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Great Moravia was an empire existing in Central Europe between 833 and the early 10th century. It represented the first West Slavs state and was inhabited and ruled by the ancestors of modern Moravians and Slovaks. The core territory laid on both sides of the Morava river, Central Europe river, in present-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the empire also extended into what are today parts of Hungary, Romania, Poland, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine.

Great Moravia was founded when Prince Mojmír I unified by force the neighboring Principality of Nitra with his own Moravian Principality in 833. Unprecedented cultural development resulted from the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who came during the reign of Prince Rastislav in 863. The empire reached its greatest territorial extent under King Svatopluk I (871-894). Weakened by internal struggle and frequent wars with the Carolingian Empire, Great Moravia was ultimately overrun by Magyars invaders in the early 10th century and its remnants were later divided among Poland, the Kingdom of Hungary, Bohemia, and the Holy Roman Empire.

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. Most castles and towns survived the destruction of the empire. The Glagolitic script and the Old Church Slavonic language even diffused to other Slavic countries, charting path to their cultural development. The Great Moravian tradition was also instrumental in the Czech and Slovak national revival in the 18th century.



Name The designation "Great Moravia" - "Ἡ Μεγάλη Μοραβία" - originally stems from the work De Administrando Imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII around 950.

The word "Moravia" not only referred to present-day Moravia, but to a country situated on both sides of the Morava river, Central Europe river, whose capital was also plausibly called Morava. It is not always clear whether an early medieval written source names a country or a town called Morava. The adjective "Great" nowadays denotes Moravia plus the annexed territories. In De Administrando Imperio, it may have rather meant "distant", because Byzantine texts used to distinguish between two countries of the same name using the attribute "little" for the territory closer to the Byzantine Empire (such as the Morava rivers, Serbia in Serbia) and "great" for the more distant territory (such as the Morava river between Moravia and Slovakia).

The names of Great Moravia in other languages are Велья Морава in Old Church Slavonic, Veľká Morava in Slovak language, Velká Morava in Czech language, Magna Moravia in Latin, Velika Moravska (Велика Моравска) in Serbian language and Croatian language and Nagymorva Birodalom in Hungarian language .

The use of the term (Great) Slovak Empire instead of Great Moravia is promoted by some Slovak authors who try to define it as an early Slovaks state. This term has not been adopted by mainstream historians, who agree that the distinct Slavic nations had not yet emerged by the 9th century and the culture and language of Slavic tribes in central Europe was too similar.

History Foundation A kind of predecessor of Great Moravia was Samo's Empire, a Slavic tribal confederation existing between 623 and 658. It encompassed the territories of Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria, Karantania, Sorbia at the Elbe, and probably also Bohemia, which lies between Sorbia and other parts of the empire. Although this tribal confederation plausibly did not survive its founder, it created favorable conditions for the formation of the local Slavic aristocracy. Graves dated to the period after King Samo's death show that the Eurasian Avars returned to some of their lost territories. However, archaeological findings from the same period (such as an exquisite noble tomb in Blatnica, Slovakia) also indicate formation of a Slavic peoples upper class on the territory that later became the nucleus of Great Moravia.

In the late 8th century, the Morava river basin and western Slovakia, inhabited by the Slavs and situated at the Frankish border, flourished economically. Construction of numerous river valley settlements as well as hill forts indicates that political integration was driven by regional strongmen protected by their armed retinues. The so-called Blatnica-Mikulčice culture, partially inspired by the contemporaneous Western European and Eurasian Avars art, arose from this economic and political development. In the 790s, the Slavs who had settled on the middle Danube overthrew the Avar yoke in connection with Charlemagne's campaigns against the Avars. Further centralization of power and progress in creation of state structures of the Slavs living in this region followed.

As a result, two major states emerged: the Moravian Principality originally situated in present-day southeastern Moravia and westernmost Slovakia (with the probable center in Mikulčice) and the Principality of Nitra, located in present-day western and central Slovakia (with the center in Nitra). The Moravian Principality was mentioned for the first time in the Royal Frankish Annals in 822, when Moravians paid homage to the Frankish Emperor at the Diet in Frankfurt. The first Moravian ruler known by name, Mojmír I, supported Christian missionaries coming from Passau. Nitra was ruled by Prince Pribina, who, although probably still a pagan himself, built the first Christian church in Slovakia in 828. In 833, Mojmír I ousted Pribina from Nitra and the two principalities became united under the same ruler. Excavations revealed that at least two Nitrian castles (Pobedim and Čingov) were destroyed during the conquest. But Pribina with his family and retinue escaped to the Franks and their king Louis the German granted him the Balaton principality.

After unification What modern historians and Constantine VII designate as "Great" Moravia arose in 833 from the above mentioned Mojmír's conquest of the Principality of Nitra. In 846, Mojmír I was succeeded by his nephew Rastislav (846-870). Although he was originally chosen by Frankish king Louis the German, the new monarch pursued an independent policy. After stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. Rastislav asked the Byzantine Empire Michael III to send teachers who would interpret the Christianity in the Slavic vernacular. Upon this request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Saint Cyril developed the Glagolitic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language. Texts translated or written by Cyril and Methodius are considered to be the oldest literature in the Slavic languages. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g. Devín Castle) are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.

in blue, First Bulgarian Empire in orange, Great Moravia under Rastislav in green. The green line depicts the borders of Great Moravia after the territorial expansion under Svatopluk I (894).During Rastislav's reign, the Principality of Nitra was given to his nephew Svatopluk as an appanage. The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. The beginning of Svatopluk I’s reign was turbulent as his former Frankish allies refused to leave the western part of his empire. The young prince was even taken captive by the Franks and the country rallied around Slavomír who led an uprising against the invaders in 871. Svatopluk was finally released and took over the command of the insurgents, driving the Franks from Great Moravia. In the subsequent years, he successfully defended the independence of his realm from Eastern Francia and subjected many neighboring lands. Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I (871-894) assumed the title of the king (rex). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland and northern Serbia belonged to the empire. Svatopluk also withstood several attacks of proto-Magyar tribes and the First Bulgarian Empire.

In 880, the Pope John VIII issued the bull Industriae Tuae, by which he set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Saint Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric Wiching the Bishop of Nitra, and Old Church Slavonic was recognized as the fourth liturgical language, along with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

Decline and fall After the death of King Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894-906?) and Svatopluk II succeeded him as the King of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively. However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories. The Magyars nomadic tribes also took advantage and invaded the Danubian Basin. Both Mojmír II and Svatopluk II probably died in battles with the Magyars between 904 and 907 because their names are not mentioned in written sources after 906.

In Battle of Bratislava (July 4-5 and August 9, 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars routed Bavarian armies. Historians traditionally put this year as the date of the breakup of the Great Moravian Empire. However, there are sporadic references to Great Moravia from later years: In 924/925, both Folkuin in his Gesta abb. Lobiensium and Ruotger in Archiepiscopi Coloniensis Vita Brunonis mention Great Moravia. From 925 until 931, there are several references to certain counts Mojmír and Svatopluk in official documents from Salzburg, though the origin of the two nobles is not clear. In 942, Magyar warriors captured in Al Andalus said that Moravia is the northern neighbor of their people. The fate of the northern and western parts of former Great Moravia in the 10th century is thus largely unclear.

The western part of the Great Moravian core territory (present-day Moravia_ became the Frankish March of Moravia. Originally a buffer against Magyar attacks, the march became obsolete after the Battle of Lechfeld (955). After the battle, it was given to the Bohemian duke Boleslaus I of Bohemia. In 999 it was taken over by Poland under Boleslaus I of Poland and returned to Bohemia in 1019.

As for the eastern part of the Great Moravian core territory (present-day Slovakia), its southernmost parts were conquered by the Hungarian chieftain Lehel around 925 and they fell under domination of the old Magyar dynasty of Arpads after 955. The rest remained under the rule of the local proto-Slovak aristocracy (western Slovakia maybe sharing the fate of Moravia from 955 to 999). In 1000 or 1001, all of Slovakia was taken over by Poland under Boleslaus I, and in 1030 the southern half of Slovakia was again taken over by Kingdom of Hungary. The rest of Slovakia was progressively integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary from the end of the 11th century until the 14th century. Since the 10th century, the population of this territory has been evolving into the present-day Slovaks.

Territory The following territories were controlled by Great Moravia:

before 833.2. Core territory, Principality of Nitra before 833.3. Either part of the Principality of Nitra before 833, or conquered later by Mojmír I or by Rastislav.4. Conquered by Mojmír I or by Rastislav, administered from Nitra.5. Part of the Principality of Moravia or conquered no later than 853.6. Conquered in 858, administered from Nitra and lost in 894.7. Either part of Nitra or the Balaton Principality. Conquered either in 833 or 883, administered from Nitra.8. Conquered in 858 or 883, administered from Nitra and lost in 894.9. Conquered by Rastislav or Svatopluk I, administered from Nitra and lost in 896.10. Conquered in 858 or 883, administered from Nitra.11. Vistulans conquered in 874.12. Probably conquered in 874 along with the Vistulan territory.13. Silesia probably annexed in 880.14. Probably conquered together with Silesia.15. Lusatia controlled in 890-897.16. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.17. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.18. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.19. Bohemia controlled in 888-894.20. The Balaton Principality controlled in 883-894.21. Probably part of the conquered Balaton Principality.22. Probably part of the conquered Balaton Principality.23. Transtheissia controlled in 881-896.24. Probably part of Transtheissia.25. Conquered by Svatopluk I and lost in 896.26. Conquered by Svatopluk I.27. Probably part of Transtheissia.(yellow lines: current bordersblue lines: riversred dots: main castles and settlements)


As for the history of Bohemia - annexed by Great Moravia for five to seven years (from 888/890 to 895) - the crucial year is 895, when the Bohemians broke away from the empire and became vassals of Arnulf of Carinthia. Independent Bohemia, ruled by the dynasty of Přemyslid dynasty, began to gradually emerge.

People The inhabitants of Great Moravia were designated Slovene, which is an old Slavic word meaning the "Slavs". The same name was also used by the (future) Slovenians and Slavonians at that time and the present-day native names of these nations are still derived from the root Slovene. People of Great Moravia were sometimes referred to as "Moravian peoples" by Slavic texts, and "Sclavi" (i.e. the Slavs), "Winidi" (another name for the Slavs), "Moravian Slavs" or "Moravians" by Latin texts.

Warfare Very little is known about the Great Moravian way of warfare. They employed spear and axe armed infantry, including the powerful royal bodyguard called Druzhina. However, they used cavalry rarely, which made them particularly vulnerable to the Magyar horse archers. Facing larger and better equipped Frankish armies, Great Moravian leaders often preferred ambushes, skirmishes, and raids to regular battles. An important element of Great Moravian defense was to hide behind strong fortifications, which were difficult to besiege with the then prevailing forms of military organization.

Culture Architecture - the only remaining Great Moravian buildingAccording to Geographus Bavarus, 30 out of the 41 Great Moravian castles (civitates) were situated on the territory of present-day Slovakia and the remaining 11 in Moravia. These numbers are also corroborated by archaeological evidence. The only castles which are mentioned by name in written texts are Nitra (828), Devín Castle (today in Bratislava) (864), Bratislava Castle (907), and Uzhhorod (in Ukraine) (903). Many other were identified by excavations.

Although location of the Great Moravian capital has not been safely identified, the fortified town of Mikulčice with its palace and 12 churches is the most widely accepted candidate. However, it is fair to note that early medieval kings spent a significant part of their lives campaigning and traveling around their realms due to the lack of reliable administrative capacities. It is thus very likely that they also resided from time to time in other important royal estates, such as Nitra, Devín, and Bratislava. For instance, Devín Castle is mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses as a "fortress of Prince Rastislav".

Mikulčice was fortified in the 7th century and it later developed into a large (200 hectar) agglomeration composed of various villages and forts, spread over several river islands. The population, estimated at 2,000, lived off trade and crafts. Mikulčice was also a foremost religious center, with the first stone churches built around 800. The only church safely identified as Great Moravian and at the same time still remaining above ground is situated in nearby Kopčany.

Nitra, the second center of the Empire, was ruled autonomously by the heir of the dynasty as an appanage. Nitra consisted of five large fortified settlements and twenty specialized craftsmen's villages, making it a real metropolis of its times. Crafts included production of luxury goods, such as jewelry and glass. The agglomeration was surrounded by a number of smaller forts and religious buildings (e.g. in Drážovce, Nitra and Zobor).

Bratislava Castle had a stone palace and a three-nave basilica. The sturdy Devín Castle in vicinity of Bratislava guarded Great Moravia against frequent Frankish attacks. These two castles were reinforced by smaller fortifications in Devínska Nová Ves, Svätý Jur, and elsewhere.

Most Great Moravian castles were rather large hill forts, fortified by wooden palisades, stone walls and in some cases, moats. Most buildings were made of timber, but ecclesiastical and residential parts were made of stone. Sometimes, earlier, prehistoric (Devín Castle) or Roman Empire (Bratislava Castle) fortifications were integrated. At least some churches (e.g. in Bratislava, Devín Castle, and Nitra) were decorated by frescoes, plausibly painted by Italian masters since the chemical composition of colors was the same as in northern Italy. In Nitra and Mikulčice, several castles and settlements formed a huge fortified urban agglomeration. Many castles served as regional administrative centers, ruled by a local nobleman. For example, Ducové was the center of the Váh river valley and Zemplín Castle controlled the Zemplín (region). Their form was probably inspired by Carolingian architecture estates called curtis. The largest castles were usually protected by a chain of smaller forts. Smaller forts (e.g. Beckov) were also built to protect trade routes and to provide shelter for peasants in case of a military attack.

Only few examples of Great Moravian architecture are fully preserved or reconstructed. The only still standing building is the church in Kopčany, though several other early medieval churches (for example in Kostoľany pod Tribečom, Michalovce, and Nitra) may be Great Moravian too. Two open air museums, in Modrá near Uherské Hradiště and in Ducové, are devoted to the Great Moravian architecture.



Religion Due to the lack of written documents, very little is known about the original Slavic mythology. The territory of Great Moravia was originally evangelized by missionaries coming from the Frankish Empire or Byzantine enclaves in Italy and Dalmatia since the early 8th century and sporadically earlier. According to the written sources, the first known Christian church of the Western and Eastern Slavs was built in 828 by Pribina in his capital Nitra. The church, consecrated by Bishop Adalram of Salzburg, was built in a style similar to contemporaneous Bavarian churches, while architecture of two Moravian churches from the early 9th century (in Mikulčice and Modrá) indicates influence of Irish missionaries. The Church organization in Great Moravia was supervised by the Bavarian clergy until the arrival of the Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863.

Foundation of the first Slavic bishopric (870), archbishopric (880), and monastery was the politically relevant outcome of the Byzantine mission initially devised by Prince Rastislav to strengthen his early feudal state. It is not known where the Great Moravian archbishop resided (a papal document mentions him as the archbishop of Morava, Morava being the name of a town), but there are several references to bishops of Nitra. Big three-nave basilicas unearthed in Mikulčice, Staré Město (Uherské Hradiště District), Bratislava, and Nitra were the most important ecclesiastical centers of the country, but their very construction may have predated the Byzantine mission. Nitra and Uherské Hradiště are also sites where monastic buildings have been excavated. A church built at Devín Castle is clearly inspired by Byzantine churches in Macedonia (region) (from where Cyril and Methodius came) and rotundas, particularly popular among Great Moravian nobles, also have their direct predecessors in the Balkans.

Literature from Croatia)But yields of the mission of Cyril and Methodius extended beyond the religious and political sphere. The Old Church Slavonic became the fourth liturgical language of the Christian world, though its use in Great Moravia proper had gradually declined until it virtually vanished in the late Middle Ages. Its late form still remains the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and Serbian Orthodox Church. Cyril also invented the Glagolitic alphabet, suitable for Slavic languages. He translated the Gospel and the first translation of the Bible into a Slavic language was later completed by his brother Methodius.

Methodius wrote the first Slavic legal code, combining the local Custom (law) with the advanced Corpus Juris Civilis. Similarly, the Great Moravian criminal law code was not merely a translation from Latin, but it also punished a number of offenses originally tolerated by the pre-Christian Slavic moral standards yet prohibited by the Christianity (mostly related to sexual life). The canon law was simply adopted from the Byzantine sources.

There are not many literary works that can be unambiguously identified as originally written in Great Moravia. One of them is Proglas, a cultivated poem in which Cyril defends the Slavic liturgy. Vita Cyrilli (attributed to Clement of Ohrid) and Vita Methodii (written probably by Methodius' successor Gorazd) are biographies with precious information about Great Moravia under Rastislav and Svatopluk I.

The brothers also founded an academy, initially led by Methodius, which produced hundreds of Slavic clerics. A well-educated class was essential for administration of all early-feudal states and Great Moravia was no exception. Vita Methodii mentions bishop of Nitra as Svatopluk I’s chancellor and even Prince Koceľ of the Balaton Principality was said to master the Glagolitic script. Location of the Great Moravian academy has not been identified, but the possible sites include Mikulčice (where some stylus have been found in an ecclesiastical building), Devín Castle (with a building identified as a probable school), and Nitra (with its Episcopal basilica and monastery). When Methodius’ disciples were expelled from Great Moravia in 885, they disseminated their knowledge (including the Glagolitic script) to other Slavic countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Bohemia. They created the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the standard alphabet in the Slavic Orthodox countries, including Russia. The Great Moravian cultural heritage survived in Bulgarian seminaries, paving the way for evangelization of Eastern Europe.

Legacy Destruction of the Great Moravian Empire was rather gradual. Since excavations of Great Moravian castles show continuity of their settlement and architectural style after the alleged disintegration of the Empire, local political structures must have remained untouched by the disaster. Another reason is that the originally nomad old Magyars lacked siege engines to conquer Great Moravian fortifications. Nevertheless, the core of Great Moravia was finally integrated into the newly established states of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary.

Great Moravian centers (e.g. Bratislava, Nitra, Zemplín) also retained their functions afterwards. As they became the seats of early Hungarian Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), the administrative division of Great Moravia was probably just adopted by new rulers. Social differentiation in Great Moravia reached the state of early feudalism, creating the social basis for development of later medieval states in the region. A significant part of the local aristocracy remained more or less undisturbed by the fall of Great Moravia and their descendants became nobles in the newly formed Kingdom of Hungary. Therefore, it is not surprising that many Slavic words related to politics, law, and agriculture were Loanword into the Hungarian language. The most obvious example of political continuity is the Principality of Nitra, which was ruled autonomously by heirs of the Arpads dynasty – a practice similar to that of the Mojmírs dynasty in Great Moravia. Similarly, the Church organization survived invasion of the pagan Magyars at least to some degree. Pilgrim, Bishop of Passau, wrote to Pope Benedict VI in 974 about four Great Moravian bishops serving after the Magyars invaded Bavaria (i.e. after the alleged fall of the Empire in 907). Continuity of the Church organization is also confirmed by a list of Moravian bishops from the 14th century.

Neither the demographic change was dramatic. As far as the graves can tell, there had been no influx of the Magyars into the core of former Great Moravia before 955. Afterwards, Magyar settlers appear in some regions of Southern Slovakia, but graves indicate a kind of cultural symbiosis (resulting in the common Belobrdo culture), not domination. Due to cultural changes, archaeologists are not able to identify the ethnicity of graves after the half of the 11th century (though it is sometimes possible to determine the ethnicity of a whole village). This is also why integration of central, eastern, and northern Slovakia into the Hungarian Kingdom is difficult to be documented by archeology, and written sources have to be used.

The Byzantine double-cross thought to have been brought by Cyril and Methodius has remained the Coat of arms of Slovakia until today and the Constitution of Slovakia refers to Great Moravia in its preamble. Interest about that period rose as a result of the Romantic nationalism in the 19th century. Great Moravian history has been regarded as a cultural root of several Slavic nations in Central Europe (especially the Slovaks, as it was the only significant Slavic state Slovakia had ever been a part of) and it was employed in vain attempts to create a single Czechoslovakia identity in the 20th century.

Notes Sources Primary sources Primary documents can be found in the following volumes:

Secondary sources

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Great Moravia was an empire existing in Central Europe between 833 and the early 10th century. It represented the first West Slavs state and was inhabited and ruled by the ancestors of modern Moravians and Slovaks. The core territory laid on both sides of the Morava river, Central Europe river, in present-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but the empire also extended into what are today parts of Hungary, Romania, Poland, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine.

Great Moravia was founded when Prince Mojmír I unified by force the neighboring Principality of Nitra with his own Moravian Principality in 833. Unprecedented cultural development resulted from the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who came during the reign of Prince Rastislav in 863. The empire reached its greatest territorial extent under King Svatopluk I (871-894). Weakened by internal struggle and frequent wars with the Carolingian Empire, Great Moravia was ultimately overrun by Magyars invaders in the early 10th century and its remnants were later divided among Poland, the Kingdom of Hungary, Bohemia, and the Holy Roman Empire.

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. Most castles and towns survived the destruction of the empire. The Glagolitic script and the Old Church Slavonic language even diffused to other Slavic countries, charting path to their cultural development. The Great Moravian tradition was also instrumental in the Czech and Slovak national revival in the 18th century.



Name The designation "Great Moravia" - "Ἡ Μεγάλη Μοραβία" - originally stems from the work De Administrando Imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII around 950.

The word "Moravia" not only referred to present-day Moravia, but to a country situated on both sides of the Morava river, Central Europe river, whose capital was also plausibly called Morava. It is not always clear whether an early medieval written source names a country or a town called Morava. The adjective "Great" nowadays denotes Moravia plus the annexed territories. In De Administrando Imperio, it may have rather meant "distant", because Byzantine texts used to distinguish between two countries of the same name using the attribute "little" for the territory closer to the Byzantine Empire (such as the Morava rivers, Serbia in Serbia) and "great" for the more distant territory (such as the Morava river between Moravia and Slovakia).

The names of Great Moravia in other languages are Велья Морава in Old Church Slavonic, Veľká Morava in Slovak language, Velká Morava in Czech language, Magna Moravia in Latin, Velika Moravska (Велика Моравска) in Serbian language and Croatian language and Nagymorva Birodalom in Hungarian language .

The use of the term (Great) Slovak Empire instead of Great Moravia is promoted by some Slovak authors who try to define it as an early Slovaks state. This term has not been adopted by mainstream historians, who agree that the distinct Slavic nations had not yet emerged by the 9th century and the culture and language of Slavic tribes in central Europe was too similar.

History Foundation A kind of predecessor of Great Moravia was Samo's Empire, a Slavic tribal confederation existing between 623 and 658. It encompassed the territories of Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria, Karantania, Sorbia at the Elbe, and probably also Bohemia, which lies between Sorbia and other parts of the empire. Although this tribal confederation plausibly did not survive its founder, it created favorable conditions for the formation of the local Slavic aristocracy. Graves dated to the period after King Samo's death show that the Eurasian Avars returned to some of their lost territories. However, archaeological findings from the same period (such as an exquisite noble tomb in Blatnica, Slovakia) also indicate formation of a Slavic peoples upper class on the territory that later became the nucleus of Great Moravia.

In the late 8th century, the Morava river basin and western Slovakia, inhabited by the Slavs and situated at the Frankish border, flourished economically. Construction of numerous river valley settlements as well as hill forts indicates that political integration was driven by regional strongmen protected by their armed retinues. The so-called Blatnica-Mikulčice culture, partially inspired by the contemporaneous Western European and Eurasian Avars art, arose from this economic and political development. In the 790s, the Slavs who had settled on the middle Danube overthrew the Avar yoke in connection with Charlemagne's campaigns against the Avars. Further centralization of power and progress in creation of state structures of the Slavs living in this region followed.

As a result, two major states emerged: the Moravian Principality originally situated in present-day southeastern Moravia and westernmost Slovakia (with the probable center in Mikulčice) and the Principality of Nitra, located in present-day western and central Slovakia (with the center in Nitra). The Moravian Principality was mentioned for the first time in the Royal Frankish Annals in 822, when Moravians paid homage to the Frankish Emperor at the Diet in Frankfurt. The first Moravian ruler known by name, Mojmír I, supported Christian missionaries coming from Passau. Nitra was ruled by Prince Pribina, who, although probably still a pagan himself, built the first Christian church in Slovakia in 828. In 833, Mojmír I ousted Pribina from Nitra and the two principalities became united under the same ruler. Excavations revealed that at least two Nitrian castles (Pobedim and Čingov) were destroyed during the conquest. But Pribina with his family and retinue escaped to the Franks and their king Louis the German granted him the Balaton principality.

After unification What modern historians and Constantine VII designate as "Great" Moravia arose in 833 from the above mentioned Mojmír's conquest of the Principality of Nitra. In 846, Mojmír I was succeeded by his nephew Rastislav (846-870). Although he was originally chosen by Frankish king Louis the German, the new monarch pursued an independent policy. After stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. Rastislav asked the Byzantine Empire Michael III to send teachers who would interpret the Christianity in the Slavic vernacular. Upon this request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius came in 863. Saint Cyril developed the Glagolitic alphabet and translated the Gospel into the Old Church Slavonic language. Texts translated or written by Cyril and Methodius are considered to be the oldest literature in the Slavic languages. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g. Devín Castle) are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.

in blue, First Bulgarian Empire in orange, Great Moravia under Rastislav in green. The green line depicts the borders of Great Moravia after the territorial expansion under Svatopluk I (894).During Rastislav's reign, the Principality of Nitra was given to his nephew Svatopluk as an appanage. The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. The beginning of Svatopluk I’s reign was turbulent as his former Frankish allies refused to leave the western part of his empire. The young prince was even taken captive by the Franks and the country rallied around Slavomír who led an uprising against the invaders in 871. Svatopluk was finally released and took over the command of the insurgents, driving the Franks from Great Moravia. In the subsequent years, he successfully defended the independence of his realm from Eastern Francia and subjected many neighboring lands. Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I (871-894) assumed the title of the king (rex). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only Moravia and Slovakia but also present-day northern and central Hungary, Lower Austria, Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia, southern Poland and northern Serbia belonged to the empire. Svatopluk also withstood several attacks of proto-Magyar tribes and the First Bulgarian Empire.

In 880, the Pope John VIII issued the bull Industriae Tuae, by which he set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Saint Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric Wiching the Bishop of Nitra, and Old Church Slavonic was recognized as the fourth liturgical language, along with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

Decline and fall After the death of King Svatopluk in 894, his sons Mojmír II (894-906?) and Svatopluk II succeeded him as the King of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively. However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with Eastern Francia, Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories. The Magyars nomadic tribes also took advantage and invaded the Danubian Basin. Both Mojmír II and Svatopluk II probably died in battles with the Magyars between 904 and 907 because their names are not mentioned in written sources after 906.

In Battle of Bratislava (July 4-5 and August 9, 907) near Bratislava, the Magyars routed Bavarian armies. Historians traditionally put this year as the date of the breakup of the Great Moravian Empire. However, there are sporadic references to Great Moravia from later years: In 924/925, both Folkuin in his Gesta abb. Lobiensium and Ruotger in Archiepiscopi Coloniensis Vita Brunonis mention Great Moravia. From 925 until 931, there are several references to certain counts Mojmír and Svatopluk in official documents from Salzburg, though the origin of the two nobles is not clear. In 942, Magyar warriors captured in Al Andalus said that Moravia is the northern neighbor of their people. The fate of the northern and western parts of former Great Moravia in the 10th century is thus largely unclear.

The western part of the Great Moravian core territory (present-day Moravia_ became the Frankish March of Moravia. Originally a buffer against Magyar attacks, the march became obsolete after the Battle of Lechfeld (955). After the battle, it was given to the Bohemian duke Boleslaus I of Bohemia. In 999 it was taken over by Poland under Boleslaus I of Poland and returned to Bohemia in 1019.

As for the eastern part of the Great Moravian core territory (present-day Slovakia), its southernmost parts were conquered by the Hungarian chieftain Lehel around 925 and they fell under domination of the old Magyar dynasty of Arpads after 955. The rest remained under the rule of the local proto-Slovak aristocracy (western Slovakia maybe sharing the fate of Moravia from 955 to 999). In 1000 or 1001, all of Slovakia was taken over by Poland under Boleslaus I, and in 1030 the southern half of Slovakia was again taken over by Kingdom of Hungary. The rest of Slovakia was progressively integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary from the end of the 11th century until the 14th century. Since the 10th century, the population of this territory has been evolving into the present-day Slovaks.

Territory The following territories were controlled by Great Moravia:

before 833.2. Core territory, Principality of Nitra before 833.3. Either part of the Principality of Nitra before 833, or conquered later by Mojmír I or by Rastislav.4. Conquered by Mojmír I or by Rastislav, administered from Nitra.5. Part of the Principality of Moravia or conquered no later than 853.6. Conquered in 858, administered from Nitra and lost in 894.7. Either part of Nitra or the Balaton Principality. Conquered either in 833 or 883, administered from Nitra.8. Conquered in 858 or 883, administered from Nitra and lost in 894.9. Conquered by Rastislav or Svatopluk I, administered from Nitra and lost in 896.10. Conquered in 858 or 883, administered from Nitra.11. Vistulans conquered in 874.12. Probably conquered in 874 along with the Vistulan territory.13. Silesia probably annexed in 880.14. Probably conquered together with Silesia.15. Lusatia controlled in 890-897.16. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.17. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.18. Probably part of the Great Moravian Lusatia.19. Bohemia controlled in 888-894.20. The Balaton Principality controlled in 883-894.21. Probably part of the conquered Balaton Principality.22. Probably part of the conquered Balaton Principality.23. Transtheissia controlled in 881-896.24. Probably part of Transtheissia.25. Conquered by Svatopluk I and lost in 896.26. Conquered by Svatopluk I.27. Probably part of Transtheissia.(yellow lines: current bordersblue lines: riversred dots: main castles and settlements)


As for the history of Bohemia - annexed by Great Moravia for five to seven years (from 888/890 to 895) - the crucial year is 895, when the Bohemians broke away from the empire and became vassals of Arnulf of Carinthia. Independent Bohemia, ruled by the dynasty of Přemyslid dynasty, began to gradually emerge.

People The inhabitants of Great Moravia were designated Slovene, which is an old Slavic word meaning the "Slavs". The same name was also used by the (future) Slovenians and Slavonians at that time and the present-day native names of these nations are still derived from the root Slovene. People of Great Moravia were sometimes referred to as "Moravian peoples" by Slavic texts, and "Sclavi" (i.e. the Slavs), "Winidi" (another name for the Slavs), "Moravian Slavs" or "Moravians" by Latin texts.

Warfare Very little is known about the Great Moravian way of warfare. They employed spear and axe armed infantry, including the powerful royal bodyguard called Druzhina. However, they used cavalry rarely, which made them particularly vulnerable to the Magyar horse archers. Facing larger and better equipped Frankish armies, Great Moravian leaders often preferred ambushes, skirmishes, and raids to regular battles. An important element of Great Moravian defense was to hide behind strong fortifications, which were difficult to besiege with the then prevailing forms of military organization.

Culture Architecture - the only remaining Great Moravian buildingAccording to Geographus Bavarus, 30 out of the 41 Great Moravian castles (civitates) were situated on the territory of present-day Slovakia and the remaining 11 in Moravia. These numbers are also corroborated by archaeological evidence. The only castles which are mentioned by name in written texts are Nitra (828), Devín Castle (today in Bratislava) (864), Bratislava Castle (907), and Uzhhorod (in Ukraine) (903). Many other were identified by excavations.

Although location of the Great Moravian capital has not been safely identified, the fortified town of Mikulčice with its palace and 12 churches is the most widely accepted candidate. However, it is fair to note that early medieval kings spent a significant part of their lives campaigning and traveling around their realms due to the lack of reliable administrative capacities. It is thus very likely that they also resided from time to time in other important royal estates, such as Nitra, Devín, and Bratislava. For instance, Devín Castle is mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses as a "fortress of Prince Rastislav".

Mikulčice was fortified in the 7th century and it later developed into a large (200 hectar) agglomeration composed of various villages and forts, spread over several river islands. The population, estimated at 2,000, lived off trade and crafts. Mikulčice was also a foremost religious center, with the first stone churches built around 800. The only church safely identified as Great Moravian and at the same time still remaining above ground is situated in nearby Kopčany.

Nitra, the second center of the Empire, was ruled autonomously by the heir of the dynasty as an appanage. Nitra consisted of five large fortified settlements and twenty specialized craftsmen's villages, making it a real metropolis of its times. Crafts included production of luxury goods, such as jewelry and glass. The agglomeration was surrounded by a number of smaller forts and religious buildings (e.g. in Drážovce, Nitra and Zobor).

Bratislava Castle had a stone palace and a three-nave basilica. The sturdy Devín Castle in vicinity of Bratislava guarded Great Moravia against frequent Frankish attacks. These two castles were reinforced by smaller fortifications in Devínska Nová Ves, Svätý Jur, and elsewhere.

Most Great Moravian castles were rather large hill forts, fortified by wooden palisades, stone walls and in some cases, moats. Most buildings were made of timber, but ecclesiastical and residential parts were made of stone. Sometimes, earlier, prehistoric (Devín Castle) or Roman Empire (Bratislava Castle) fortifications were integrated. At least some churches (e.g. in Bratislava, Devín Castle, and Nitra) were decorated by frescoes, plausibly painted by Italian masters since the chemical composition of colors was the same as in northern Italy. In Nitra and Mikulčice, several castles and settlements formed a huge fortified urban agglomeration. Many castles served as regional administrative centers, ruled by a local nobleman. For example, Ducové was the center of the Váh river valley and Zemplín Castle controlled the Zemplín (region). Their form was probably inspired by Carolingian architecture estates called curtis. The largest castles were usually protected by a chain of smaller forts. Smaller forts (e.g. Beckov) were also built to protect trade routes and to provide shelter for peasants in case of a military attack.

Only few examples of Great Moravian architecture are fully preserved or reconstructed. The only still standing building is the church in Kopčany, though several other early medieval churches (for example in Kostoľany pod Tribečom, Michalovce, and Nitra) may be Great Moravian too. Two open air museums, in Modrá near Uherské Hradiště and in Ducové, are devoted to the Great Moravian architecture.



Religion Due to the lack of written documents, very little is known about the original Slavic mythology. The territory of Great Moravia was originally evangelized by missionaries coming from the Frankish Empire or Byzantine enclaves in Italy and Dalmatia since the early 8th century and sporadically earlier. According to the written sources, the first known Christian church of the Western and Eastern Slavs was built in 828 by Pribina in his capital Nitra. The church, consecrated by Bishop Adalram of Salzburg, was built in a style similar to contemporaneous Bavarian churches, while architecture of two Moravian churches from the early 9th century (in Mikulčice and Modrá) indicates influence of Irish missionaries. The Church organization in Great Moravia was supervised by the Bavarian clergy until the arrival of the Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863.

Foundation of the first Slavic bishopric (870), archbishopric (880), and monastery was the politically relevant outcome of the Byzantine mission initially devised by Prince Rastislav to strengthen his early feudal state. It is not known where the Great Moravian archbishop resided (a papal document mentions him as the archbishop of Morava, Morava being the name of a town), but there are several references to bishops of Nitra. Big three-nave basilicas unearthed in Mikulčice, Staré Město (Uherské Hradiště District), Bratislava, and Nitra were the most important ecclesiastical centers of the country, but their very construction may have predated the Byzantine mission. Nitra and Uherské Hradiště are also sites where monastic buildings have been excavated. A church built at Devín Castle is clearly inspired by Byzantine churches in Macedonia (region) (from where Cyril and Methodius came) and rotundas, particularly popular among Great Moravian nobles, also have their direct predecessors in the Balkans.

Literature from Croatia)But yields of the mission of Cyril and Methodius extended beyond the religious and political sphere. The Old Church Slavonic became the fourth liturgical language of the Christian world, though its use in Great Moravia proper had gradually declined until it virtually vanished in the late Middle Ages. Its late form still remains the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and Serbian Orthodox Church. Cyril also invented the Glagolitic alphabet, suitable for Slavic languages. He translated the Gospel and the first translation of the Bible into a Slavic language was later completed by his brother Methodius.

Methodius wrote the first Slavic legal code, combining the local Custom (law) with the advanced Corpus Juris Civilis. Similarly, the Great Moravian criminal law code was not merely a translation from Latin, but it also punished a number of offenses originally tolerated by the pre-Christian Slavic moral standards yet prohibited by the Christianity (mostly related to sexual life). The canon law was simply adopted from the Byzantine sources.

There are not many literary works that can be unambiguously identified as originally written in Great Moravia. One of them is Proglas, a cultivated poem in which Cyril defends the Slavic liturgy. Vita Cyrilli (attributed to Clement of Ohrid) and Vita Methodii (written probably by Methodius' successor Gorazd) are biographies with precious information about Great Moravia under Rastislav and Svatopluk I.

The brothers also founded an academy, initially led by Methodius, which produced hundreds of Slavic clerics. A well-educated class was essential for administration of all early-feudal states and Great Moravia was no exception. Vita Methodii mentions bishop of Nitra as Svatopluk I’s chancellor and even Prince Koceľ of the Balaton Principality was said to master the Glagolitic script. Location of the Great Moravian academy has not been identified, but the possible sites include Mikulčice (where some stylus have been found in an ecclesiastical building), Devín Castle (with a building identified as a probable school), and Nitra (with its Episcopal basilica and monastery). When Methodius’ disciples were expelled from Great Moravia in 885, they disseminated their knowledge (including the Glagolitic script) to other Slavic countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Bohemia. They created the Cyrillic alphabet, which became the standard alphabet in the Slavic Orthodox countries, including Russia. The Great Moravian cultural heritage survived in Bulgarian seminaries, paving the way for evangelization of Eastern Europe.

Legacy Destruction of the Great Moravian Empire was rather gradual. Since excavations of Great Moravian castles show continuity of their settlement and architectural style after the alleged disintegration of the Empire, local political structures must have remained untouched by the disaster. Another reason is that the originally nomad old Magyars lacked siege engines to conquer Great Moravian fortifications. Nevertheless, the core of Great Moravia was finally integrated into the newly established states of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary.

Great Moravian centers (e.g. Bratislava, Nitra, Zemplín) also retained their functions afterwards. As they became the seats of early Hungarian Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), the administrative division of Great Moravia was probably just adopted by new rulers. Social differentiation in Great Moravia reached the state of early feudalism, creating the social basis for development of later medieval states in the region. A significant part of the local aristocracy remained more or less undisturbed by the fall of Great Moravia and their descendants became nobles in the newly formed Kingdom of Hungary. Therefore, it is not surprising that many Slavic words related to politics, law, and agriculture were Loanword into the Hungarian language. The most obvious example of political continuity is the Principality of Nitra, which was ruled autonomously by heirs of the Arpads dynasty – a practice similar to that of the Mojmírs dynasty in Great Moravia. Similarly, the Church organization survived invasion of the pagan Magyars at least to some degree. Pilgrim, Bishop of Passau, wrote to Pope Benedict VI in 974 about four Great Moravian bishops serving after the Magyars invaded Bavaria (i.e. after the alleged fall of the Empire in 907). Continuity of the Church organization is also confirmed by a list of Moravian bishops from the 14th century.

Neither the demographic change was dramatic. As far as the graves can tell, there had been no influx of the Magyars into the core of former Great Moravia before 955. Afterwards, Magyar settlers appear in some regions of Southern Slovakia, but graves indicate a kind of cultural symbiosis (resulting in the common Belobrdo culture), not domination. Due to cultural changes, archaeologists are not able to identify the ethnicity of graves after the half of the 11th century (though it is sometimes possible to determine the ethnicity of a whole village). This is also why integration of central, eastern, and northern Slovakia into the Hungarian Kingdom is difficult to be documented by archeology, and written sources have to be used.

The Byzantine double-cross thought to have been brought by Cyril and Methodius has remained the Coat of arms of Slovakia until today and the Constitution of Slovakia refers to Great Moravia in its preamble. Interest about that period rose as a result of the Romantic nationalism in the 19th century. Great Moravian history has been regarded as a cultural root of several Slavic nations in Central Europe (especially the Slovaks, as it was the only significant Slavic state Slovakia had ever been a part of) and it was employed in vain attempts to create a single Czechoslovakia identity in the 20th century.

Notes Sources Primary sources Primary documents can be found in the following volumes:

Secondary sources

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Great Moravia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Category:Great Moravia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Great Moravia



 
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