Duke Louis the Bavarian wins skirmish in 1313 fog

The Battle of Gammelsdorf took place in November 1313, triggered by a dispute over the guardianship of the underage duke of Lower Bavaria. Both Duke Louis the Bavarian and Duke Frederick I of Austria sought the guardianship of the minor children of the late Lower Bavarian Dukes. This position was tied to the tremendous economic power of the Lower Bavarian region. Duke Louis and Duke Frederick I were cousins who were raised and educated together in Vienna. While the burghers of the Lower Bavarian cities wanted Duke Louis, the ducal widows of Lower Bavaria called for Austrian assistance after Louis occupied the towns of Landshut and Straubing.

Lower Bavaria had bitterly fought Austria over lands, economic resources, and sovereignty in the decade before 1313. The Upper Bavarians and the troops deputized by the Lower Bavarian towns were led by Duke Louis. The nobility and knighthood of Lower Bavaria and the Austrians were led by Duke Frederick. The decisive engagement for control over the lands occurred on 9 November 1313. The conflict was more of a skirmish than a full-scale battle, occurring while a thick fog covered the battlefield.

The fog hid the actual strength of Duke Louis's forces from Duke Frederick. Louis' city militias fought on foot, though some were mounted. At the end of the day, Duke Louis' smaller force was victorious. Louis did not pursue or destroy Frederick's defeated fighters, and no names of the fallen nobles were recorded.

Frederick was forced to renounce his tutelage over the Lower Bavarian dukes. The victory put a halt on Habsburg desires for annexation of parts of Bavaria for a long time. A monument stands in memory of the battle near the battlefield in the Landkreis Freising of Bavaria.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons