Tradition
The contemporary author Gallus Anonymus in his Gesta principum Polonorum, written between 1112 and 1118, mentioned several armed encounters with the Imperial forces led by King Henry V of Germany. After Bolesław had invaded the Bohemian territory of Duke Svatopluk, the German king in turn started a campaign to Poland and laid siege to the towns of Bytom Odrzański and Głogów, before he moved further down the Oder River and marched against Wrocław, though to no avail.
According to Wincenty Kadłubek, the Germans were ambushed by the Polish forces and the result was a complete victory of Bolesław, whereafter King Henry withdrew from Poland. Because of the many corpses left by the battle, he remarked that the "dogs which, devouring so many corpses, fell into a mad ferocity, so that no one dared venture there." The site became known as "dogs' field" (Polish: Psie Pole, German: Hundsfeld) and the battle a part of the collective memory of the Polish nation. Kadłubek's relation is however unsubstantiated; it was already questioned in the late 19th century Encyklopedia Powszechna by Samuel Orgelbrand. Present-day historians claim this "great battle" was rather an unimportant skirmish, and the Chronica, written at the court of Bolesław's son Casimir II the Just almost hundred years after this incident, in this topic is not reliable.
The site is now part of the Psie Pole district of modern Wrocław.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Hundsfeld
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