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 by the decision of the Synod of Erfurt to stop paying an annual tribute to the Magyars in 932 . Recorded by the Saxon chronicler Widukind of Corvey , it was a morale - boosting victory for the East Franks . Prelude . The Magyars ( Hungarians ) , Eurasian nomads who had originally served as mercenaries under Emperor Arnulf , after his death in 899 began to campaign in the Kingdom of Italy and East Francia . In 906 they broke up Great Moravia and one year later destroyed a Bavarian army under Margrave Luitpold at the Battle of Pressburg . In 924 a Magyar army invading the German duchy of Saxony defeated King Henry I in the field , but an Árpád prince — probably Zoltán — captured near Pfalz Werla allowed Henry to negotiate for terms . A truce of nine years , during which annual tribute was required of the Germans , was declared in 926 . During the truce , Henry reorganised the defences of his Saxonian duchy and subdued the Polabian Slavs in the east . At an 926 assembly , Henry secured the construction of new castles and the authorisation of a new form of garrison duty : the soldiery were organised into groups of nine " agrarii milites " ( farmer - soldiers ) , one of which was doing guard duty at any given time while the other eight worked the fields . In time of invasion , all nine could man the castles . After he believed the necessary reforms had been made , Henry secured the support of the church in reneging on tribute payments in 932 . Allegedly he had a dead dog thrown down in front of the Magyar negotiators , which amounted to a declaration of war . Battle . In preparation for the campaign , Henry levied mounted contingents from every region and stem duchy of the German kingdom , though only French chronicler Flodoard of Reims records the Bavarian presence . The Magyars had besieged an unknown town but attempted to withdraw in the night because Henry and his army had camped in the neighborhood at Riade . Henry sent forward a small contingent of footsoldiers with a few cavalrymen as a screen for his main army . The king had learned what to expect from the preceding struggles , where the rapidity of the Magyar light cavalry and archers had brought them success . He confronted their onset with light armoured combatants at first , followed by a massed heavy cavalry attack . According to Widukind of Corvey , the Magyar forces readily fled at the coming of Henry ' s horsemen and the victorious German troops declared Henry emperor on the battlefield . The exact location of the battle is unknown and several municipalities in Central Germany claim to be the site of the combat , among them Kalbsrieth , at the confluence of Unstrut and Helme , and the " Hunnenfeld " near Riethgen . However the place of " Riade " rendered by Widukind denotes the army camp of King Henry , probably not identical with the battlefield . Aftermath . In Henry ' s lifetime the Magyars did not dare to make a further raid on East Francia . In 954 they again invaded Germany during a rebellion instigated by Duke Liudolf of Swabia and were finally defeated by Henry ' s son and successor King Otto I at the Battle of Lechfeld .