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The Leitha (; , formerly ; ;
The Leitha rises in Lower Austria at the confluence of its two headstreams, the Schwarza (Leitha), Schwarza, discharging the Schneeberg (Alps), Schneeberg, Rax and Schneealpe ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps, and the Pitten (river), Pitten. Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, Austria, Gattendorf, the Leitha forms part of the border between the Austrian States of Austria, states of Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf, the river passes into 
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.
At the Leitha Ursprung (or Source) in the small town of Lanzenkirchen, there is a hiking trail, a stone with a plaque to mark the origin point and three wooden figures that represent the legendary Leitha Hexen (witches).
According to the sign next to the three wooden women, "Once upon a time, real witches lived in the waters of the Leitha. They were small, like children, skinny and hunchbacked, with tangled hair that reached down to their knees and webbed fingers and toes."
"The witches mostly splashed around under the bridges, but anyone who teased them or watched them met a bad end."
"One evening a man was overcome by the desire to tempt the Leitha witches. When he heard them in the water, he put both hands around his mouth and shouted:
'Hoo hoo!' ”
"Then he hurried away laughing. But he didn't get far, because suddenly countless bony hands wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground! No amount of struggling and struggling helped; he couldn't even call for help. He only felt a wet cloth being pressed over his mouth, then his senses faded."
"When he came to again, he was lying on the banks of the Leitha, on the border with Katzelsdorf. But the Leitha witches were nowhere to be seen or heard."
Around the turn to the 2nd millennium, the Hungarian frontier (''Gyepű'') ran along the Leitha shore, from 1156 onwards it formed the eastern border of the Duchy of Austria with fortresses erected at Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Hainburg an der Donau, Hainburg. The last Babenberg duke Frederick II, Duke of Austria, Frederick II of Austria was killed in the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River against King Béla IV of Hungary. The course of the border was confirmed in a 1411 deed issued by King Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, when his daughter Elizabeth of Luxembourg, Elizabeth married the House of Habsburg, Habsburg duke Albert II of Germany, Albert II of Austria. The placenames Cisleithania, Transleithania and Lajtabánság are all derived from the Leitha River. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which created the Austria-Hungary, Dual Monarchy, ''Transleithanien'' ("beyond the Leitha") was the Vienna, Viennese colloquial word for the region beyond the Leitha (meaning Hungary or the Kingdom of Hungary), while ''Cisleithanien'' ("on this side of the Leitha") denoted the Austrian lands. These names reflected the Viennese and Austrian perspectives towards the rest of the Austria-Hungary, Empire, because Vienna lay on 'this' side, and the other half, Hungary, lay on 'that' side.German Wikipedia Nevertheless, the Leitha did not form the entire border between the two: for instance Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia and Bukovina, which were part of Cisleithania, were north-east of 
Upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the 1920 Treaty of Trianon adjudicated the West Hungarian territory of the proclaimed Lajtabánság (Leitha Ban (title), Banat) to the First Republic of Austria, Republic of Austria (as Burgenland), whereby the course of the river became an inner Austrian border.
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
and ) is a river in Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, a right tributary of the Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
. It is long ( including its source river Schwarza (Leitha), Schwarza). Its basin area is .
Etymology
The ''Lithaha'' River in the Carolingian Avar March was first mentioned in an 833 deed issued by Louis the German, son of the Carolingian Empire, Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious and ruler over the stem duchy of Duchy of Bavaria, Bavaria. The Old High German name probably referred to a List of ancient tribes in Illyria, Pannonian (Illyrian languages, Illyrian) denotation for "mud", as maintained in the former Hungarian name (compare , 'swamp').Course
The Leitha rises in Lower Austria at the confluence of its two headstreams, the Schwarza (Leitha), Schwarza, discharging the Schneeberg (Alps), Schneeberg, Rax and Schneealpe ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps, and the Pitten (river), Pitten. Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, Austria, Gattendorf, the Leitha forms part of the border between the Austrian States of Austria, states of Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf, the river passes into Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, 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 (textiles), spinning companies in the past, today small Hydroelectricity, 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.
Legends
At the Leitha Ursprung (or Source) in the small town of Lanzenkirchen, there is a hiking trail, a stone with a plaque to mark the origin point and three wooden figures that represent the legendary Leitha Hexen (witches).
According to the sign next to the three wooden women, "Once upon a time, real witches lived in the waters of the Leitha. They were small, like children, skinny and hunchbacked, with tangled hair that reached down to their knees and webbed fingers and toes."
"The witches mostly splashed around under the bridges, but anyone who teased them or watched them met a bad end."
"One evening a man was overcome by the desire to tempt the Leitha witches. When he heard them in the water, he put both hands around his mouth and shouted:
'Hoo hoo!' ”
"Then he hurried away laughing. But he didn't get far, because suddenly countless bony hands wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground! No amount of struggling and struggling helped; he couldn't even call for help. He only felt a wet cloth being pressed over his mouth, then his senses faded."
"When he came to again, he was lying on the banks of the Leitha, on the border with Katzelsdorf. But the Leitha witches were nowhere to be seen or heard."
Historic border
After the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century, the Hungarian people, Magyar horsemen dared further Hungarian invasions of Europe, invasions into the adjacent East Francia, East Frankish lands, until they were finally defeated by King Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. Thereafter the forces of the Bavarian duke Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Wrangler gradually re-conquered the lands beyond the Vienna Woods up to the Leitha River, where about 976 the March of Austria (''Name of Austria, Ostarrîchi'') was established under the House of Babenberg, Babenberg margrave Leopold I, Margrave of Austria, Leopold I.
Around the turn to the 2nd millennium, the Hungarian frontier (''Gyepű'') ran along the Leitha shore, from 1156 onwards it formed the eastern border of the Duchy of Austria with fortresses erected at Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Hainburg an der Donau, Hainburg. The last Babenberg duke Frederick II, Duke of Austria, Frederick II of Austria was killed in the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River against King Béla IV of Hungary. The course of the border was confirmed in a 1411 deed issued by King Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, when his daughter Elizabeth of Luxembourg, Elizabeth married the House of Habsburg, Habsburg duke Albert II of Germany, Albert II of Austria. The placenames Cisleithania, Transleithania and Lajtabánság are all derived from the Leitha River. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which created the Austria-Hungary, Dual Monarchy, ''Transleithanien'' ("beyond the Leitha") was the Vienna, Viennese colloquial word for the region beyond the Leitha (meaning Hungary or the Kingdom of Hungary), while ''Cisleithanien'' ("on this side of the Leitha") denoted the Austrian lands. These names reflected the Viennese and Austrian perspectives towards the rest of the Austria-Hungary, Empire, because Vienna lay on 'this' side, and the other half, Hungary, lay on 'that' side.German Wikipedia Nevertheless, the Leitha did not form the entire border between the two: for instance Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia and Bukovina, which were part of Cisleithania, were north-east of Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. Likewise, the Morava (river), Morava River formed the border between Cisleithanian Moravia and the Transleithanian lands of present-day Slovakia (Upper Hungary).
Upon the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the 1920 Treaty of Trianon adjudicated the West Hungarian territory of the proclaimed Lajtabánság (Leitha Ban (title), Banat) to the First Republic of Austria, Republic of Austria (as Burgenland), whereby the course of the river became an inner Austrian border.
See also
* Cisleithania * TransleithaniaReferences
External links
* {{Authority control Leitha, Rivers of Hungary Rivers of Burgenland Rivers of Lower Austria Bruck an der Leitha District Wiener Neustadt-Land District International rivers of Europe Rivers of Austria