Editing Battle of Lechfeld (section)

==Prelude==
[[File:Lehel Litho.JPG|thumb|upright|The Hungarian commander Lél. Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1828.]]
Gerhard writes that the Hungarian forces advanced across the Lech to the river [[Iller]] and ravaged the lands in between. They then withdrew from the Iller and placed Augsburg, a border city of Swabia, under siege. Augsburg had been heavily damaged during a rebellion against Otto I in 954. The city was defended by [[Ulrich of Augsburg|Bishop Ulrich]].{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=9}} He ordered his contingent of soldiers not to fight the Hungarians in the open, but to reinforce the main south gate of the fortress instead. He motivated them with the [[Psalm 23|23rd Psalm]] ("Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"). While this defense was going on, the King was raising an army to march south.{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=9}}{{sfn|Delbrück|1990|p=115}} [[Simon of Kéza]] mentions that the Hungarians harassed Augsburg with attacks all day and night. That would seem to indicate that before the real siege they wished to take the city by sudden onslaughts.{{Sfn|Kristó|1985|p=84}}

After it had become apparent that this tactic wouldn't work, a major action took place on 8 August at the eastern gate, into which the Magyars tried to storm in large numbers,{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=9}} suspecting that it would be more weakly defended because of its limited accessibility.{{Sfn|Kristó|1985|p=84}} Ulrich led his professional ''milites'' (knights, soldiers) out into the field to engage the enemy in close combat. Ulrich writes of himself that he was unarmed, wearing only a [[stola]] while mounted on a warhorse, and all the arrows and stones bypassed him.{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|pp=9–10}} According to him, the Hungarians could have entered the gates at any time; however, they lost their commander during the attack, and withdrew to their camp, taking the body.{{Sfn|Kristó|1985|p=86}} At first the defenders thought that the Hungarians were victorious and resuming the siege, only to realize that they were going back to the other side of the Lech.{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=10}}

During the night, the defenders took positions in all the towers of the city, and the Hungarians completely surrounded it with siege engines and infantry, who were driven forward by the whips of the Hungarian leaders. Next day, when the fights had scarcely started, they were informed by the traitor [[Berchtold of Risinesburg]] that Otto I had deployed his troops nearby. The siege was suspended, and the Hungarian leaders withdrew to hold a war council.{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=10}}{{Sfn|Kristó|1985|p=87}} As the Hungarians departed, Count Dietpald of Dillingen used the opportunity to lead soldiers to Otto I's camp during the night.{{sfn|Bowlus|2016|p=10}}