And the clash, which came to be known as the battle of Lechfeld, gained semilegendary status. Its casualties—like Conrad the Red, who was killed in the fighting when he loosened his armor to cool off and was hit in the throat by an arrow—were hailed as heroes and even martyrs. And the outcome of the battle came to be seen as a pivotal moment in the history of the Germans and Magyars. After Lechfeld, the waves of attacks from the dreaded, baby-defacing Hungarians seemed to come abruptly to an end. A curtain fell on the waves of so-called barbarian migrations that had been a feature of western
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