In the military conflict with East Francia, Lehel, together with Bulcsú, who presumably was not a descendant of Árpád, and Súr, led the Magyar forces under Grand Prince Zoltán into the Battle of Riade in 933.

The Hungarian troops advanced up to Lotharingia, where they signed an armistice with the Salian prince Conrad the Red and fought against his rival Duke Bruno the Great.

With Bulcsú and Súr, Lehel was arrested, handed over to King Otto's brother, Duke Henry of Bavaria, and hanged at his residence in Regensburg.

They were taken to custody and were hanged quickly in Regensburg.This fiction cleverly re-interpreted the fact that Duke Henry of Bavaria died shortly after the battle of disease, in Lehel's favour.

The legend, which initially spread through oral tradition by the regős story tellers, was already rendered in the 13th-century chronicles by Magister Ákos and then depicted in the Chronicon Pictum, compiled about 1360 under the rule of King Louis the Great.

Already the 13th-century chronicler Simon of Kéza (Ákos' near-contemporary) remained skeptical about the reliability of the legend; "Of course this is quite implausible, and anyone believing such a tale would be making an exhibition of his credulity.