Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
territory by a Germanic tribe, the
Marcomanni
, who occupied Bohemia. The Marcomanni
were a semi-nomadic people and later proved awkward opponents for the Roman Empire,
which wisely chose to use the River Danube as its natural eastern border, thus leaving Bo-
hemia outside the empire - a fact that has influenced the region ever since.
The disintegration of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD corresponded with a series
of raids into central Europe by eastern tribes: first the
Huns
and later the
Avars
, around the
sixth century, settling a vast area including the Hungarian plains and parts of what is now
Slovakia. Around the same time, the Marcomanni disappeared from the picture to be re-
placedby
Slavtribes
whoenteredEuropefromsomewhereeastoftheCarpathianmountains
(today's Ukraine). To begin with, at least, they appear to have been subjugated by the Avars.
The first successful Slav rebellion against the Avars seems to have taken place in the seventh
century,undertheFrankishleadership of
Samo
,thoughthekingdomhecreated, whichprob-
ably included Bohemia, died with him around 658 AD.
The Great Moravian Empire
The next written record of the Slavs in the region isn't until the eighth century, when East
Frankish (Germanic) chroniclers report a people known as the
Moravians
as having estab-
lished themselves around the River Morava, a tributary of the Danube. It was an alliance
of Moravians and Franks (under Charlemagne) that finally expelled the Avars from central
Europe in 796 AD. This cleared the way for the establishment of the
Great Moravian Em-
pire
, which at its peak included Slovakia, Bohemia and parts of Hungary and Poland. Its
significance in political terms is that it was the first and last time (until the establishment of
Czechoslovakia, for which it served as a useful precedent) that the Czechs and Slovaks were
united under one ruler.
The first attested ruler of the empire,
Mojmír I
(c.830-833), found himself at the political
and religious crossroads of Europe under pressure from two sides: from the west, where
the Franks and Bavarians (both Germanic tribes) were jostling for position with the Roman
papacy;andfromtheeast,wherethepatriarchofByzantiumwaskeentoextendhisinfluence
acrosseasternEurope.Mojmír'ssuccessor,
Rastislav
(846-70),plumpedforByzantium,and
invited the missionaries
Cyril and Methodius
(Metoděj) to introduce Christianity, using the
Slav liturgy and Eastern rites. Rastislav, however, was ousted by his nephew,
Svatopluk
(871-94), who helped the Germans capture and blind his uncle. Svatopluk himself was then
imprisoned, and, on his release, swapped sides, defeating the Germans on several occasions
and declaring himself King of Great Moravia. With the death of Methodius in 885, the Great
Moravian Empire fell decisively under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.
Svatopluk died shortly before the
Magyar invasion
of 896, an event that heralded the end
oftheGreatMoravianEmpireandasignificant breakinCzecho-Slovak history.TheSlavsto
the west of the River Morava (the Czechs) swore allegiance to the Frankish emperor Arnulf,
