Leitha

The Leitha (ˈlaɪtaː; Lajta or Lajtha, formerly Sár(-víz); Czech and Litava) is a river in Austria and Hungary, a right tributary of the Danube. It is long ( including its source river Schwarza). Its basin area is . The Lithaha River in the Carolingian Avar March was first mentioned in an 833 deed issued by Louis the German, son of the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious and ruler over the stem duchy of Bavaria. The Old High German name lît probably referred to a Pannonian (Illyrian) denotation for "mud", as maintained in the former Hungarian name Sár (compare mocsár, 'swamp'). The Leitha rises in Lower Austria at the confluence of its two headstreams, the Schwarza, discharging the Schneeberg, Rax and Schneealpe ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps, and the Pitten. Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, the Leitha forms part of the border between the Austrian states of Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf, the river passes into Hungary, where it flows into the Moson arm of the Danube west of Szigetköz Island near Mosonmagyaróvár. Important towns on its course are Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Mosonmagyaróvár. Large amounts of the Schwarza headstream waters are diverted to supply the Wiener Neustadt Canal and the drinking water supply of Vienna. Furthermore, several canals diverge from the Leitha, feeding spinning companies in the past, today small hydroelectric power plants. Between Seibersdorf and Hof am Leithaberge, most of the water in the Leitha is removed for this purpose. From there on, the Leitha usually runs dry, unless its flow further upstream is abnormally high. Downriver from Katzelsdorf the river bed is almost completely dry as well. After the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century, the Magyar horsemen dared further invasions into the adjacent West Frankish lands, until they were finally defeated by King Otto I in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld.