Battle
According to Timothy Reuter, Otto I's army of the day was drawn from every regnum (duchy) of the German kingdom, even Bohemia. According to Widukind of Corvey, who gave the only surviving detailed record of the battle itself, Otto I's campaign came to a halt at the bank of the Raxa river, where the Obodrites and their allies, led by Stoinef, had taken a defensive position on the opposite embankment. Otto's margrave Gero, together with the allied tribe of the Ruani - most probably the earliest mention of the Rani - secretly moved to a distinct part of the river to build three bridges, while a feint assault by the remaining forces distracted Stoinef's army. Stoinef realized too late that Otto's forces were already crossing the river on another side, and the ensuing encounter was won by the latter.
The fate of Stoinef is described by both Widukind of Corvey and Thietmar of Merseburg. While both agree that he was decapitated, their accounts on how that happened differ: Widukind says that during the battle, Stoinef was chased into a wood, run down and killed by a soldier named Hosed, who was handsomely rewarded after presenting Otto with Stoinef's severed head. Thietmar of Merseburg says that the captured Stoinef, whom he calls Stoinneg, was decapitated by Otto. After the battle, according to Widukind, Stoinegin's head was raised on a pole and seven hundred of captured Slavs were executed before sundown.
The annals of St. Gallen also report the violent death of Stoinef, whom they name Ztoignav, but do not detail how he had died. They do however date the battle to the day of their patron, Saint Gall - i.e. 16 October.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Recknitz
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the skyscrapers’ battle with the heavens that cover them. Snow, rain, and mist highlight, drench, or conceal the vast towers, but those towers, hostile to mystery and blind to any sort of play, shear off the rain’s tresses and shine their three thousand swords through the soft swan of the fog.”
—Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)
“In a time of war the nation is always of one mind, eager to hear something good of themselves and ill of the enemy. At this time the task of news-writers is easy, they have nothing to do but to tell that a battle is expected, and afterwards that a battle has been fought, in which we and our friends, whether conquering or conquered, did all, and our enemies did nothing.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“A woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love.”
—Leonard Cohen (b. 1934)