Battle of Legnica (1241): Mongols Defeat Henry II of Silesia

The Battle of Legnica, also known as the Battle of Liegnitz or Wahlstatt, was fought on 9 April 1241 near Legnica in Silesia, in what is now south-western Poland. A Mongol force under the princes Baidar and Kadan destroyed the army of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Silesia, who was killed in the fighting. The battle became one of the most famous episodes of the Mongol invasion of Europe and gave rise to many legends.

Background: the Mongol campaign in Poland

After conquering the Rus principalities, as described in the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus, the Mongol commanders Batu and Subutai planned an attack on Hungary in 1241. To protect their northern flank, they sent a smaller army, perhaps a few tumens (units nominally of 10,000 men, often much smaller in practice), through Poland. Its leaders were Baidar, son of Chagatai, and Kadan, son of Ögedei.

Poland was then divided into several duchies ruled by members of the Piast dynasty. The Mongols defeated the knights of Lesser Poland at Chmielnik on 18 March 1241 and burned Kraków later that month. They then advanced into Silesia, and in early April they reached Wrocław, whose inhabitants burned their own town and held out in the castle.

The battle

Henry II, son of Duke Henry the Bearded and Saint Hedwig of Silesia, was the most powerful Polish duke, ruling both Silesia and Kraków. He gathered an army near Legnica. It included Silesian and Greater Polish knights, troops of Duke Mieszko II of Opole, a contingent of Knights Templar and, according to later tradition, miners from the nearby gold-mining town of Złotoryja. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia was marching to join him, but was still about one or two days away.

Henry decided not to wait. On 9 April 1241 the armies met on a plain south-east of the town. The Christian army was arranged in several divisions. The Mongols used their usual tactics: light horsemen attacked, pretended to flee, and drew the knights into pursuit, then surrounded them with arrows and heavy cavalry. The chronicler Jan Długosz, writing in the 15th century, adds that Mieszko’s troops fled after someone shouted a misleading order to retreat, and that the Mongols used smoke to confuse their enemies. These details cannot be checked against earlier sources.

The Christian army was destroyed. Henry tried to escape but was caught and killed. The Mongols cut off his head, put it on a spear and paraded it before the walls of Legnica castle, which did not surrender. A letter from the master of the Templars in France to King Louis IX reported heavy losses among the order’s men in Poland.

Key people

• Henry II the Pious (c. 1196-1241): Duke of Silesia and of Kraków, killed in the battle.
• Baidar and Kadan: grandsons of Genghis Khan who commanded the Mongol force.
• Wenceslaus I: King of Bohemia, who arrived too late and then defended his own kingdom.
• Mieszko II the Fat: Duke of Opole, whose troops, according to Długosz, withdrew during the battle.
• Anna of Bohemia: Henry’s widow, who later founded a church on the battlefield.

Aftermath

The Mongols did not try to hold Silesia. After raiding Moravia, they rode south to join Batu’s main army in Hungary, which had won the Battle of Mohi on 11 April. Henry’s death weakened his dynasty; his sons divided Silesia, and the region drifted towards Bohemia over the next century.

Myths and legends

The most persistent myth is that Legnica stopped the Mongols from conquering Western Europe. In fact the Mongols won and moved on as planned. Their withdrawal from Central Europe in 1242 had other causes, including the death of the Great Khan Ögedei.

Other legends grew around the battle: that the Mongols filled nine sacks with the ears of the dead, and that Henry’s body was identified by six toes on his left foot. Both come from late tradition, mainly Długosz.

The site was named Wahlstatt in German, meaning roughly “place of the slain”. A Gothic church was built there, traditionally founded by Henry’s widow Anna; it now houses a museum of the battle. A Baroque Benedictine abbey church dedicated to Saint Hedwig was built opposite in the 18th century.

Timeline

• 1240, December: The Mongols take Kyiv.
• 1241, 18 March: Mongols defeat the knights of Lesser Poland at Chmielnik.
• 1241, late March: Kraków is burned.
• 1241, early April: The Mongols reach Wrocław.
• 1241, 9 April: Battle of Legnica; Henry II is killed.
• 1241, 11 April: The main Mongol army defeats the Hungarians at Mohi.
• 1242, spring: The Mongols withdraw from Central Europe.

Why it matters

Legnica showed that the heavily armoured knights of Central Europe were no match for the discipline and tactics of the Mongol army. Though it did not change the course of the campaign, it left a deep mark on Polish and Silesian memory.