Lehel

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This article is about the 10th-century Magyar chieftain. For other uses, see Lehel (disambiguation).

Lehel killing his captor, miniature of the Chronicon Pictum, 1360.

Lehel or Lele or Lél (died 955) was a Magyar chieftain, one of the military leaders of prince Taksony of Hungary, and before 955 probably the ruler of the Nitrian principality (in present-day southwestern Slovakia; he either became the ruler ca. in 920 or succeeded his father Tas at some later date).

According to Simon of Kéza, he originally lived in the area of Hlohovec. He was not a member of the Árpáds family, but of a different Magyar family. Although some historians hold that Lehel was a member of the Árpáds, an analysis of the family tree allowing for the years shows that this is chronologically impossible.

He was captured in the course of the battle of Lechfeld that took place between the Magyars and Germans in 955, and was executed subsequently.

According to popular legends, he had a famous horn that is still kept today in Hungary, in the city of Jászberény. Before his execution in front of the German ruler, he asked to be able to play one last song on his horn. When he finished the song, in a last effort he rushed the German emperor and split his head open with the horn before he died. However, as the German emperor Otto I. died in 973, 18 years after the battle, this legend was later on established to soften the devastating defeat in the memory of the Magyar people. The end of the horn is chipped but it is still in beautiful condition and is one of Hungary's many priceless artifacts, even though not related to Lehel, as it is dated several centuries later.