriors: “A sagittis Hungarorum, libera nos, Domine!” (Free us, O Lord, from the arrows of the Hungarians!)

The campaigns of the pagan Magyars also produced numerous heroic deeds, which were recorded and retold by minstrels, enriching the folklore of the Hungarians. One of these legends is connected with their betrayed hero, named Lel or Lehel. The version of “The Horn of Lehel” repeated here is based on the fourteenth-century Chronicon Pictum Vindobonense (Viennese Illuminated Chronicle) and Hungarian folk traditions recorded by the folklorist-historian Freda B. Kovacs.

Prince Lehel striking the treacherous Conrad with his horn, depicted in a woodcut by Joseph Mor.

It happened in the days when the Emperor Otto’s rule over Germany was already in its eighteenth year.  Duke Conrad rebelled against Otto and called upon the Magyars to help him.  While the ruler of Hungary, Prince Geza, declined to get involved, two of his lesser princes, Bulcsu and Lehel, did.  They had been on friendly terms with Duke Conrad for years, and they felt obliged to support him in his struggle against the despotic emperor.

Bulcsu’s and Lehel’s armies moved toward the mighty fortified city of Augsburg, where they expected to join forces with Conrad.  Little did they suspect that in the meantime the treacherous Conrad had made peace with the emperor, and that they would be caught in a trap between the city and the River Lech; yet that is exactly what happened.  Upon their arrival in the vicinity of Augsburg, they were suddenly attacked simultaneously by Conrad’s infantry and Otto’s heavy cavalry.  The princes’ forces were pushed against the River Lech which, being flooded, was impossible to cross.  Although the Magyars fought like lions and cut down over half of the emperor’s men, ultimately they were overpowered and defeated.

With their armies gone, Bulcsu and Lehel were both captured and brought before the emperor.  He received the two Magyar princes in the company of his dukes, bishops, and generals, among whom sat the traitor Conrad.

Turning to the captured princes, Emperor Otto asked, “By what means do you wish to die?”  It was Lehel who replied: “I will soon let you know, but first let me have my battle horn.