View source for Place:Great Moravia

{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name=''Velká Morava'' <small>([[Social:Latin language|cs]])</small><br />''Regnum Marauorum/Marahensium'' <small>([[Social:Latin language|la]])</small><br />''Terra Marauorum/Marahensium'' <small>([[Social:Latin language|la]])</small>
|conventional_long_name=Moravia
|common_name = Great Moravia
|continent = Europe
|p1=Samo's Empire
|flag_p1=Sámova říše.png
|p2=Principality of Moravia
|flag_p2=Central europe 9th century.png
|p3=Principality of Nitra
|flag_p3=Duchy of nitra 11th century.png
|p4=Vistulans
|flag_p4=Wislica_grodzisko_20070825_1005.jpg
|s1=Duchy of Bohemia
|flag_s1=Přemyslovci erb.svg
|border_s1=no
|s2=Principality of Hungary
|flag_s2=Flag of Hungary (895-1000).svg
|border_s2=no
|s3=Civitas Schinesghe
|flag_s3=Poland960.png
|s4=Lutici
|flag_s4=Polabian Slavs.png
|s5=East Francia
|flag_s5=Francia orientalis es.svg
|year_start=833
|event_start =
|year_end=c. 907
|event_end = Decline and fall
|image_flag=
|flag_border= yes
|flag_type=
|symbol=
|image_map = Great Moravia Svatopluk.jpg
|image_map_caption = Great Moravia in the late ninth century
|government_type=[[Social:Principality|Principality]]
|common_languages=[[Social:Slavic languages|Old Slavic]]
|religion= Slavic Christianity<br />Latin Christianity<br />Slavic paganism
|leader1                = Mojmír I (first)
|leader2                = Rastislav
|leader3                = Svatopluk I
|leader4                = Mojmír II (last)
|year_leader1           = c. 820/830
|year_leader2           = 846
|year_leader3           = 870
|year_leader4           = 894
|title_leader           = kъnendzь or vladyka (King, Ruler), in the international context also translated as Prince or Duke
|today        = {{AUT}}<br>{{CZE}}<br>{{GER}}<br>{{POL}}<br>{{HUN}}<br>{{ROM}}<br>{{SRB}}<br>{{SVK}}<br>{{SLO}}<br>{{UKR}}
}}
[[File:Blatnica.jpg|thumb|alt=Blatnica sword|Great Moravian sword from Blatnica, unearthed in the 19th century, originally interpreted as a burial equipment from a "ducal" mound]]

'''Great Moravia''' ({{lang-la|Regnum Marahensium}}; {{lang-el|Μεγάλη Μοραβία}}, ''Megálī Moravía''; {{lang-cz|Velká Morava}} {{IPA-cs|ˈvɛlkaː ˈmorava|}}; {{lang-sk|Veľká Morava}} {{IPA-sk|ˈʋɛʎkaː ˈmɔraʋa|}}; {{lang-pl|Wielkie Morawy}}), the '''Great Moravian Empire''',{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=237}} or simply '''Moravia''',{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 1}}{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp = 108-112}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp = 124-133}} was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of [[Place:Central Europe|Central Europe]],{{sfn|Drulák|2012|p = 91}} chiefly on what is now the territory of the [[Place:Czech Republic|Czech Republic]], Slovakia, {{wipe|Poland}} (including [[Place:Silesia|Silesia]]), and Hungary. The only formation preceding it in these territories was Samo's Empire known from between 631 and 658 AD. Great Moravia was thus the first joint state of the Slavonic tribes that became later known as Czechs and Slovaks and that later formed [[Place:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia]].

Its core territory is the region now called Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Republic alongside the Morava River, which gave its name to the kingdom. The kingdom saw the rise of the first ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language as well as the expansion of Christianity after the arrival of St. Cyril and St. Methodius in 863 and the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavonic language, which had significant impact on most Slavic languages and stood at the beginning of the modern Cyrillic alphabet.

Moravia reached its largest territorial extent under the king Svätopluk I, (Svatopluk in Czech), who ruled from 870 to 894. Although the borders of his empire cannot be exactly determined, he controlled the core territories of [[Place:Moravia|Moravia]] as well as other neighbouring regions, including [[Place:Bohemia|Bohemia]], most of Slovakia and parts of Slovenia, Hungary, {{wipe|Poland}} and {{wipe|Ukraine}}, for some periods of his reign. Separatism and internal conflicts emerging after Svätopluk's death contributed to the fall of Great Moravia, which was overrun by the Hungarians who then included the territory of the now Slovakia in their domains. The exact date of Moravia's collapse is unknown, but it occurred between 902 and 907.

Moravia experienced significant cultural development under King Rastislav, with the arrival in 863 of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. After his request for missionaries had been refused in Rome, Rastislav asked the [[Place:Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor to send a "teacher" (učitelja) to introduce literacy and a legal system (pravьda) to Great Moravia. The request was granted. The missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius introduced a system of writing (the Glagolitic alphabet) and Slavonic liturgy, the latter eventually formally approved by Pope Adrian II.<ref>{{cite book|last=Elvins|first=Mark Twinham|title=Towards a People's Liturgy: The Importance of Language|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJ_U42D-I-EC}}</ref>  The Glagolitic script was probably invented by Cyril himself and the language he used for his translations of holy scripts and his original literary creation was based on the Slavic dialect he and his brother Methodius knew from their native [[Place:Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki]]. The language, termed [[Social:Old Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]], was the direct ancestral language for [[Social:Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], and therefore also referred to as Old Bulgarian. Old Church Slavonic, therefore, differed somewhat from the local Slavic dialect of Great Moravia which was the ancestral idiom to the later dialects spoken in Moravia and western Slovakia.

Later, the disciples of Cyril and Methodius were expelled from Great Moravia by King Svätopluk I, who re-orientated the Empire to Western Christianity. Nevertheless, the expulsion had a significant impact on countries where the disciples settled and from there continued their evangelizing missions - especially Southeastern Europe and later [[Place:Eastern Europe|Eastern Europe]]. Arriving in the [[Place:First Bulgarian Empire|First Bulgarian Empire]], the disciples continued the Cyrilo-Methodian mission and the [[Social:Glagolitic script|Glagolitic script]] was substituted by Cyrillic which used some of its letters. The [[Social:Cyrillic script|Cyrillic script]] and translations of the liturgy were disseminated to other Slavic countries, particularly in the Balkans and [[Place:Kievan Rus'|Kievan Rus']], charting a new path in these Slavic nations' cultural development and establishing the Cyrillic alphabets as they are now known in Bulgaria, {{wipe|Belarus}}, Macedonia, Mongolia, Montenegro, {{wipe|Russia}}, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Cyril and Methodius were declared co-patrons of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1980.<ref>https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/patrons-of-europe-sts-cyril-and-methodius/ Feb 14 – Ss Cyril and Methodius – Patrons of Europe</ref>

==Name==
===Great Moravia===
The meaning of the name of Great Moravia has been subject to debate.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|p=293}} The designation "Great Moravia"{{spaced ndash}}''Megale Moravia'' ''(Μεγάλη Μοραβία)'' in [[Social:Greek language|Greek]]{{spaced ndash}}<ref>''Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio'' (ch. 13., 38., 40.), pp. 64-65., 172-173., 176-177.</ref> stems from the work ''De Administrando Imperio'' written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos around 950.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=109}}{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}} The emperor only used the adjective ''megale'' in connection with the polity when referring to events that occurred after its fall, implying that it should rather be translated as "old" instead of "great".{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=10}} According to a third theory, the ''megale'' adjective refers to a territory located beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=237}}{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=138}} Finally, the historian Lubomír E. Havlík writes that Byzantine scholars used this adjective when referring to homelands of nomadic peoples, as demonstrated by the term "Great Bulgaria".{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=227}}
{{Quote|''[There] is [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]], in which is the tower of the holy and great Constantine, the emperor; then, again, at the running back of the river, is the renowned [[Biology:Sirmium|Sirmium]] by name, a journey of two days from Belgrade; and beyond lies great Moravia, the unbaptized, which the [Hungarians] have blotted out, but over which in former days [Svätopluk] used to rule. Such are the landmarks and names along the [[Place:Danube|Danube]] river [...].|Constantine Porphyrogenitus: ''De Administrando Imperio''<ref>''Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio'' (ch. 40), p. 177.</ref>}}

The work of Porphyrogenitos is the only nearly contemporaneous source using the adjective "great" in connection with Moravia.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=227}} Other documents from the 9th and 10th&nbsp;centuries never used the term in this context.{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|p=312}} Instead they mention the polity as "Moravian realm" or "realm of Moravians" (''regnum Marahensium'', ''terra Marahensium'', ''regnum Marahavorum'', ''regnum Marauorum'', ''terra Marauorum'' or ''regnum Margorum'' in Latin, and ''Moravьska oblastь'' in [[Social:Old Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]]), simply "Moravia" (''Marawa'', ''Marauia'', and ''Maraha'' in Latin, ''Morava'', ''Marava'', or ''Murava'' in Old Church Slavonic, and ''M.ŕawa.t'' in [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]]),{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=354-355}} also ''regnum Sclavorum'' (''realm of Slavs'') or alternate ''regnum Rastizi'' (''realm of Rastislav'') or ''regnum Zuentibaldi'' (''realm of Svätopluk'').

===Etymology===
"Morava" is the Czech and Slovak name for both the river and the country. The ending of the word -ava comes from the [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] ''*apa''/''*opa'' („water, sea“)<ref name="zjč">{{Cite 
  | last = Lutterer
  | first = Ivan
  | last2 = Majtán
  | first2 = Ivan
  | last3 = Šrámek
  | first3 = Rudolf
  | title = Zeměpisná jména Československa. Slovník vybraných zeměpisných jmen s výkladem jejich původu a historického vývoje (trans: Geographic Names of Czechoslovakia)
  | url = 
  | publisher = Mladá Fronta
  | year = 1982
  | language = Czech
}}</ref>, and from this common foundation it also passed to Celtic (-ab) and Germanic languages (-ahwa). The root mor- might be also connected with other [[Social:Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] words with the meaning of water, humidity, lake or sea (sea: Slavic more, Latin mare, Welsh môr, German Meer, Czech moře. humidity: English marsh, Czech mokro. Compare also other river names like Mur in Austria and another Morava in Serbia, etc.)

==Territory==

After the fall of Great Moravia, its core territory was gradually divided between the newly ascending Czech Kingdom (Bohemia) and Hungarian Kingdom, separating the Czech and Slovak territories for another thousand years. The frontier was originally settled on the Morava river (the Czech Kingdom to its west and Hungary, now Slovakia, to its east). However, from the 12th century, the Czech kings managed to gain more and more of the region on the eastern bank, eventually gaining the whole stretch of the eastern territory from Uherské Hradiště down to Strážnice, and this region retained its non-Czech identity in its designation "Slovácko" as an alternative dialectal for "Slovakia". Then, the Czech-Hungarian border shifted east to the White Carpathians. The core region of Great Moravia along the river, divided between the present-day Moravia and Slovakia, has retained a unique culture in the rich folklore tradition both on the western bank of the Morava (including the southern Záluží region) and the eastern bank, Slovácko (in Moravia, including the Kyjov region west of Morava) and Záhorie (in Slovakia). Záhorie also boasts the only surviving building from Great Moravian times, the chapel at Kopčany just across the Morava from the archaeological site of Mikulčice. The core of Great Moravia was established, according to legend, in the early 830s, when Mojmir I of Moravia crossed the Morava and conquered the principality of Nitra (present-day western Slovakia). The former principality of Nitra was used as the ''údelné kniežatsvo'', or the territory given to and ruled by the successor to the throne, traditionally the sister's son of the ruling kъnendzь or Prince.

The extent and location of Great Moravia ([[History:Historiography|historiographical]] terms, as its original formal name is unknown) are a subject of debate.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|p=293}} Rival theories place its centre south of the Danube (the Morava in Serbia) or on the Great Hungarian Plain.{{sfn|Collins|2010|p=402}} The exact date when the Moravian state was founded is also disputed, but it probably occurred in the early 830s under Prince Mojmír I
(r. 820s/830s–846), the first known ruler of the united Moravia. Mojmír and his successor, Rastislav ("Rostislav" in Czech), who ruled from 846 to 870, initially acknowledged the suzerainty of the Carolingian monarchs, but the Moravian fight for independence caused a series of armed conflicts with [[Place:East Francia|East Francia]] from the 840s.

=== Traditional view ===

According to most historians, the core territories of Moravia were located in the valley of the river Morava in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia.{{sfn|Macháček|2009|p = 261}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp = 126-128}} Archaeological findings of large early medieval fortresses and the significant cluster of settlements growing around them suggest that an important centre of power emerged in this region in the 9th&nbsp;century.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p = 130}}{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 109}} Early sources (Alfred the Great's contemporaneous translation of Orosius's ''History of the World'', which mentioned Moravia's neighbours, and the description of the travel of Constantine and Methodius from Moravia to Venice through Pannonia in the ''Life of Constantine'') also substantiate the traditional view.{{sfn|Betti|2013|pp=144-145}}

{{Quote|These Maroara have to the west of them the Thyringas and some Behemas and half the Begware, and south them on the other side of the Danube river is the land Carendre extending south as far as the mountains called the Alps.&nbsp;...&nbsp;To the east of the land Carendre, beyond the uninhabited district, is the land of the Pulgare, and east of that is the land of Greeks. To the east of the land of Maroara is the land of the Vistula, and east of that are those Datia who were formerlly Goths|''King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius''<ref>''King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius'' (ch. 1.1.12), pp. 35-37.</ref>{{sfn|Betti|2013|p=145}}}}

The borders of Moravia cannot exactly be determined because of the lack of accurate contemporaneous sources.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=35}}{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=11}} For instance, the monks writing the ''Annals of Fulda'' in the 9th&nbsp;century obviously had limited knowledge of the geography of distant regions of Central Europe.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=128}} Furthermore, Moravian monarchs adopted an expansionist policy in the 830s, thus the borders of their realm often changed.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp=109-110}}

Moravia reached the peak of its territorial expansion under Svatopluk I (r. 870–894).{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=110}} [[Place:Lesser Poland|Lesser Poland]], Pannonia, and other regions were forced to accept, at least formally and often only for a short period, his suzerainty.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p=160}}{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p = 11}} On the other hand, the existence of the archaeologically attested shared cultural zones between Moravia, Lesser Poland and Silesia do not prove that the northern boundaries of Moravia were located over these territories.{{sfn|Berend|Urbanczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=89}} According to archaeologist Béla Miklós Szőke, the comitatus of Mosaburg in Pannonia was never part of Moravia.{{sfn|Szőke|2007|p=412}} Neither archaeological finds nor written sources substantiate the traditional view of the permanent annexation of huge territories in his reign.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=110}} Other scholars warn that it's a mistake to draw the boundaries of core territories because Moravia did not reach that development level.{{sfn|Berend|Urbanczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=59}}

=== Further theories ===

In 1784, Slovak historian Juraj Sklenár refused the traditional view on the location of Moravia and placed its core region to the region of [[Biology:Sirmium|Sirmium]] (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia), stating that it spread from that centrum to the north to present-day Slovakia, Moravia and Bohemia.{{sfn|Marsina|2000|p=156}} Similarly, in the 1820s, Friedrich Blumenerger placed Great Moravia to the south on the borders of Pannonia and Moesia.{{sfn|Marsina|2000|p=157}} Their views remained isolated until 1970s,{{sfn|Marsina|2000|p=157}} when Imre Boba again published a theory that Moravia's core territory must have been located around Sirmium, near the river Great Morava.{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|pp = 312-313}}{{sfn|Macháček|2009|p = 261-262}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp = 126, 128-129}} Péter Püspöki-Nagy proposed the existence of two Moravias: a "Great" Moravia at the southern Morava river in present-day Serbia, and another Moravia on the northern Morava river in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia.{{sfn|Püspöki-Nagy|1978|pp = 60-82}} Similar theory was published also by Toru Senga.{{sfn|Senga|1983|pp = 307-345}} In the 1990s, the southern thesis was further developed by Charles Bowlus, who writes that Moravia emerged in the region of the "confluences of the Drava, Sava, Drina, Tisza, and southern Morava rivers with the Danube".{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 32}}  Bowlus emphasizes that the orientation of the Frankish marcher organization was focused on the south-east territories which also supports Great Moravia's southern position.{{sfn|Rogers|2010|p=293}} Martin Eggers suggestet original location of Moravia was centered around modern Banat at the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Mureș.{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|p = 313}}{{sfn|Macháček|2009|p = 262}} with further expansions including expansion to the territories in present-day [[Place:Czech Republic|Czech Republic]] and Slovakia.

==History==

===Origins (before c. 800)===

The earliest possible reference to Slavic tribes living in the valley of the northern Morava river was made by the [[Place:Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] historian, Procopius.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=18}} He wrote of a group of Germanic Heruli who "passed through the territory of all of the Sclavenes" while moving towards {{wipe|Denmark}} in 512.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp=53, 291}} Archaeological sites yielding hand-made ceramics{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=17}} and objects with close analogies in southern {{wipe|Poland}} and western {{wipe|Ukraine}} appeared at the confluence of the northern Morava River and the Middle Danube around 550.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp=53, 63-64}}

Large territories in the Pannonian Basin were conquered after 568 by the nomadic Avars who had arrived from the [[Earth:Eurasian Steppe|Eurasian Steppe]]s.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=18}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp = xii, 62-63}} The Slavs were forced to pay tribute to the Avars and to participate in their plundering raids against the [[Place:Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Empire]], the [[History:Franks|Franks]] and the Lombards.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=18}} Even though the Avar settlement area stabilized on the Danube river in the early period of the khaganate (southern border of present-day Slovakia), a smaller (southernmost) part get under their direct military control after the fall of the Samo's empire.{{sfn|Zábojník|2009}}{{sfn|Oder|2012|p=60}}{{sfn|Galuška|1991|p=21}}{{efn|The occurrence of the biritual cemeteries from the middle and late Avar period is limited to the line Devín-Nitra-Levice-Želovce-Košice-Šebastovce, but none proofs about a permanent presence of the Avars were found north of this line (cca 7200 km<sup>2</sup> with 180 known localities). Thesis about the border of the khaganate on Carpathian mountains is not supported by the archaeological research in Sovakia.}} In the late period of the kaganate, the Avars had already inclined to a more settled lifestyle and their co-existence with the local Slavs can be already characterized as some kind of cultural symbiosis.{{sfn|Čaplovič|1998|pp=69-73,134}}{{sfn|Ruttkay|2002|p=45}}{{sfn|Bartl|2002|p=19}}{{sfn|Galuška|1991|p=21}}

In the 7th-8th century, the development of the local Slavs accelerated. The first Slavic fortified settlements were built in present-day Moravia at least in the last decades of the 7th century.{{sfn|Měřínský|2002|p=246}} From the end of the 7th century, it is possible to register the rise of a new social elite in Moravia, Slovakia, but also Bohemia - the warrior horsemen.{{sfn|Měřínský|2002|p=564}} The social organization of the local Slavs continued to grow during the 8th century, which can be documented by further building and development of fortified settlements. In Moravia, they unambiguously concentrate around the river Morava. In Slovakia, the oldest Slavic fortified settlements are documented for the last decades of the 8th century. They are known exclusively from areas which were not under direct Avars influence, but probably not only as a protection against them, because some of them are known also from northern territories (Orava, Spiš){{sfn|Měřínský|2002|p=282}} Variation in pottery implies the existence of at least three tribes inhabiting the wider region of the northern Morava river in the early 9th century.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 108}} Settlement complexes from the period were unearthed, for instance, near modern [[Place:Bratislava|Bratislava]], Brno, and Olomouc.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 108}} Fortresses erected at Bratislava, Rajhrad, Staré Město and other places around 800{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=130}} evidence the development of local centres of power in the same regions.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 109}}

Charlemagne launched a series of military expeditions against the Avars in the last decade of the 8th&nbsp;century which caused the collapse of the Avar Khaganate.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=18}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p = 20}}{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p = 19}} The ''Royal Frankish Annals'' narrates that Avars who "could not stay in their previous dwelling places on account of the attacks of the Slavs"<ref>''Royal Frankish Annals'' (year 805), p. 84.</ref> approached Charlemagne in Aachen in 805 for allowing them to settle in the lowlands along the river Rába.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p = 19}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 57}}

Following the collapse of the Avar Khaganate, swords and other elements of Frankish military equipment became popular in territories to the north of the Middle Danube.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=130}} A new archaeological horizon{{spaced ndash}}the so-called "Blatnica-Mikulčice horizon"{{spaced ndash}}emerged in the valley of the northern Morava river and its wider region in the same period.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp = 108-109}} This horizon of metalwork represent a synthesis of "Late Avar" and Carolingian art.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 109}}  One of its featuring items is a sword found in a  grave in Blatnica in Slovakia,{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=130}} which is dated to the period between 825 and 850.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p = 20}} According to the archaeologist Florin Curta, the sword was produced by a Frankish artisan from the Carolingian Empire.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=130}} On the other hand, Ján Dekan writes that it represents how Moravian craftsmen selected "elements from the ornamental content of Carolingian art which suited their aesthetic needs and traditions".{{sfn|Dekan|1981|p=10}}

===Development of Moravia (c. 800–846)===
[[File:Prehistoric Times of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia - NM Prague 93.JPG|thumb|alt=Early Slavic artefacts|Early Slavic artefacts in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia from the 6th century]]

Moravia, the first Western Slavic polity arose through the unification of the Slavic tribes settled north of the Danube.{{sfn|Angi|1997|p = 360}} However, its formation is scarcely described by contemporaneous sources.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p=159}} The archaeologist Barford writes that the first report of the emerging Moravian state was recorded in 811.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=109}} In the autumn of this year, according to the ''Royal Frankish Annals'', Avar rulers and the ''duces'' or "leaders of the Slavs who live along the Danube"<ref>''Royal Frankish Annals'' (year 811), p. 94.</ref> visited the court of Emperor Louis the Pious (r. 814–840) in Aachen.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=60-61}} The earliest certain reference to Moravians or ''Maravani'' is dated to 822 when the emperor "received embassies and presents from all the East Slavs, that is, Obodrites, Sorbs, Wilzi, [[Place:Bohemia|Bohemia]]ns, Moravians, and Praedenecenti, and from the Avars living in Pannonia"<ref>''Royal Frankish Annals'' (year 822), pp. 111-112.</ref> at an assembly held at Frankfurt.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p = 160}}{{sfn|Havlík|1992|p = 229}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|pp = 24, 326-327}}{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|pp = 314-315}}

[[File:Central Europe in Carolingian times.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Map of Moravia within East Francia in 814]]

The late 9th-century{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=310}} ''Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians'' (("The Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians")) makes the first reference to a Moravian ruler.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p=160}} Carantanians  (ancestors of present-day Slovenians) were the first Slavic people to accept Christianity from the West. They were mostly Christianized  by  Irish missionaries sent by the Archdiocese of  Salzburg, among them Modestus, known as the "Apostle of Carantanians". This process was later described in the memorandum known as the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum. Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum narrates that Mojmír, "duke of the Moravians" expelled "one Pribina" across the Danube.{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|pp=106-107}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=133-134}} Pribina fled to Ratpot who administered the March of Pannonia from around 833.{{sfn|Bowlus|2009|pp=101, 104}} Whether Pribina had up to that time been an independent ruler or one of Mojmir's officials is matter of scholary discussion. For instance, Urbańczyk writes that Mojmir and Pribina were two of the many Moravian princes in the early 9th&nbsp;century,{{sfn|Urbańczyk|2005|p=145}} while according to Havlík,{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=103}} Třeštík{{sfn|Třeštík|2010|p=131}} and Vlasto{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=24}} Pribina was Mojmír's lieutenant in Nitra. Historians who identify Pribina as the ruler of an autonomous state, the Principality of Nitra{{spaced ndash}}for instance, Bartl,{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=18}} Kirschbaum,{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=25}} and Urbańczyk{{sfn|Urbańczyk|2005|p=145}}{{spaced ndash}}add that that "Great Moravia" emerged through the enforced integration of his principality into Moravia under Mojmír.

[[File:Nitra moravia 833.png|thumb|200px|alt=Map of Moravia and Nitra|A map presenting the theory of the co-existence of two principalities (Moravia and Nitra) before the 830s]]

The 9th-century ''Catalogue of Fortresses and Regions to the North of the Danube''{{spaced ndash}}which lists the peoples along the borders of East Francia in a north-to-south order{{spaced ndash}}mentions that the Moravians or ''Marharii''{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=109}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=11}} had 11 fortresses or ''civitates''.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|pp=135-136}} The document locates the ''Marhari'' between the Bohemians and the Bulgars, and also makes mention of the ''Merehani'' and their 30 fortresses.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=11}} According to Havlík, who writes that ''Conversion'' is a consolidated version of notes made by several authors in different years, the Moravians are twice mentioned in the text: first as ''Marhari'', and next as ''Merehani''. He says, that the reference to the ''Marhari'' and their 11 fortresses was made between 817 and 843, and the note of the ''Merehani'' shows the actual state under Svatopluk I.{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=109}} In contrast with Havlík, Steinhübel together with Třeštík and Vlasto identify the ''Meherani'' with the inhabitants of the Principality of Nitra.{{sfn|Steinhübel|2011|p=54}}{{sfn|Třeštík|2010|pp=132-35}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=20}} A third view is presented by Püspöki-Nagy and Senga, who write that the reference to the ''Merehanii''{{spaced ndash}}who obviously inhabited the southern regions of the Great Hungarian Plains to the north of the Danube, but south of the territories dominated by the Bulgars{{spaced ndash}}and their 30 fortresses shows the existence of an other Moravia in Central Europe.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=11}}{{sfn|Püspöki-Nagy|1978|p=15}}{{sfn|Senga|1983|pp=318}}

{{Quote|Among the Bohemians are 15 fortresses. The [Marharii] have 11 fortresses. The region of the Bulgars is immense. That numerous people has five fortresses, since their great multitude does not require fortresses. The people called [Merehanii] have 30 fortresses.|''Catalogue of Fortresses and Regions to the North of the Danube''{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=136}}}}

According to a 13th-century source, the ''History of the Bishops of Passau and the Dukes of Bavaria'',<ref>{{Citation|last = Opačić | first = Zoë |title = Great Moravia | url = http://christianization.hist.cam.ac.uk/regions/bohemia/great-moravia.html | accessdate = 2014-10-12}}</ref> Bishop Reginhar of Passau (r. 818–838) baptized "all of the Moravians"{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=159}} in 831.{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Žemlička|Opačić|p=221}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=24}} There is no other information on the circumstances of this mass conversion.{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Žemlička|Opačić|p=221}} Vlasto{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=24}} writes that Mojmír had by that time been converted to Christianity; according to Petr Sommer and other historians, he was also baptized on this occasion.{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Žemlička|Opačić|p=221}} All the same, the ''Life of Methodius'' narrates that Christian missionaries had by the 860s arrived in Moravia "from among the Italians, Greeks and Germans" who taught them "[[Religion:East–West Schism#History#Other points of conflict|in various ways]]".<ref>''The Life of Methodius'' (ch. 5.), p. 111.</ref>{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p=161}} The ''Life of Constantine'' adds that missionaries from East Francia did not forbid "the offering of sacrifices according to the ancient customs",<ref>''The Life of Constantine'' (ch. 15.), p. 69.</ref> which shows that pagan rites were continued for decades even after 831.{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Žemlička|Opačić|p=221}}

According to the ''Annals of Fulda'', around August 15, 846 Louis the German, King of East Francia (r. 843–876) launched a campaign "against the Moravian Slavs, who were planning to defect".<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 846), p. 25.</ref>{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=140}} The exact circumstances of his expedition are unclear. For instance, Vlasto writes that the Frankish monarch took advantage of the internal strifes which followed Mojmír's death,{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=25}} while according to Kirschbaum, Mojmír was captured and dethroned during the campaign.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=26}} However, it is without doubt that Louis the German appointed Mojmír's nephew, Rastislav as the new duke of Moravia during this campaign.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=140}}

===Fights for independence (846–870)===
Rastislav (r. 846–870) who initially accepted the suzerainty of Louis the German consolidated his position within Moravia{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=20}} and expanded the frontiers of his realm.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=109}} For instance, according to Kirschbaum, he annexed the region of the Slanské Hills in the eastern parts of present-day Slovakia.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=27}} Barford even writes that the development of the state mentioned as "Great Moravia" by Constantine Porphyrogennetos commenced in Rastislav's reign.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=109}}

[[File:Prince Rastislav.JPG|thumb|left|200px|alt=Rostislav|Modern depiction of Rastislav as an Orthodox saint]]

He turned against East Francia and supported the rebellion of Ratpot, the deposed prefect of the March of Pannonia, against Louis the German in 853.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=242}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=27}} In revenge, the Frankish monarch invaded Moravia in 855.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=20-21}} According to the ''Annals of Fulda'', the Moravians were "defended by strong fortifications",<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 855), p. 37.</ref> and the Franks withdrew without defeating them,{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|pp=19-20}}{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=115}} though the combats lasted until a peace treaty was worked out in 859.{{sfn|Mahoney|2011|p=25}} The truce is regarded as a stalemate and shows the growing strength of Rastislav's realm.<ref name="Budd">{{cite web|last= Budd |first= Joseph P. |title= We do know English: Philadelphia's Czechoslovak Presbyterian Church of Jan Hus, 1926-1967 |publisher=University of Delaware |accessdate=2013-09-17 |year=2009 |url=http://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/5471/Joseph_Budd_thesis.pdf?sequence=1}}</ref> Conflicts between Moravia and East Francia continued for years.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}} For instance, Rastislav supported Louis the German's son, Carloman in his rebellion against his father in 861.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=126}} The first record of a raid by the Magyars in Central Europe seems to have connected to these events.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p=133}} According to the ''Annals of St. Bertin'', "enemies called Hungarians"<ref>''The Annals of St-Bertin'' (year 862), p. 102</ref> ravaged Louis the German's kingdom in 862, which suggests that they supported Carloman.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p=133}}

Rastislav wanted to weaken influence of Frankish priests in his realm, who served the interests of East Francia.{{sfn|Obolensky|1994|p=44}} He first sent envoys to Pope Nicholas I in 861 and asked him to send missionaries to Moravia who mastered the Slavic language.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}} Having received no answer from [[Place:Rome|Rome]], Rastislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III with the same request.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}} By establishing relations with Constantinople, he also desired to counter an anti-Moravian alliance recently concluded between the Franks and Bulgarians.{{sfn|Obolensky|1994|p=44}} Upon his request, the emperor sent two brothers Constantine and Methodius{{spaced ndash}}the future Saints Cyril and Methodius{{spaced ndash}}who spoke the Slavic dialect of the region of [[Place:Thessaloniki|Thessaloniki]] to Moravia in 863.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=27}} Constantine's ''Life'' narrates that he developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the [[Religion:Gospel|Gospel]] into [[Social:Old Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]] around that time.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 37-39}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=30}}

Louis the German crossed the Danube and again invaded Moravia in August 864.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=140}} He besieged Rastislav "in a certain city, which in the language of that people is called Dowina",<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 864), p. 51.</ref> according to the ''Annals of Fulda''.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=140}} Although the Franks could not take the fortress, Rastislav agreed to accept Louis the German's suzerainty.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}} However, he continued to support the Frankish monarch's opponents.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=155}} For instance, Louis the German deprived one Count Werner "of his public offices",<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 865), p. 53.</ref> because the count was suspected to have conspired with Rastislav against the king.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=155}}

[[File:San clemente fresco.jpg|thumb|200px|alt=Constantine and Methodius in Rome|Constantine and Methodius in Rome]]

The Byzantine brothers, Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius visited [[Place:Rome|Rome]] in 867.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}} At the end of the year, Pope Hadrian II (r. 867–872) sanctioned their translations of liturgical texts and ordained six of their disciples priests.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|pp = 55-56}} The pope informed three prominent Slavic rulers{{spaced ndash}}Rastislav, his nephew, Svätopluk, and Koceľ who administered Lower Pannonia{{spaced ndash}}of his approval of the use of the vernacular in the liturgy in a letter of 869.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 66}} Upon Koceľ's initiation. In 869 Methodius was sent by pope to the princes Rastislav, Svätopluk and Kocel, but  Methodius visited only Kocel who sent him once more to pope  Hadrian who then consecrated Methodius as archbishop with the title of Metropolitan of  [[Biology:Sirmium|Sirmium]] to "the seat of Saint Andronicus",<ref>''The Life of Methodius'' (ch. 8.), p. 117.</ref> that is to the see of Sirmium.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 67}}   At the beginning of the 9th century, many Carantanians (Alpine Slavs), ancestors of present-day Slovenians, were moved as settlers in the Lower Pannonian region,<ref name="The Land Between 2013">The Land Between: A History of Slovenia. Second, revised edition 2nd Edition (Edited by  Otto Luthar), Peter Lang GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3631628775}}</ref> also known as the Balaton Principality, which was referred in Latin sources as Carantanorum regio or "The Land of the Carantanians". The name Carantanians (Quarantani) was in use until the 13th century. The Kocel's  decision to support Methodius represent complete break with his father's pro-Frankish policy.<ref name="The Land Between 2013"/> Svätopluk had by that time been administering what had been the Principality of Nitra, under his uncle Rastislav's suzerainty, but contemporaneous documents do not reveal the exact location of Svätopluk´s successorial territory.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=284}} Frankish troops invaded both Rastislav's and Svätopluk's realms in August 869.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=161}} According to the ''Annals of Fulda'', the Franks destroyed many forts, defeated Moravian troops and seized loot.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=161}} However, they could not take Rastislav's main fortress and withdrew.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=20}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=161}}

{{Quote|[Louis the German] ordered the Bavarians to assist Carloman, who wished to fight against [Svatopluk], the nephew of [Rastislav]. He himself kept the Franks and Alemans with him to fight against [Rastislav]. When it was already time to set out he fell ill, and was compelled to leave the leadership of the army to Charles his youngest son and commend the outcome to God. Charles, when he came with the army with which he had been entrusted to [Rastislav's] huge fortification, quite unlike any built in olden times, with God's help burnt with fire all the walled fortifications of the region, seized and carried off the treasures which had been hidden in the woods or buried in the fields, and killed or put to fight all who came against him. Carloman also laid wast the territory of [Svatopluk], [Rastislav's] nephew with fire and war. When the whole region had been laid waste the brothers Charles and Carloman came together and congratulated each other on the victories bestowed by heaven.|''Annals of Fulda''<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 869), p. 60.</ref>}}

===Svätopluk's reign (870–894)===
[[File:Bratislava Profesionalita maestra Kulicha.jpg|thumb|Statue of Svätopluk I on Bratislava castle, Slovakia]]

Svätopluk allied himself with the Franks and assisted them to seize Rastislav in 870.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=31}} Carloman annexed Rastislav's realm and appointed two Frankish lords, William and Engelschalk to administer it.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}} Frankish soldiers arrested Archbishop Methodius on his way from Rome to Moravia at the end of the year.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=31}} Svätopluk who continued to administer his own realm after his uncle's fall was accused of treachery and arrested by Carloman on Louis the German's orders in 871.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} The Moravians rose up in open rebellion against the two Frankish governors and elected a kinsman of Svätopluk, Slavomír duke.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}}{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} Svätopluk returned to Moravia, took over the command of the insurgents and drove the Franks from Moravia.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}} According to the Czech historian Dušan Třeštík, the rebellion of 871 led to the formation of the first Slavic state.{{sfn|Goldberg|Macháček|2009|p=257}}

Louis the German sent his armies against Moravia in 872.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=312}} The imperial troops plundered the countryside, but could not take the "extremely well-fortified stronghold" where Svätopluk took refuge.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=312}} The Moravian ruler even succeeded in mustering an army which defeated a number of imperial troops, forcing the Franks to withdraw from Moravia.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=312}} Svätopluk soon initiated negotiations with Louis the German, which ended with a peace treaty concluded at Forchheim in May 874.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}} According to the ''Annals of Fulda'', at Forchheim Svätopluk's envoy promised that Svätopluk "would remain faithful" to Louis the German "all the days of his life",<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 874), p. 75.</ref> and the Moravian ruler was also obliged to pay a yearly tribute to East Francia.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=325}}

In the meantime, Archbishop Methodius who had been released upon the demand of Pope John VIII (r. 872–882) in 873 returned to Moravia.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} Methodius's ''Life'' narrates that "Prince Svatopluk and all the Moravians" decided to entrust "to him all the churches and clergy in all the towns"<ref name='Methodius_ch10_p119'>''The Life of Methodius'' (ch. 10.), p. 119.</ref> in Moravia upon his arrival.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|pp=161-162}} In Moravia, Methodius continued the work of translation started in his brother's life.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p = 126}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 78}} For instance, he translated "all the [[Religion:Bible|Scriptures]] in full, save Maccabees",<ref name="Methodius_ch10_p119"/> according to his ''Life''.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p = 126}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 78}} However, Frankish priests in Moravia opposed the Slavic liturgy and even accused Methodius of [[Religion:Heresy in Christianity|heresy]].{{sfn|Poulík|1970|pp=71-73}} Although the Holy See never denied Methodius's [[Religion:Orthodoxy|orthodoxy]], in 880 the Pope appointed his main opponent, Wiching as bishop of Nitra upon the request of Svatopluk who himself preferred the Latin rite.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}}{{sfn|Poulík|1970|pp=71, 73-74}}

[[File:Letter svatopluk.jpg|thumb|left|200px|alt=The papal bull "Industriae tuae"|The papal bull ''Scire vos volumus'' of 879 addressed to Svätopluk]]

A letter written around 900 by Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg (r. 873–907) and his [[Religion:Suffragan bishop|suffragan bishop]]s mentions that the pope sent Wiching to "a newly baptized people" whom Svätopluk "had defeated in war and converted from paganism to Christianity".{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=194, 337}} Other sources also prove that Svatopluk significantly expanded the borders of his realm.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=24}} For instance, according to the ''Life of Methodius'', Moravia "began to expand much more into all lands and to defeat its enemies successfully"<ref name='Methodius_ch10_p119'/> in the period beginning around 874.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} The same source writes of a "very powerful pagan prince settled on the Vistula"<ref>''The Life of Methodius'' (ch. 11.), p. 119.</ref> in present-day {{wipe|Poland}} who persecuted the Christians in his country, but was attacked and seized by Svatopluk.{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp=129-130}}

Upon Methodius's request, in June 880 Pope John issued the bull ''Industriae tuae'' for Svatopluk{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=21}} whom he addressed as "glorious count" ''(gloriosus comes)''.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=192, 194}} In the bull, the pope refers to Svatopluk as "the only son" ''(unicus fillius)'' of the Holy See, thus applying a title which had up to that time been only used in papal correspondence with emperors and candidates for imperial rank.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}}{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}} The pope explicitly granted the protection of the Holy See to the Moravian monarch, his officials and subjects.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} Furthermore, the bull also confirmed Methodius's position as the head of the church in Moravia with jurisdiction over all clergymen, including the Frankish priests, in Svätopluk's realm{{sfn|Kirschbaum|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} and Old Church Slavonic was recognized as the fourth [[Social:Sacred language|liturgical language]] together with [[Social:Latin|Latin]], [[Social:Greek language|Greek]] and Hebrew.<ref name="cyrilmetod">{{cite web|url=http://www.cyrilmetod.org/1150|publisher=cyrilmetod.org|title=Sts. Cyril and Methodius &#124; Sts. Cyril and Methodius Parish|accessdate=2017-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116082020/http://cyrilmetod.org/1150|archive-date=2017-01-16|dead-url=yes|df=}}</ref>

The longer version of ''Annals of Salzburg'' makes mention of a raid by the Magyars and the Kabars in East Francia in 881.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|pp=150, 175}} According to Gyula Kristó{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p=150}} and other historians,{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=238}} Svatopluk initiated this raid, because his relations with Arnulf{{spaced ndash}}the son of Carloman, King of East Francia (r. 876–881){{spaced ndash}}who administered the March of Pannonia became tense.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}} Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg clearly accused the Moravians of hiring "a large number of Hungarians" and sending them against East Francia at an unspecified date.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=238, 338}}

[[File:Gorazd from Slivnica Monastery.jpg|thumb|200px|Icon of St Gorazd, a disciple of St Cyril and Method of Moravian origin, who was the designated successor of archbishop Method]]
During the "Wilhelminer War"{{spaced ndash}}a civil war between two fractions of local noblemen in the March of Pannonia which lasted from 882 and 884{{spaced ndash}}Svatopluk "collected troops from all the Slav lands"<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (Regensburg version, year 884), p. 109.</ref> and invaded Pannonia.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=208-216}} According to the Bavarian version of the ''Annals of Fulda'', the Moravians' invasion "led to Pannonia's being laid waste"<ref name='Fulda_y884_p110'>''The Annals of Fulda'' (Regensburg version, year 884), p. 110.</ref> to the east of the river Rába.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=212}} Although, Regino of Prüm states that it was Arnulf of Carinthia who maintained control over Pannonia in 884.{{sfn|MacLean|2003|p=135}} Svatopluk had a meeting with Emperor Charles the Fat (r. 881–888) at Tulln an der Donau in Bavaria in 884.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}} At the meeting, ''"dux"'' Svatopluk became the emperor's vassal and "swore fidelity to him",<ref name='Fulda_y884_p110'/> promising that he would never attack the emperor's realm.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}}

Archbishop Methodius died on April 6, 885.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=24}} Led by Bishop Wiching of Nitra, Methodius's opponents took advantage of his death and persuaded Pope Stephen V (r. 885–891) to restrict the use of Old Church Slavonic in the liturgy in the bull ''Quia te zelo''.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}}{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=234}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 81}} Bishop Wiching even convinced Svätopluk to expel all Methodius's disciples from Moravia in 886,{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}}{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p=161}} thus marring the promising literary and cultural boom of Central European Slavs - the Slovaks took nearly a thousand years to develop a new literary language of their own.

Pope Stephen addressed the ''Quia te zelo'' bull to ''Zventopolco regi Sclavorum'' ("Svatopluk, King of the Slavs"), suggesting that Svatopluk had by the end of 885 been crowned king.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=189}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 81}} Likewise, Frankish annals occasionally referred to Svatopluk as king in connection with events occurring in this period.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 81}} The ''Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea''{{spaced ndash}}a late 12th-century source with questionable reliability{{spaced ndash}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|p = 14}}narrates that one "Sventopelk" was crowned king "on the field of Dalma" in the presence of a papal legate.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=189}}

Moravia reached the maximum of its territorial extent in the last years of Svatopluk's reign.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}} For instance, according to Regino of Prüm, King Arnulf of East Francia "gave the command of the Bohemians to King Zwentibald of the Moravian Slavs"<ref>''The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm'' (year 890), p. 207.</ref> in 890.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=222}} Bartl and other Slovak historians write that Svatopluk "probably" also annexed [[Place:Silesia|Silesia]] and Lusatia in the early 890s.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}} According to the ''Annals of Fulda'', King Arnulf proposed a meeting to Svatopluk in 892, "but the latter in his usual fashion refused to come to the king and betrayed his fidelity and all the things which he had promised before".<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 892), p. 123.</ref>{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p= 175}} In response, Arnulf invaded Moravia in 892, but could not defeat Svatopluk, although Magyar horsemen also supported the Eastern Frankish monarch.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|p= 175}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}}

===Decline and fall (894–before 907)===
[[File:Svatopluk I.jpg|thumb|Svätopluk I with three twigs and his three sons – Mojmír II., Svätopluk II. and Predslav.]]

Svätopluk{{spaced ndash}}"a man most prudent among his people and very cunning by nature",<ref name='Prüm_y894_p218'>''The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm'' (year 894), p. 218.</ref> according to Regino of Prüm{{spaced ndash}}died in the summer of 894.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}} He was succeeded by his son, Mojmir II,{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=25}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p = 83}} but his empire in short time disintegrated, because the tribes subjugated to Svätopluk's rule by force started to get rid of Moravian supremacy.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=30}} For instance, the Bohemian dukes (based in the Prague region) accepted King Arnulf's suzerainty in June 895, and Mojmír II attempted to restore his supremacy over them without success in the next two years.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=22}}{{sfn|Barford|2001|p=253}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=34}} On the other hand, he succeeded in restoring the Church organization in Moravia by persuading  Pope John IX (r. 898–900)  to send his legates to Moravia in 898.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=23}} The legates in short time installed an archbishop and "three bishops as his suffragans"{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 337}} in Moravia.{{sfn|Sommer|Třeštík|Žemlička|Opačić|p = 324}}

Conflicts emerging between Mojmír II and his younger brother, Svatopluk II gave a pretext to King Arnulf to send his troops to Moravia in 898 and 899.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p = 34}}{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p = 25}}{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=23}} The ''Annals of Fulda'' writes that the "boy" Svätopluk II was rescued by Bavarian forces "from the dungeon of the city in which he was held with his men" <ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (year 899), p. 159.</ref> in 899.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 243}} According to Bartl, who write that Svatopluk II had inherited the "Principality of Nitra" from his father, the Bavarians also destroyed the fortress at Nitra on this occasion.{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=23}}

According to most nearly contemporaneous sources, the Hungarians played a preeminent role in the fall of Moravia.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=344}} For instance, Regino of Prüm writes that Svätopluk I's "sons held his kingdom for a short and unhappy time, because the Hungarians utterly destroyed everything in it".<ref name='Prüm_y894_p218'/>{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=344}} The Hungarians started their conquest of the Carpathian Basin after their defeat in the westernmost territories of the Pontic steppes around 895 by a coalition of the Bulgars and Pechenegs.{{sfn|Curta|2006|pp = ''xviii'', 178-179}} Only a late source, the 16th-century Johannes Aventinus writes that the Hungarians had by that time controlled wide regions to east of the rivers Hron and Danube in the Carpathian Basin.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|pp=175-176}}

A letter of Theotmar of Salzburg and his suffragans evidences that around 900 the Moravians and the Bavarians accused each other of having formed alliances, even by taking oaths "by the means of a dog and a wolf and through other abominable and pagan customs",{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=338}} with the Hungarians.{{sfn|Kristó|1996|pp=178, 198}} According to Liudprand of Cremona, the Hungarians already "claimed for themselves the nation of the Moravians, which King Arnulf had subdued with the aid of their might"<ref>''Liudprand of Cremona: Retribution'' (2.2), p. 75.</ref> at the coronation of Arnulf's son, Louis the Child in 900.{{sfn|Kristó|1996a|p=200}} The ''Annals of Grado'' adds that a large Hungarian army "attacked and invaded" the Moravians in 900.{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=246}} Facing the threat of further Hungarian attacks, Mojmír II concluded a peace treaty with Louis the Child in 901.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=34}}{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p=250}}

In lack of documentary evidence, the year in which Moravia ceased to exist cannot be determined with certainty.{{sfn|Spinei|2003|p=69}} For instance, Róna-Tas{{sfn|Róna-Tas|1999|p=338}} writes that the Hungarians occupied Moravia in 902, Victor Spinei{{sfn|Spinei|2003|p=69}} says that this happened in 903 or 904, while according to Spiesz, the Moravian state ceased to exist in 907.{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=25}} The ''Raffelstetten Customs Regulations'', which was issued in the years 903–906,{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=297}} still refers to the "markets of the Moravians", suggesting that Moravia still existed at that time.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=344}} It is without doubt that no Moravian forces fought in the battle at ''Brezalauspurc'' where the Hungarians routed a large Bavarian force in 907.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=344}}

{{Quote|The Moravian land, according to the prophecy of the holy archbishop Methodius, was promptly punished by God for their lawlessness and heresy, for the banishment of the orthodox fathers, and for the torments inflicted on the latter by the heretics with whom they acquiesced. In a few years the Magyars came, a people of Peonia, sacked their land and devastated it. But [Methodius's disciples] were not captured by the Magyars for they fled to the Bulgarians. However, the land remained desolate under the rule of the Magyars.|''First Legend of Saint Naum''{{sfn|Petkov|2008|pp=106-107}}}}

==State and society==

===Sources===
Written sources from the 9th&nbsp;century contain almost no information on the internal affairs of Moravia.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}} Only two legal texts{{spaced ndash}}the ''Nomocanon'' and the ''Court Law for the People''{{spaced ndash}}have been preserved.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=333}}{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=126}} The former is a translation of a collection of Byzantine ecclesiastical law; the latter is based on the 8th-century Byzantine law code known as ''Ecloga''.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=126}}{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=78}} Both were compelled by Methodius shortly before his death in 885.{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=126}}

In addition to the study of early medieval chronicles and charters, archaeological research contributed to the understanding of the Moravian state and society.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=7}} The Moravian centres at Mikulčice, Pohansko, and Staré Město were thoroughly excavated in the 1950s and 1960s.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=7}} However, as Macháček writes, "the acquired huge amounts of finds and data still have to be properly processed".{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=7}}

===Settlement structure===
[[File:Thunau am Kamp Reconstructed Slavic gatehouse 03.JPG|thumb|Thunau am Kamp Reconstructed Great Moravian  gatehouse and ramparts]]

The nuclei of the Great Moravian settlement structure were well-defended fortified settlements built by the local Slavs both on elevated positions and lowland areas like marshes and river islands. Most Great Moravian castles were rather large hill forts, fortified by wooden palisades, stone walls and in some cases, moats. The typical Great Moravian ramparts combined an outer drystone wall with an internal timber structure filled with earth.<ref name='barford'/> The fortifications usually formed several contiguous enclosures, with the elite buildings concentrated in the centre and crafts in the outer enclosures.<ref name='barford'/> Most buildings were made of timber, but ecclesiastical buildings and residential dwellings were made of stone. In many cases, prehistoric fortifications were also integrated. The Great Moravian towns, especially in Moravia, but also in the lowlands of Slovakia, were frequently far from the place where the stone was mined and material was transported dozens of kilometres.{{sfn|Galuška|1991|p=56}}{{efn|Mikulčice 50km, Staré Město 20km. The remains of the prestigious building on the castle hill in Nitra contained luxury limestone from Austria.}}

The Great Moravian settlements can be divided to four main categories. The most important were localities with central functions like Mikulčice, Staré Město - Uherské Hradiště and Nitra, where several castles and settlements formed a huge fortified (pre-)urban agglomeration. Along with the main centres, the system of fortified settlements included fortified regional administrative hubs, forts whose primary function was guarding and defence, and refuge forts which were not inhabited permanently but were used in the case of danger. The largest forts were usually protected by a chain of smaller forts. Smaller forts were also built to protect trade routes and to provide shelter for peasants in case of a military attack. The existence of nobleman courts like in Ducové and in other places is also documented. Their form was probably inspired by Carolingian estates called ''curtis''.{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=96, 100}}

In the 9th century Mikulčice, the central fortified area or ''Acropolis'' was set on an island in the Morava and surrounded by a stone-faced rampart that enclosed an area of 6 hectares{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=245}} (extensive extramural settlement of 200 ha stood unfortified).{{sfn|Galuška|1991|p=72}} Although the location of the Great Moravian capital has not been identified, Mikulčice with its palace and 12 churches is the most widely accepted candidate.<ref name="bm">{{Cite book| last = Bruce-Mitford | first = Rupert Leo Scott | author2=Poulík, Josef |author3=Holmqvist, Wilhelm | title = Recent Archaeological Excavations in Europe | publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul | year = 1975 | location = London | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = 0-7100-7963-X }}</ref><ref name="poulik">{{Cite book| last =Poulík| first =Josef|  title =Mikulčice: Sídlo a pevnost knížat velkomoravských| publisher =Academia| year =1975| location =Praha}}</ref>  An important settlement was a large agglomeration in Pohansko near Břeclav. Nitra, the centre of the eastern part of the Empire, was ruled autonomously by the heir of the dynasty as an appanage.<ref name='caplovic'/><ref name='marsina'/> Nitra consisted of several large fortified settlements with various functions and approximately twenty specialized craftsmen's villages, making it a real metropolis of its times. Crafts included a production of luxury goods, such as jewelry and glass. The agglomeration was surrounded by a number of smaller forts.

[[File:Kostolec-hradisko.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins of a Great Moravian court in Ducové]]
Bratislava Castle had a stone two-story palace and a spacious three-nave basilica, built in the mid-9th century. Excavations of the cemetery situated by the basilica brought findings of the Great Moravian jewelry, similar in style and quality to that from Mikulčice.{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=89-90}} The castle's name was first recorded in 907, during the fall of Great Moravia, as ''Brezalauspurc''.<ref name="Kristó">{{Cite book| last = Kristó | first = Gyula |  title = A Kárpát-medence és a magyarság régmultja (1301-ig) ''(The ancient history of the Carpathian Basin and the Hungarians - till 1301)'' | publisher = Szegedi Középkorász Műhely | year = 1993 | location = Szeged | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-04-2914-4}}</ref>  This name literally means either "Predslav's Castle" after a son of Svatopluk I who is mentioned in the Cividale del Friuli, or "Braslav's Castle" after Braslav of Pannonia, who was a count appointed by King Arnulf (Arnulf of Carantania) of East Francia.{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=301}}<ref name='Kristó'/> The agglomeration of several fortified settlements was unearthed in Slovak Bojná, discovering important artifacts related to Christianization of the territory. Numerous castles were built on the hills around valleys of Váh and Nitra (river), but were not built on in south-eastern Slovakia, but also in other areas (e.g. Detva, Zeplín, Čingov).

The sturdy Devín Castle, in vicinity of Bratislava, guarded Great Moravia against attacks from the West.{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=92}} Although some authors claim that it was built only later as a stronghold of the Kings of Hungary,<ref>{{Harvnb |Kristó|1994| p=167}}</ref><ref name="Archontologia">{{Cite book| last = Engel | first = Pál |  title = Magyarország világi archontológiája (1301-1457) I. | publisher = História - MTA Történettudományi Intézete | year = 1996 | location = Budapest | page = 300 | url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-8312-44-0 }}</ref> excavations have unearthed an older Slavic fortified settlement founded in the 8th century.{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=92}} During the Great Moravian period, Devín Castle was a seat of a local lord, whose retainers were buried around a stone Christian church.{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=92}} These two castles were reinforced by smaller fortifications in Devínska Nová Ves, Svätý Jur, and elsewhere. Another example is the fortress at Thunau am Kamp near Gars am Kamp, overlooking the river  Kamp in Lower Austria. The defences here re-utilised banked defences of the [[History:Bronze Age|Bronze Age]] and were only slightly smaller (fifty acres) than the area of the contemporary Frankish Emperor's capital of Regensburg.{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=122}}

The number of forts discovered exceeds the number recorded in the sources (11 centres of Moravians and 30 centres of "other Moravians" or ''Merehanos''; opinions differ as to how to interpret the reference to ''Merehanos''). Though the only castles which are mentioned by name in written texts are ''Nitrawa'' (828; identified with Nitra), ''Dowina'' (864; sometimes identified with Devín Castle) and perhaps ''Brezalauspurc'' (907; sometimes identified with Bratislava Castle).<ref name="converse">{{Cite book| editor=Bartoňková Dagmar| title =Magnae Moraviae fonts historic III| publisher =Statni pedagogic nail.| year =1969| location =Praha |chapter=Libellus de conversione Bagoariorum et Carantanorum (i.e. Conversio)|display-editors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb |Kristó|1994| p=553}}</ref><ref name="medievalsources">{{Cite book|  title =Annales Fuldenses, sive, Annales regni Francorum orientalis ab Einhardo, Ruodolfo, Meginhardo Fuldensibus, Seligenstadi, Fuldae, Mogontiaci conscripti cum continuationibus Ratisbonensi et Altahensibus / post editionem G.H. Pertzii recognovit Friderious Kurze ; Accedunt Annales Fuldenses antiquissimi| publisher =Hahn| year =1978| location =Hanover| url =http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm| accessdate =2009-10-09| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070312020323/http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm| archive-date =2007-03-12| dead-url =yes| df =}}</ref><ref name="spiez">{{Cite book| last =Špiesz| first =Anton| author-link =| title =Bratislava v stredoveku| publisher =Perfekt| year =2001| location =Bratislava}}</ref> Some sources claim that Uzhhorod in {{wipe|Ukraine}} (903) was also a fortress of the country. Devín Castle is sometimes identified with a "fortress of Prince Rastislav" mentioned in the ''Annales Fuldenses''.<ref name="caplovic">{{Cite book| last = Čaplovič | first = Dušan | author2=Viliam Čičaj |author3=Dušan Kováč |author4=Ľubomír Lipták |author5=Ján Lukačka  | title = Dejiny Slovenska | publisher = AEP | year = 2000 | location = Bratislava | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = }}</ref><ref name="worldarcheology">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728|title=The Origins of Christianity in Slavonic Countries North of the Middle Danube Basin|journal=World Archaeology|year=1978|first=Josef|last=Poulik|volume=10|issue=2|pages=158–171 |url=}}</ref>

===Monarchs===
[[File:Dvur.jpg|thumb|right|200px|alt=Svatopluk I's depicted in the Chronicle of Dalimil|Svatopluk I disguised as a monk in the court of Arnulf, King of East Francia (from the 14th-century ''Chronicle of Dalimil'')]]
Moravia was ruled by monarchs from a "wider kinship"{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} known as the House of Mojmir.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=233}} The throne rarely passed from father to son.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=11}} Actually, Svatopluk I was the only ruler who was succeeded by his son.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=11}} Rastislav ascended the throne through the East Frankish monarch's intervention,{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=11}} and Slavomir was elected as duke when the Franks captured Svatopluk in 871.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} The latter case reveals the strong claim of the Mojmir dynasty to the throne, because Slavomir was an ordained priest at the time of his election.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} The Moravian monarchs were regularly styled as ''ducis'' ("dukes"), occasionally as ''regis'' ("kings") or ''maliks'' ("kings") in 9th-century documents.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} Tombs within a church have only been discovered at Mikulčice, implying that royals had an exclusive right to be buried in such a prestigious place.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=335}}

===Administration===
The ''Annals of Fulda'' never refers to the Moravian monarchs as rulers of a state, but as heads of a people - ''dux Maravorum'' ("duke of the Moravians").{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=12}} Accordingly, Macháček writes that "Great Moravia was not primarily organized on a territorial basis [...], but more likely on the foundation of real or fictitious kinship bonds within the tribal structure".{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=12}} On the other hand, Havlík says that Moravia was divided into counties each headed by "rich, honourable and well-born noblemen" whom he styles as ''zhupans''; he even adds that the number of counties increased from 11 to 30 by the second half of the 9th&nbsp;century.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=233}} Štefan adds that the existence of scattered groups of farmer warriors, which is suggested by archaeological research, implies the existence of administrative territorial units, because without such a system the monarchs could not organize their campaigns.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=339}}

Svätopluk incorporated a number of Slavic tribes (including the Bohemians and Vistulans) into his empire.{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}}{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}} The subjugated tribes were administered by vassal princes or governors,{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=232}} but they preserved their autonomy, which contributed to the quick disintegration of Svätopluk's Moravia after his death.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}}
According to Bartl,{{sfn|Bartl|Čičaj|Kohútova|Letz|2002|p=237}} Kirschbaum,{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=29}} Štefan,{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} and other historians,{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|2006|p=20}}{{sfn|Marsina|1997|p=15}} Great Moravia had two centres. For instance, according to Havlík the terms "Moravian lands" (''Moravьskskyję strany''), "Upper Moravias" (''vyšnьnii Moravě'', ''vyšnьneję Moravy'') and "Moravian realms" (''regna Marahensium'', ''regna Marauorum'') which were used in 9th-century documents refer to the dualistic organisation of the Moravian state, consisting of the "Realm of Rastislav" (''regnum Rastizi'') and the "Realm of Svatopluk" (''regnum Zwentibaldi''). He and other historians{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} identify the former with modern [[Place:Moravia|Moravia]] in the Czech Republic, and the latter with the Principality of Nitra in present-day Slovakia.{{sfn|Havlík|2013|p=354-355}} However, this view is not universally accepted: Svatopluk's realm has also been identified with the wider region of Staré Město,{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=284}} or with the lands between the Danube and the Tisza{{sfn|Senga|1983|p = 321}} or east of the Tisza.{{sfn|Püspöki-Nagy|1978|p = 9}}

===Warfare===
The known sources contain records about 65 events related to warfare and Great Moravia.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=177}} The most details is known from Frankish sources and are related Svätopluk's period.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=177}} The structure of Great Moravian army was based mainly on an early feudal conception of military service, performed primarily by the ruling elites.

The core of the Great Moravian army was a princely retinue comprising professional warriors, who were responsible for collecting tribute and punishing wrongdoers (''družina'').<ref name="barford">{{Cite book| last = Barford | first = P. M. |  title = The early Slavs&nbsp;: culture and society in early medieval Eastern Europe | publisher = Cornell University Press | year = 2001 | location = Ithaca, NY | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = }}</ref> The ''družina'' consisted of members of aristocracy ("older retinue") and members of princely military groups ("younger retinue").{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=177}} Some of its members formed a permanent armed guard for the prince, the rest were garrisoned at the forts in the castle system or at other strategic points. The ''družina'' was probably relatively loyal and provided stable support for the prince since there is no known record of any dissatisfaction with it or of any uprising. The permanent part of the army had an expressly cavalry character.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=181}} The Great Moravian heavy cavalry emulated the contemporary Frankish predecessors of knights, with the expensive equipment that only the highest [[Social:Social stratification|social strata]] could afford<ref name='dvorakova'/> (a contemporary Arab traveller Ahmad ibn Fadlan reported that Svatopluk I had plenty of cavalry horses<ref name="dvorakova">{{Cite book| last = Dvořáková | first = Daniela | authorlink = | title = Kôň a človek v stredoveku: K spolužitiu človeka a koňa v Uhorskom kráľovstve | publisher = Rak | year = 2007 | location = Budmerice | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = }}</ref>). The overall size of the ''družina'' is estimated by Ruttkay to 3.000-5.000 men.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=181}} In the case of larger mobilisation, cavalry was reinforced by additional smaller units recruited from the retinues of local magnates and from traditional communities (''občina''). The second element of the army  (''pohotovosť'') consisted of lower classes of free citizens who were not, in most cases, professional warriors. However, thanks to their large numbers and knowledge of the prevalent types of weapons they represented a serious military force. They played a decisive role, mainly in the defence of Great Moravian territory, their participation in wars of expansion was less common.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=181}} The army was led by the prince or, in his absence, by a commander-in-chief called ''voivode''.<ref name="centreandperiphery">{{Cite book| first=Lubomír E. | last=Havlík| contribution=Great Moravia between the Franconians, Byzantium and Rome| title=Centre and Periphery: Comparative Studies in Archaeology| editor-first=T.| editor-last=Champion| coeditors=| publisher=Routledge| place=London, Boston| pages=227–237| year=1989 | contribution-url=}}</ref>  The maximum size of the army is estimated at 20,000-30,000 men.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=181}}  In case of external aggression, ordinary people participated on the defence and diversion actions. An important element of the defence of Great Moravia was a system of strong fortifications, which were difficult to besiege with the then prevailing forms of military organization. For example, a Frankish chronicler wrote with awe about the size of Rastislav's fortress (''"firmissimum, ut feritur, vallum"'').{{sfn|Goldberg|2006|p=245}}

The typical weapon of a West Slavic foot soldier was an axe of a specific shape, so called ''bradatica''. Spears were universally used by both infantry and cavalry. The weapons associated with a nomadic (Avar) culture like [[Engineering:Sabre|sabre]]s, reflexion bows and specific types of spears are missing. On the other hand, a military equipment became more influenced by western types and new types of weapons like double-edged swords (rare before the 9th century) became popular. Archers, unlike the previous period, were already a part of infantry.{{sfn|Ruttkay|1997|p=184}}

===Aristocracy===
The existence of a local aristocracy is well documented: contemporaneous sources refer to "leading men"<ref>''The Annals of Fulda'' (years 864 and 901), pp. 51., 142.</ref> (''optimates'' or ''primates''),{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|pp=140, 248}} and ''nobiles viri'' or ''principes''.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} However, these documents do not reveal what was the basis of the Moravian chiefs' power.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=334}} Richly furnished graves{{spaced ndash}}with the exception of the one at Blatnica, which is "an old and disputable find",{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=335}} according to Štefan{{spaced ndash}}have only been unearthed in Mikulčice and other large fortifications controlled by the monarchs.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=13}} Štefan writes that the concentration of prestige goods in the towns shows that "immediate contact with the sovereign, who certainly travelled between the centres, was apparently the best winning strategy for the top elite".{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=335}} On the other hand, the ''optimates'' had an important role in the government: the monarchs did not make important decisions without discussing it in a council formed by the Moravian "dukes".{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p=12}}{{sfn|Havlík|2004|p=233}}

===Population===
Archaeological researches indicate that the Moravian population had ties with [[Religion:Iran|Iran]]ian and Middle-Eastern territories.{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} The ornaments and motives of the jewelries originated from the [[Place:Near East|Near East]], similar analogies were found in Syria, Egypt and Iran.{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} The foot-wears were similar to the boots of [[Place:Tabaristan|Tabaristan]].{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} The buttons belonged to the Caucasian and Iranian types.{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} The style of the abodes and types of domesticated animals, like horses, cattle and goats, were Middle Asian.{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} The Moravian (glagolitic) script also carried eastern features. Some hypotheses propose that the Moymirid dynasty was of an Alanic stock.{{sfn|Champion|1995|p=232}} Muslim geographers, when describing the inhabitants of Great Moravia, mentioned that: {{Quote|''They are a numerous people and their dress resembles that of the Arabs, consisting of turban and shirt and overcoat. They have cultivated lands and seeds and vineyards (...).''<br/>''They state that their number is greater than that of the [[Religion:Rûm|Rum]] and that they are a separate nation. The greater part of their trade is with Arabia.''|Ahmad ibn Rustah<ref>{{Cite book|last=László|first=Gyula|title=The Magyars - Their Life and Civilisation|publisher=Corvina|year=1996|page=194|isbn = 963-13-4226-3}}</ref>}}

Other sources claim more realistic that the they had strong cultural ties to their neighbors in the west the [[History:Franks|Franks]] with objects proving Carolingian influence. The archaeological evidence demonstrates that the 9th century material culture found in modern Moravia was very much in the Frankish sphere and minor Byzantine influence.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Before You|author=Hlobil, K.|date=2009|publisher=Insomniac Press|isbn=9781926582474|url=https://books.google.dk/books?id=S7yUM9Dboz0C&pg=PA116|page=116|accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>{{sfn|Berend|Urbanczyk|Wiszewski|2013|p=58}}<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=Franks, Moravians, and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788-907|author=Bowlus, C.R.|date=1995|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated|isbn=9780812232769|url=https://books.google.dk/books?id=x5x0BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|page=16|accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>

Carolingian influences affected all spheres of life in Great Moravia. After the Carolingian Empire was divided the Ottonian dynasty took over and continued and cultivated Carolingian traditions. It is not accidental
that the newly created medieval West-Slavonic states borrow from Carolingian tradition via the Ottonian Empire.<ref>[http://rcin.org.pl/Content/20463/WA308_33361_PIII348_CAROLINGIAN_I.pdf СAROLINGIAN INFLUENCES ON THE WEST SLAVS' ARMS AND ARMOUR] rcin.org.pl</ref>

Most of the population was formed by freemen, who were obliged to pay an annual tax.<ref name='centreandperiphery'/> [[Social:Slavery|Slavery]] and [[History:Serfdom|feudal dependency]] are also recorded.<ref name='centreandperiphery'/><ref name="dvornik">{{Cite book| last = Dvornik | first = Francis |  title = The Slavs: their early history and civilization | publisher = American Academy of Arts and Sciences | year = 1956 | location = Boston | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = }}</ref>

The analysis of early medieval cemeteries in Moravia shows that 40 percent of men and 60 percent of women died before reaching the age of 40.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 114}} More than 40 percent of the graves contained the remains of children aged one to twelve.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 114}} However, the cemeteries also document rich nutrition and advanced health care.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 115}} For instance, a third of the examined skeletons had no caries or lost teeth, and [[Medicine:Bone fracture|bone fracture]]s healed without dislocation.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 115}}

==Economy==
The large 9th-century fortresses unearthed at Mikulčice and other places were located in the wider region of the confluence of the rivers Morava and Danube.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=342}} Two important trade routes crossed this region in this period, the Danube and the ancient Amber Road, implying that these settlements, all lying on rivers, were important centres of commerce.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p=342}} Finds of tools, raw materials, and semi-manufactured goods{{sfn|Macháček|2009|p=252}} show that quarters inhabited by craftsmen also exised in these settlements.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 185}} The large fortresses were surrounded by a number of small villages where the locals were engaged in agriculture.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 340}} They cultivated [[Biology:Wheat|wheat]], [[Biology:Barley|barley]], [[Biology:Millet|millet]] and other [[Biology:Cereal|cereal]]s, and farmed cattle, pigs, sheep, and horse.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp = 155, 157}} Their animals were relatively small: for instance, their horses were not larger than modern Przewalski horses.{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 157}}

The existence of a general exchange medium in Moravia has not been proven:{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}} there is no sign of local coinage{{sfn|Barford|2001|p = 182}} and foreign coins are scarce.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|pp = 12, 15}} According to Bialeková and other archaeologists, the axe-shaped ingots ([[Grzywna (unit)|grivnas]]) unearthed in great number in fortresses served as "premonetary currencies". This theory has not universally been accepted, because these objects have also been interpreted as "intermediate products intended for further treatment".{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 343}} The lack of coins caused, according to Macháček, that Moravian monarchs could not "effectively collect taxes, customs and fines", which weakened their international position.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p = 12}}

Iron metallurgy and smithery were the most important branches of local industry.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p = 161}} An example of highly developed tool production are asymmetrical [[Plowshare|plowshare]]s.{{sfn|Poulík|1978|p = 161}} There is no sign of silver, gold, copper or lead mines in Moravia, but jewellery and weapons were produced locally.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}} Accordingly, their prime material was acquired as loot or gift or brought to Moravia by merchants.{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p = 15}} Archaeological research also evidences the import of prestige goods, including silk, brocade and glass vessels.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}} According to Štefan{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}} and Macháček,{{sfn|Macháček|2012|p = 12}} the Moravians primarily provided slaves, acquired as prisoners of war during their raids in the neighbouring regions, in exchange for these luxury goods. For instance, Archbishop Thietmar of Salzburg accused the Moravians of "bringing noble men and honest women into slavery"{{sfn|Bowlus|1994|p = 338}} during their campaigns in Pannonia.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}} Slave trading is also well documtented: the ''First Legend of Naum'' narrates that many of Methodius's disciples "were sold for money to the Jews"{{sfn|Petkov|2008|p = 106}} after 885, and the  ''Raffelstetten Customs Regulations'' makes mention of slaves delivered from Moravia to the west.{{sfn|Štefan|2011|p = 342}}

==Culture==

===Sacral architecture===

[[File:Kopcany st. margaret 3.jpg|thumb|Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Kopčany, Slovakia, one of remaining buildings for which the Great Moravian origin is considered]]

The views on Great Moravian sacral architecture changed dramatically during the second half of the 20th century. First researchers assumed only an existence of simple wooden churches like those which are known from the German environment in the 7th-8th century.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=40}} The wooden churches were suitable for initial missionary activities because of easy availability of materials, quick construction and no need for consecration.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=40}}  This opinion was refined in 1949 after excavations in Staré Město. From 1960s, stone churches are known also from Slovakia. Until 2014, more than 25 sacral buildings have been safely identified in the core territory of Great Moravia (Moravia and Western Slovakia).{{sfn|Botek|2014b|p=8}} The remains of the first uncovered churches were only "negatives" (ditches filled with secondary material after removal of original foundations), but later research also uncovered remains of buildings with original foundations. Especially after the discovery of Great Moravian graves near the church in Kopčany, the potential Great Moravian origin of several still standing churches in Slovakia became again an actual question (Kopčany, Nitrianska Blatnica, Kostoľany pod Tribečom). The exact dating is a goal of ongoing research based on radiocarbon analysis and dendrochronology.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=61}}

The Great Moravian sacral architecture is represented by a rich variety of types from three-nave basilicas (Mikulčice III, Bratislava), triconcha (Devín), simple rotunda without apses (Mikulčice VII), two-apses rotunda (Mikulčice VI), tetraconchic rotunda (Mikulčice IX) and a whole group of one-nave churches and rotundas with one apse. The largest number of churches has been found in south-eastern Moravia. Mikulčice with 12 churches clearly dominates among all other localities with the first stone churches built around 800<ref name="poulik"/>  (a potential 13th church is the church  Kopčany on Slovak side of the border, but belonging to the Mikulčice agglomeration). The three-nave [[Religion:Basilica|basilica]] from Mikulčice with the inside dimensions 35&nbsp;m by 9&nbsp;m and a separate baptistery is also the largest sacral building found.<ref name='bm'/><ref name='worldarcheology'/> A high concentration of churches in Mikululčice exceeded real needs of the local population and they are interpreted as proprietary churches (''Eigenkirchen'') known also from the Frankish environment.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=61}} Large churches were also important ecclesiastical centres of the country. The current dating of several churches precedes the Byzantine mission. The churches were decorated mostly by paintings created by the fresco technique, but usage of secco is also documented.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=44}} The authors were probably foreign artists from Frankish and North-Italian environment{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=44}} (North-Italian origin is indicated e.g. by chemical composition of paintings in Bratislava and Devín{{sfn|Štefanovičová|1989|p=119}}).

The Great Moravian sacral architecture was probably influenced by several provenances like western (Frankish), Dalmatian-Istrian and south-eastern (Byzantine and antique) reflecting also a complexity of missionary activities. Two open air museums, in Modrá near Uherské Hradiště and in Ducové, are devoted to Great Moravian architecture.

===Religion===
[[File:Mikulčice-Valy 4.JPG|thumb|Stone foundations of a church in Valy u Mikulčic, Czech Republic]]
Like other Slavs, the Great Moravian Slavs originally practised polytheistic religion with the cult of ancestors. Several cult places used prior the Christianization of Moravia are known from Moravia (Mikulčice and Pohansko). However, we do not know what these objects, such as a ring ditch with a fire, a horse sacrifice, or human limbs ritually buried in a cemetery, meant for Great Moravians.<ref name="berend">{{Cite book| first=Petr | last=Sommer|author2=Dusan Trestik |author3=Josef Zemlicka | contribution=Bohemia and Moravia| title=Christianization and the rise of Christian monarchy&nbsp;: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c. 900-1200| editor-first=Nora| editor-last=Berend| coeditors=| publisher=Cambridge University Press| place=Cambridge, UK ; New York| pages=214–262| year=2007 | contribution-url=}}</ref> An alleged{{efn|An existence of the alleged circular pagan shrine in Mikulčice was questioned in 2012. {{harv|Mazuch|2012}}}} cult object in Mikulčice was reportedly used until the evangelization of the Moravian elite in the mid-9th century and idols in Pohansko were raised on the site of a demolished church during the pagan backlash in the 10th century.<ref name='berend'/> The only one Slavic pagan shrine known from today's Slovakia is an object in Most in Bratislave dedicated probably to the god of war and thunder Perun. The shrine was abandoned in the mid-9th century and never restored.{{sfn|Turčan|2003}}

The spread of [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] had several stages and it is still an open research question. In older publications, the first organized missions were attributed mainly to Hiberno-Scottish missionaries, but modern works are more sceptical about their direct influence.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=23}}  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.<ref name='worldarcheology'/><ref name="methodii">{{Cite book | last = Stanislav | first = Ján |  title = Životy slovanských apoštolov Cyrila a Metoda. Panonsko-moravské legendy. | publisher = Vydané spoločne nakladateľstvom Slovenskej ligy a L. Mazáča | year = 1934 | location = Bratislava, Praha | pages =  | url = http://www.proglas.sk/Metod.htm | doi =  | isbn =  | accessdate = 2009-10-09 | deadurl = yes | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080325040146/http://www.proglas.sk/Metod.htm | archivedate = 2008-03-25 | df =  }}</ref> Traces of Aquileia-Dalmatic mission are sought in the Great Moravian architecture and linguistic.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=23}} Northern-Italian influence is assumed also for golden plaques with Christian motives from Bojná{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=24}} (probably from a portable altar), which belong to the most important Christian artefacts dated prior the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Especially after the defeat of the Avars at the end of the 8th century, Frankish  missionaries became the most important part of organized missions. The first Christian church of the Western and Eastern Slavs known to the written sources was built in 828 by Pribina in Nitra. and consecrated by Bishop Adalram of [[Place:Salzburg|Salzburg]]. Most of the territory was Christianized until the mid-9th century.{{sfn|Botek|2014a|p=23}} Despite the formal endorsement by the elites, the Great Moravian Christianity was described as containing many pagan elements as late as in 852.<ref name="barford"/> [[Social:Grave goods|Grave goods]], such as food, could be found even in church graveyards.<ref name='worldarcheology'/>  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.<ref name="Schaff">{{cite book|author=Philip Schaff|title=History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590-1073.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5CV_-6BGFgC&pg=PT161|accessdate=2013-06-15|publisher=CCEL|isbn=978-1-61025-043-6|pages=161–162}}</ref>

In 880, the pope ordained a Swabian monk, named Wiching, to be the bishop of the newly established see of Nitra ("sancta ecclesia Nitriensis").{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=32}} Some experts (e.g. Szőke Béla Miklós) say that the location of the seat of 9th century diocese is dissimilar from the present-day Nitra.{{sfn|Hosszú|2012|p=317}}

===Literature===
[[File:Bascanska ploca.jpg|thumb|An example of the Glagolitic script created by Saint Cyril for the mission in Great Moravia (Baščanska ploča from Croatia). The inscribed stone slab records Croatian king Zvonimir's donation of a piece of land to a Benedictine abbey in the time of abbot Drzhiha.<ref>Naklada Naprijed, ''The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide'', pg. 114, Zagreb (1999), {{ISBN|953-178-097-8}}</ref>]]
But yields of the mission of Cyril and Methodius extended beyond the religious and political sphere. The [[Social:Old Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]] became the fourth liturgical language of the Christian world. However, after Methodius's death (885) all his followers were expelled from Great Moravia and the use of the Slavic liturgy in Great Moravia was an episode in its history which lasted only about 22 years.<ref>Milan Strhan, David P. Daniel, [https://books.google.com/books?ei=f4lKTfmaJdKShAfD7PmJCQ&ct=result&id=BWYiAQAAIAAJ&dq=Slovakia+and+the+Slovaks%3A+a+concise+encyclopedia&q=22+years#search_anchor Slovakia and the Slovaks: a concise encyclopedia], Encyclopedical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1994, p. 229</ref> Its late form still remains the liturgical language of the [[Religion:Russian Orthodox Church|Russian]], [[Religion:Bulgarian Orthodox Church|Bulgarian]], Polish, Macedonian and [[Religion:Serbian Orthodox Church|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 customary law with the advanced Byzantine law. 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 Christianity (mostly related to sexual life).{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} The [[Religion:Canon law|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.<ref name="methodii"/> Location of the Great Moravian academy has not been identified, but the possible sites include Mikulčice (where some styli 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 by Svätopluk I in 885, they disseminated their knowledge (including the Glagolitic script) to other Slavic countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Bohemia. They created the [[Social:Cyrillic script|Cyrillic script]], which became the standard alphabet in the [[Place:Kievan Rus'|Kievan Rus']] (modern day Russia, Ukraine and Belarus). The Great Moravian cultural heritage survived in Bulgarian seminaries, paving the way for Christianization of Kievan Rus'.

===Arts===
[[File:Kříž z Mikulčic.png|thumb|right|A silver cross from Mikulčice.]]
In the first half of the 9th century, Great Moravian craftsmen were inspired by contemporary Carolingian art.<ref name='worldarcheology'/> In the second half of the 9th century, Great Moravian jewelry was influenced by Byzantine, Eastern Mediterranean, and Adriatic styles.<ref name='worldarcheology'/> But, in the words of Czech archaeologist Josef Poulík, "these new forms and techniques were not copied passively, but were transformed in the local idiom, establishing in this way the roots of the distinctive Great Moravian jewellery style."<ref name='worldarcheology'/> The typical Great Moravian jewelry included silver and golden earrings decorated by fine granular filigree, as well as silver and gilded bronze buttons covered by foliate ornaments.<ref name='bm'/>

==Legacy==
Great Moravian centres (''e.g.'', Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg), Nitra (Nyitra), Tekov (Bars), and Zemplín (Zemplén)) also retained their functions afterwards, although the identification of Bratislava, Tekov and Zemplín as Great Moravian castles is not generally accepted.<ref>{{Harvnb |Kristó|1994| pp=84, 553, 743}}</ref>{{clarify | date = September 2015 | reason = How to explain the origin of Great Moravian basilica on Bratislava castle, cemetery, GM fortification, etc?}} Several sources suggest that the Hungarian rulers followed the contemporary German or Bulgar patents when they established the new administrative system in their kingdom, or they introduced a new system.<ref name="Kristó 1988 21-100">{{Harvnb |Kristó|1988|pp=21–100}}</ref>   

Social differentiation in Great Moravia reached the state of early [[Social:Feudalism|feudalism]], creating the social basis for development of later medieval states in the region.<ref name="kucera">{{Cite book| last =Kučera| first =Matúš|  title =Slovensko po páde Veľkej Moravy| publisher =Veda| year =1974| location =Bratislava}}</ref> The question what happened to Great Moravian noble families after 907 is still under debate. On the one hand, recent research indicates that 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.<ref name='dvorakova'/><ref name='centreandperiphery'/><ref name="lukacka">{{Cite book| last =Lukačka| first =Ján| author-link =| title =Formovanie vyššej šľachty na západnom Slovensku| publisher =Mistrál| year =2002| location =Bratislava}}</ref> The most prominent example are the powerful families of Hunt and Pázmán.<ref name="lukacka"/> On the other hand, both Anonymous and Simon of Kéza, two chroniclers of the early history of Hungary, recorded that the prominent noble families of the kingdom descended either from leaders of the Magyar tribes or from immigrants, and they did not connect any of them to Great Moravia. For example, the ancestors of the clan Hunt-Pázmán (''Hont-Pázmány''), whose Great Moravian origin has been advanced by Slovak scholars,<ref name="lukacka"/> were mentioned by Simon of Kéza to have arrived from the Duchy of Swabia to the kingdom in the late 10th century.<ref>{{Harvnb |Kristó|1988|p=269}}</ref><ref name="Fügedi">{{Cite book| last = Fügedi | first = Erik |  title = Ispánok, bárók, kiskirályok ''(Counts, barons and petty kings)''| publisher = Magvető Könyvkiadó | year = 1986 | location = Budapest | pages = 12, 24| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-14-0582-6}}</ref><ref name="Sources">{{Cite book| last = Benda | first = Gyula | last2 = Bertényi | first2 = Iván | last3 = Pótó  | first3 = János (editors) | title = Anonymus: A magyarok cselekedetei – Kézai Simon: A magyarok cselekedetei ''(Anonymous: The Deeds of the Hungarians – Simon of Kéza: The Deeds of Hungarians)'' | publisher = Osiris | year = 2004 | location = Budapest | pages = 120–122 | isbn = 963-389-606-1}}</ref>

The territories mentioned as ''"Tercia pars regni"'' (literally "one-third part of the Kingdom of Hungary") in the medieval sources are referred to as the "Duchy" in Hungarian scholarly works and as the "Principality of Nitra" in Slovak academic sources. These territories were ruled autonomously by members of the Árpád dynasty residing in Bihar (today ''Biharea'' in Romania) or in Nitra - a practice reminiscent of the Great Moravian appanage system, but also similar to that of some other dynasties in the Early Middle Ages (''e.g.'', the Ruriks in the [[Place:Kievan Rus'|Kievan Rus']]).<ref>{{Harvnb |Kristó|1994| pp=103, 261}}</ref><ref name="Heller">{{Cite book| last = Heller | first = Mihail |  title = Orosz történelem - Az Orosz Birodalom története ''(Russian History - A History of the Russian Empire)''| publisher = Osiris Kiadó | year = 2000 | location = Budapest | page = 37| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-379-243-6 <!--I. köt-->}}</ref> The existence of an autonomous political unit centered around Nitra is often considered by Slovak scholars an example of political continuity from the Great Moravian period.<ref name="steinhubel">{{Cite book| last = Ján | first = Steinhübel | authorlink = | title = Nitrianske kniežatstvo: Počiatky stredovekého Slovenska | publisher = Rak | year = 2004 | location = Budmerice | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = 80-224-0812-3 }}</ref>

Great Moravia also became a prominent theme of the Czech and Slovak romantic nationalism of the 19th century.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p=130}} The Byzantine double-cross thought to have been brought by Cyril and Methodius is part of the symbol 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 national revival in the 19th century. Great Moravian history has been regarded as a cultural root of several Slavic nations in Central Europe and it was employed in attempts to create a single [[Place:Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] identity in the 20th century.

Although the source cited above and other sources mention that Great Moravia disappeared without trace and that its inhabitants left for the Bulgars, with Croats and Magyars following their victories, archaeological research and toponyms suggest the continuity of Slavic population in the valleys of the rivers of the [[Place:Carpathian Mountains|Inner Western Carpathians]].<ref name="Kristó 1996 131-132, 141">{{Harvnb |Kristó|1996a| pp=131–132, 141}}</ref><ref name="Kniezsa 2000 p26">{{Harvnb|Kniezsa|2000| p=26}}</ref> Moreover, 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''<ref name="dmgh">{{cite web|url=http://www.dmgh.de/|publisher=dmgh.de|title=dMGH &#124; Suche|accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref> mention Great Moravia. In 942, Magyar warriors captured during their raid in al-Andalus said that Moravia is the northern neighbour of their people. The fate of the northern and western parts of former Great Moravia in the 10th century is thus largely unclear.

As for the eastern part of the Great Moravian core territory (present-day Slovakia) fell under domination of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty. The northwest borders of the Principality of Hungary became a mostly uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. This was the Hungarian ''gyepűelve'', and it can be considered as a march that effectively lasted until the mid-13th century.<ref name="slovensko">{{Cite book| author=Tibenský, Ján| title =Slovensko: Dejiny| publisher =Obzor| year =1971| location =Bratislava}}</ref> The rest remained under the rule of the local Slavic aristocracy<ref name="lukacka" /> and was gradually<ref name="marsina">{{Cite journal|title=Ethnogenesis of Slovaks|journal=Human Affairs|year=1997|first=Richard|last=Marsina|volume=7|issue=1|pages=15–23 |url=}}</ref> integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary in a process finished in the 14th century.<ref name="slovensko" /><ref name="pastor">{{Cite book| last = Pástor | first = Zoltán |  title = Dejiny Slovenska: Vybrané kapitoly | publisher = Univerzita Mateja Bela | year = 2000 | location = Banská Bystrica | pages = | url = | doi =  | isbn = }}</ref> In 1000 or 1001, all of present-day Slovakia was taken over by Poland under Boleslav I, and much of this territory became part of the [[History:Kingdom of Hungary|Kingdom of Hungary]] by 1031.{{sfn|Kirschbaum|2005|p = }}<ref name="slovensko" />

==See also==
* History of Moravia
* History of Slovakia
* History of the Czech lands

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Primary sources===
*''Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio'' (Greek text edited by Gyula Moravcsik, English translation by Romillyi J. H. Jenkins) (1967). Dumbarton Oaks Centre for Byzantine Studies. {{ISBN|0-88402-021-5}}.
*"King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Orosius" (1852). In Giles, J. A. ''The Whole Works of King Alfred the Great, with Preliminary Essays Illustrative of the History, Arts, and Manners, of the Ninth Century, Volume 2'' (Jubilee Edition, 3 vols). J.F. Smith for the Alfred Committee.
*"Liudprand of Cremona: Retribution" (2007). In: The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona (Translated by Paolo Squatriti); The Catholic University of Press; {{ISBN|978-0-8132-1506-8}}.
*''The Annals of Fulda (Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II)'' (Translated and annotated by Timothy Reuter) (1992). Manchaster University Press. {{ISBN|0-7190-3458-2}}.
*''The Annals of St-Bertin (Ninth-Century Histories, Volume I)'' (Translated and annotated by Janet L. Nelson) (1991). Manchester University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7190-3426-8}}.
*''The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm'' (2009). In: ''History and Politics in Late Carolingian and Ottonian Europe: The'' Chronicle ''of Regino of Prüm and Adalbert of Magdeburg'' (Translated and annotated by Simon MacLean); Manchester University Press; {{ISBN|978-0-7190-7135-5}}.
*"The Life of Constantine" (1983). In ''Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes'' (Marvin Kantor) [Michigan Slavic Translation 5]. University of Michigan. pp.&nbsp;23–96. {{ISBN|0-930042-44-1}}.
*"The Life of Methodius" (1983). In ''Medieval Slavic Lives of Saints and Princes'' (Marvin Kantor) [Michigan Slavic Translation 5]. University of Michigan. pp.&nbsp;97–138. {{ISBN|0-930042-44-1}}.
*"The Royal Frankish Annals" In ''Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories'' (Translated by Bernhard Walter Scholz with Barbara Rogers) (2006). The University of Michigan Press. pp.&nbsp;35–126. {{ISBN|0-472-06186-0}}.
Primary documents can be found in the following volumes:
*Havlík, Lubomír E. (1966–1977). ''Magnae Moraviae Fontes Historici I.-V.'', Brno: Masarykova univerzita.
*Marsina, Richard (1971). ''Codex diplomaticus et epistolaris Slovaciae I.'', Bratislava: Veda.
*Ratkoš, Peter (1964). ''Pramene k dejinám Veľkej Moravy'', Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied.

===Secondary sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Angi |first=János |editor1-last=Pósán |editor1-first=László |editor2-last=Papp |editor2-first=Imre |editor3-last=Bárány |editor3-first=Attila |editor4-last=Orosz |editor4-first=István |editor5-last=Angi |editor5-first=János | title=Európa a korai középkorban ''["Europe in the Early Middle Ages"]'' |publisher=Multiplex Media - Debrecen University Press |year=1997 |pages=358–365 |chapter=A nyugati szláv államok [=Western Slavic states] |isbn=963-04-9196-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Barford |first=P. M. |year=2001|title=The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe |publisher= Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-3977-9|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bartl |first1=Július |last2=Čičaj |first2=Viliam |last3=Kohútova |first3=Mária |last4=Letz |first4=Róbert |last5=Segeš |first5=Vladimír |last6=Škvarna |first6=Dušan |year=2002|title=Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon |publisher= Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Slovenské Pedegogické Nakladatel'stvo |ISBN=0-86516-444-4|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Berend |first1=Nora |last2=Urbanczyk |first2= Przemyslaw |last3=Wiszewski |first3= Przemyslaw |title=Central Europe in the High Middle Ages: Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, c.900–c.1300 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |pages= |isbn=9780521781565|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Betti |first=Maddalena |title=The Making of Christian Moravia (858-882): Papal Power and Political Reality |publisher=Brill |year=2013|pages=27–34|isbn=978-9-004-26008-5 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Boba |first=Imre |year=1971 |title=Moravia's History Reconsidered: A Reinterpretation of Medieval Sources |publisher= Martinus Nijhoff |isbn=978-90-247-5041-2 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last = Botek |first = Andrej |title = Veľkomoravské kostoly na Slovensku |trans-title = The Great Moravian Churches in Slovakia |location = Bratislava  |publisher = Post Scriptum |year = 2014a |isbn = 978-80-89567-37-9 |language = Slovak| ref = harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Botek | first = Andrej | authorlink = | title = Veľkomoravská bazilika na Bratislavskom hrade |trans-title = The Greatmoravian Basilica on the Bratislava castle |journal=Verbum historiae | issue = 1 | publisher = Katedra histórie, Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity Komenského | location = Bratislava | year = 2014b | language = Slovak | url = 
http://puchovodedicstvo.sk/wp-content/uploads/Verbum_Historiae_1-2014.pdf |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Bowlus |first=Charles R. |year=1994  |title=Franks, Moravians and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788–907 |publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=0-8122-3276-3 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Bowlus | first = Charles R. |  title = Nitra: when did it become a part of the Moravian realm? Evidence in the Frankish sources| journal = Early Medieval Europe | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 311–328 | publisher = Blackwell Publishing Ltd | location = Oxford, UK | year = 2009 | language = | url = http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0254.2009.00279.x/abstract | accessdate = 2013-08-27 |ref=harv | doi=10.1111/j.1468-0254.2009.00279.x}}
* {{cite book |last=Čaplovič |first=Dušan |year=1998 |title=Včasnostredoveké osídlenie Slovenska |trans-title=Early Medieval settlement of Slovakia |publisher=Electronic Academic Press |location=Bratislava|isbn=80-88880-19-X|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Champion |first=Tim |year=1995 |title=Centre and Periphery: Comparative Studies in Archaeology |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-203-98515-1|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Collins |first=Roger |year=2010 |title=Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-113-7014-28-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |year=2006 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-89452-4|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Dekan |first=Ján |year=1981 |title=Moravia Magna: The Great Moravian Empire, Its Art and Time |publisher=Control Data Arts |isbn=0-89893-084-7|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Drulák |first=Petr |editor-last=Guzzini |editor-first=Stefano | title=The Return of Geopolitics in Europe? - Social Mechanisms and Foreign Policy Identity Crises |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |pages=77–100 |chapter=Czech geopolitics: struggling for survival |isbn=978-1-107-02734-3|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Galuška |first=Luděk |year=1991 |title=Great Moravia |publisher=Moravian Museum | location=Brno |isbn=80-7028-023-9|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Eric J. |year=2006 |title=Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817–876 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-7529-0|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Havlík |first=Lubomír E. |year=2013 |title=Kronika o Velké Moravě ''[=Chronicle of Great Moravia]'' |publisher= Jota |isbn=80-85617-04-8|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Havlík |first=Lubomír E. |year=1994 |title=Svatopluk Veliký, král Moravanů a Slovanů ''[Svatopluk the Great, King of the Moravians and Slavs]'' |publisher= Jota |isbn=80-85617-19-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Havlík |first=Lubomír E. |editor-last=Champion |editor-first=T. C. | title=Centre and Periphery: Comparative Studies in Archaeology |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |pages=227–237 |chapter=Great Moravia between the Franconians, Byzantium and Rome |ISBN=0-415-12253-8|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Hosszú |first=Gábor | title=Heritage of Scribes: The Relation of Rovas Scripts to Eurasian Writing Systems |publisher=Dr Gábor Hosszú |year=2012 |pages=317 |ISBN=9789638843746|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Kirschbaum |first=Stanislav J. |year=2005 |title=A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival |publisher= Palgarve Macmillan |isbn=1-40396929-9 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Kristó |first=Gyula |year=1996 |title=Hungarian History in the Ninth Century |publisher= Szegedi Középkorász Műhely |isbn=1-4039-6929-9 |ref=harv}}
* Kučera, Matúš (1974). ''Slovensko po páde Veľkej Moravy'', Bratislava: Veda.
* Lukačka, Ján (2002). ''Formovanie vyššej šľachty na západnom Slovensku'', Bratislava: Mistrál.
* {{cite journal | last = Macháček | first = Jiří |  title = Disputes over Great Moravia: chiefdom or state? the Morava or the Tisza River? | journal = Early Medieval Europe | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 248–267 | publisher = Blackwell Publishing Ltd | location = Oxford, UK | year = 2009 | language = | url = https://www.academia.edu/1510799/Disputes_over_Great_Moravia_chiefdom_or_state_the_Morava_or_the_Tisza_River | accessdate = 2013-08-30 |ref=harv | doi=10.1111/j.1468-0254.2009.00276.x}}
* {{cite journal | last = Macháček | first = Jiří |  title = "Great Moravian state"–a controversy in Central European medieval studies | journal = Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | pages = 5–26 | publisher = Publishing House of the History Department of the Saint-Petersburg State University | location = Saint-Petersburg, RU | year = 2012 | language = | url = http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=76f95861-a935-4376-b759-fe8e8c8970b8&articleid=94adf0da-86a3-4740-9763-19d628c35fbb#a94adf0da-86a3-4740-9763-19d628c35fbb | accessdate = 2013-08-30 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=McCornick |first=Michael |year=2001  |title=Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce, AD 300-900 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-66102-1 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last= MacLean |first= Simon |year=2003|title= Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139440295|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last= Mahoney |first= William M. |year=2011|title= The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia |publisher= ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313363054|ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Marsina | first = Richard |  title = Ethnogenesis of Slovaks| journal = Human Affairs | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 15–23 | publisher = Slovak Academy of Sciences, Department of Social & Biological Communication | location = Bratislava, SLO | year = 1997 | language = | url = http://www.aepress.sk/hum/full/hum197b.pdf | accessdate = 2013-08-31 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | last=Marsina | first=Richard |  title=Nové pohľady historickej vedy na Slovenské dejiny. 1. Najstaršie obdobie slovenských dejín (do prelomu 9.-10. storočia) | publisher= Metodické centrum mesta Bratislavy| location = Bratislava | year = 1995 | language=Slovak  |isbn=80-7164-069-7|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | last = Marsina | first = Richard |  chapter = Najstaršia poloha Veľkej Moravy| title =  	Slovensko a európsky juhovýchod: medzikultúrne vztahy a kontexty (zborník k životnému jubileu Tatiany Štefanovicovej) | publisher = Katedra všeobecných dejín a Katedra archeológie FFUK| location = Bratislava, SLO | year = 1999 | language = Slovak | isbn=809673914X |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | last = Marsina | first = Richard |  chapter = Where was Great Moravia | editor-first = Dušan | editor-last = Kováč | title = Slovak Contributions to 19th International Congress of Historical Sciences | publisher = VEDA, Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied | location = Bratislava | year = 2000 | language = | isbn=80-224-0665-1 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Mazuch | first = Marian |  title = K údajné existenci tzv. kruhového pohanského kultovního objektu v podhradí velkomoravského mocenského centra Mikulčice-Valy | trans-title = To the Alleged Existence of So-Called Circular Pagan Cultic Feature in the Suburbium of the Great Moravian Center of Power Mikulčice – Valy | journal = Slavia Antiqua | volume = 53 | issue = 3 | publisher =  Uniwersytet im Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu |  location = Poznan | year = 2012 | language = Czech | url = https://www.academia.edu/5049484/K_%C3%BAdajn%C3%A9_existenci_tzv._kruhov%C3%A9ho_pohansk%C3%A9ho_kultovn%C3%ADho_objektu_v_podhrad%C3%AD_velkomoravsk%C3%A9ho_mocensk%C3%A9ho_centra_Mikul%C4%8Dice-Valy._To_the_Alleged_Existence_of_So-Called_Circular_Pagan_Cultic_Feature_in_the_Suburbium_of_the_Great_Moravian_Center_of_Power_Mikul%C4%8Dice_Valy  | issn = 0080-9993 | ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | last = Meřínský | first = Zdeněk |  title = České země od příchodu Slovanů po Velkou Moravu II. |trans-title= The Czech Lands since the arrival of the Slavs to Great Moravia | publisher = Libry | location = Prague | year = 2006 | language = Czech | isbn = 80-7277-105-1 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Obolensky |first=Dimitri |year=1994 |title=Byzantium and the Slavs |publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |isbn=0-88141-008-X|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book | last = Odler |first = Martin | chapter = Avarské sídliská v strednej Európe: problémová bilancia |trans-chapter = Avar Settlements in Central Europe: the Balance of the Problem   | editor-first = Jan | editor-last = Klápště | title = Studia mediaevalia Pragensia 11 | publisher = Univerzita Karlova v Praze – Nakladatelství Karolinum | location = Praha | year = 2012 | language = Slovak | isbn = 978-80-246-2107-4 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Petkov |first=Kiril |year=2008|title=The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture |publisher= Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16831-2|ref=harv}}
* Poulík, Josef (1975). ''Mikulčice: Sídlo a pevnost knížat velkomoravských'', Praha.
* {{cite journal | last = Poulík | first = Josef |  title = The origins of Christianity in Slavonic countries north of the Middle Danube Basin | journal = World Archaeology | volume = 10 | issue = 2 | pages = 158–171 | publisher = Taylor&Francis | location = | year = 1978 | language = | url = http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728#.UilPdD9GOyJ | accessdate = 2013-09-06 |ref=harv | doi=10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728}}
* {{cite journal | last = Püspöki-Nagy | first = Péter |  title = Nagymorávia fekvéséről [=On the location of Great Moravia] | journal = Valóság | volume = XXI | issue = 11 | pages = 60–82 | publisher = Tudományos Ismeretterjesztő Társulat | location = | year = 1978 | language = | url = | accessdate = |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Rogers |editor-first=Clifford |year= 2010 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ISBN=978-019-5334-03-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Róna-Tas |first=András |year= 1999  |title=Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History |publisher=CEU Press |ISBN=978-963-9116-48-1|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last = Ruttkay |first = Alexander |editor-last1 = Marsina |editor-first1 = Richard | editor-last2 = Ruttkay |editor-first2 = Alexander |chapter= O veľkomoravskom vojenstve s osobitným zreteľom na obdobie vlády Svätopluka |trans-chapter = About the Great Moravian Warfare With a Special Attention to the Reign of Svätopluk  |title = Svätopluk 894 - 1994  |location = Nitra |year=1997 |isbn=80-88709-34-2 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last = Ruttkay |first = Matej |editor-last1 = Ruttkay |editor-first1 = Alexander | editor-last2 = Ruttkay |editor-first2 = Matej | editor-last3 = Šalkovský |editor-first3 = Peter | chapter = Vývoj osídlenia na strednom Dunaji v 6.–12. stor |trans-chapter = Development of settlement around the Middle Danube in the 6th-12th cent. |title = Slovensko vo včasnom stredoveku   | publisher = Archeologický ústav Slovenskej akadémie vied | location = Nitra |year=2002 |isbn=80-88709-60-1 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Sedlák |first=Vincent |editor-last= Fábrová |editor-first= Karin | title=Príspevky k slovenským dejinám  | location = Prešov |year=2005 |pages=17–28 |chapter=Onomastika a historiografia |isbn=80-8068-330-1 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Senga | first = Toru |  title = Morávia bukása és a honfoglaló magyarok ''[=The fall of Moravia and the Hungarians occupying the Carpathian Basin]'' | journal = Századok | volume =  | issue = 2 | pages = 307–345 | publisher = Magyar Történelmi Társulat | location = | year = 1983 | language = | url = | accessdate = |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sommer |first1=Petr |last2=Třeštík |first2=Dušan |last3=Žemlička |first3=Josef |last4=Opačić |first4=Zoë |editor-last=Berend |editor-first=Nora | title=Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus','' c.''900-1200 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |pages=214–262 |chapter=Bohemia and Moravia |isbn=978-0-521-87616-2|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Spiesz |first1=Anton |last2=Caplovic |first2=Dusan |year=2006 |title=Illustrated Slovak History: A Struggle for Sovereignty in Central Europe |publisher= Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers |isbn=978-0-86516-426-0 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Spinei |first=Victor |year=2003 |title=The Great Migrations in the East and South East of Europe from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Century |others=Translated by Dana Badulescu |ISBN=973-85894-5-2|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Steinhübel |first=Ján |editor1-last=Teich |editor1-first=Mikuláš |editor2-last=Kováč |editor2-first=Dušan |editor3-last=Brown |editor3-first=Martin D. | title=Slovakia in History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |pages=15–29 |chapter=The Duchy of Nitra |isbn=978-0-521-80253-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Steinhübel |first=Ján |year=2011 | title=Kapitoly z najstarších dejín českých 531–1004 ''[=Chapters from the oldest Czech history 531–1004]''  |publisher=Spolok Slovákov v Poľsku – Towarzystwo Słowakow w Polsce |ISBN=978-83-7490-370-7|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Štefan |first=Ivo |editor1-last= Macháček |editor1-first= Jiří |editor2-last=Ungerman |editor2-first=Šimon | title=Frühgeschichtliche Zentralorte in Mitteleuropa |publisher=Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt | location = Bonn |year=2011 |pages=333–354 |chapter=Great Moravia, Statehood and Archaeology: The "Decline and Fall" of One Early Medieval Polity |isbn=978-3-7749-3730-7 | url = https://www.academia.edu/1016725/Great_Moravia_Statehood_and_Archaeology._The_Decline_and_Fall_of_One_Early_Medieval_Polity | accessdate = 2013-08-27 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Štefanovičová |first=Tatiana |year=1989 |title=Osudy starých Slovanov ''[=Fate of the Ancient Slavs]'' |publisher= Osveta |isbn= |ref=harv}}
* {{cite web | last = Štefanovičová | first = Tatiana |title = K niektorým mýtom o počiatkch našich národných dejín | trans-title = To some myths about the beginnings of our national history  | publisher = Univerzita Komenského | location= Bratislava | year = 2000 | language = Slovak | url = https://uniba.sk/fileadmin/ruk/veda/profesorske_prednasky/prof_prednaska_Stefanovicova.pdf |ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Senga | first = Toru |  title = La situation géographique de la Grande-Moravie et les Hongrois conquérants | trans-title = The geographical location of Great Moravia and the Hungarian conquerors | journal = Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas | volume = 30 | issue = 4 | publisher =  Franz Steiner Verlag | location = | year = 1982 | language = French| url = | accessdate =  | issn = 0021-4019 | ref=harv}}
* {{cite journal | last = Senga | first = Toru |  title = Morávia bukása és a honfoglaló magyarok ''[=The fall of Moravia and the Hungarians occupying the Carpathian Basin]'' | journal = Századok | volume =  | issue = 2 | pages = 307–345 | publisher = Magyar Történelmi Társulat | location = | year = 1983 | language = | url = | accessdate = |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Szőke |first=Béla Miklós |editor1-last=Henning |editor1-first=Joachim |title=Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium: The heirs of the Roman West |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2007 |pages=411–428 |chapter=New findings of the excavations in Mosaburg/Zalavar (Western Hungary) |isbn=978-3-110-18356-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Třeštík |first=Dušan |year=2010 |title=Vznik Velké Moravy. Moravané, Čechové a štřední Evropa v letech 791–871 ''[The Formation of Great Moravia. Moravians, Czechs and Central Europe in the years 791-871]'' |publisher= Nakladatelství lidové noviny |ISBN=978-80-7422-049-4|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Urbańczyk |first=Przemysław |editor-last=Curta |editor-first=Florin | title=East Central & Eastern Europe in the Early Middle Ages |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |year=2005 |pages=139–151 |chapter=Early State Formation in East Central Europe |isbn=978-0-472-11498-6|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Vlasto |first=A. P. |year=1970 |title=The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-10758-7 |ref=harv}}
* Wieczorek, Alfried and Hans-Martin Hinz (Hrsg.) (2000). ''Europas Mitte um 1000'', Stuttgart. {{ISBN|3-8062-1545-6}} or {{ISBN|3-8062-1544-8}}
* {{cite journal | last = Wolfram | first = Herwig |  title = Historické pramene a poloha (Veľkej) Moravy | trans-title = Historical sources and the location of Great Moravia | journal = Historický časopis | volume = 43 | issue = 1 | publisher =  Historický ústav Slovenskej  akadémie vied | location = Bratislava| year = 1995 | language = Slovak | url = | accessdate =  | issn = 0018-2575 | ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Zábojník |first=Jozef |title=Slovensko a avarský kaganát |trans-title=Slovakia and the Avar Khaganate |publisher= Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Komenského |location=Bratislava |year=2009 |language=Slovak |ISBN=978-80-89236-62-6|ref=harv}}
* {{Cite book| last = Benda | first = Kálmán (editor) |  title = Magyarország történeti kronológiája ''("The Historical Chronology of Hungary")''| publisher = Akadémiai Kiadó | year = 1981 | location = Budapest |ref=harv| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-05-2661-1}}
* {{Cite book| last = Kniezsa | first = István |  title = Magyarország népei a XI. században | publisher = Lucidus Kiadó | year = 2000 | location =  |ref=harv|url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-85954-3-4}}
* {{Cite book| last = Kristó | first = Gyula (editor) |  title = Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9-14. század) ''(Encyclopedia of the Early Hungarian History - 9-14th centuries)''| publisher = Akadémiai Kiadó | year = 1994 | location = Budapest |ref=harv| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-05-6722-9}}
* {{Cite book| last = Kristó | first = Gyula |  title = A vármegyék kialakulása Magyarországon ''("The formation of counties in Hungary")''| publisher = Magvető Könyvkiadó | year = 1988 | location = Budapest |ref=harv| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-14-1189-3}}
* {{Cite book| last = Kristó | first = Gyula |  title = Magyar honfoglalás - honfoglaló magyarok ''("The Hungarians' Occupation of their Country - The Hungarians occupying their Country")''| publisher = Kossuth Könyvkiadó | year = 1996a | location = |ref=harv| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-09-3836-7}}
* {{Cite book| last = Tóth | first = Sándor László |  title = Levediától a Kárpát-medencéig ''("From Levedia to the Carpathian Basin")''| publisher = Szegedi Középkorász Műhely | year = 1998 | location = Szeged |ref=harv| url = | doi =  | isbn = 963-482-175-8}}
* {{cite journal | last = Turčan | first = Valdimír |  title = Prvá staroslovanská svätyňa na Slovensku | trans-title = The first Old Slavonic pagan shrine in Slovakia | journal = Historia - revue o dejnách spoločnosti | issue = 3 | publisher =  História |  location = Bratislava | year = 2003 | language = Slovak | url = http://www.historiarevue.sk/index.php?id=2003turcan5 | accessdate = 2015-10-21  | issn = 1335-8316 | ref=harv}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.cea.livinghistory.cz/ Great Moravian reenactment and experimental archeology, articles, timeline, primary sources, original findings] {{cs icon}}
*[http://www.moraviamagna.cz/index.htm Articles about Great Moravia and text of many primary sources] {{cs icon}}
*  ZÁBORSKÝ, J. [http://digitalna.kniznica.info/s/84wRKVxzDA ''Dejiny Veľkej Moravy a počiatky Uhorska'']. Turč. sv. Martin : Matica slovenská, 1929. 16 p. - available at [[Organization:University Library in Bratislava Digital Library|ULB´s Digital Library]]

[[Category:Early Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]

{{Sourceattribution|Great Moravia|1}}