Summary -- Interim between Moravia and Hungary

Slovakia in the 10th century

<>After the Battle of Bratislava in 907, the Great Moravian Empire disintegrated.  White Serbia, and White Croatia reconstituted themselves.  Bohemia, Moravia, and the former Nitrava reverted to local tribal rule, with constant raiding by the victorious, but nomadic Magyars.  The Bavarians, also defeated at the Battle of Bratislava, were unable to control Magyar raids into western Europe.  During the early 10th century, the Magyars raided as far west as the Pyrenees mountains in southern France.  They suffered major defeats at the hands of the Saxons, the first being by Henry I, Duke of Saxony, on the river Unstrut in 933.  The raids were finally stopped in 955, when Otto I, Henry's son, defeated the Magyars at Lechfield.

One of the major allies of Otto I, was Boleslas I of Bohemia, a member of the Przemyslide dynasty.  After the Battle of Lechfield, Boleslas attacks the Magyars seizing the cities of Bratislava and Nitra, along with most of western Slovakia.  Ibrahim ibn Jakub, a contemporary Arab trader, states:

"As regards the countrry of [Boleslas], it stretched from the town of Prague to the town of Cracow, the length of three weeks journey, and it is bounded along its full length by the land of the Turks [Ugrians]".  This boundary was described the same in the foundation charter for the Archbishopric of Prague.

<>Boleslas' victory was short-lived as Slovakia was retaked before of when Gejza became kende or chief prince of the Hungarian tribes in 970.  Gejza asked assistance from Mieszko I of Poland when Boleslas began to move again to expand his kingdom to and beyond the Morava river into Hungarian lands.  In 987, Boleslas I dies and is succeded by his son, Boleslas II.  In the same year, Mieszko I of Poland annexes Silesia and Cracow.  This provokes a war between Bohemia and Poland from 987 - 990.  In 990, Boleslas II allies himself with the Veletians against Poland, and is soundly defeated.  Under pressure from another Bohemian family, the Vrshovci, Boleslas II massacres the Slavnik clan, until then second most powerful clan in Bohemia.   Boleslas II dies in 999, and is succeded by his son, Boleslas III. <>

To secure his position as king, Boleslas III castrates his brother Jaromir and attempts to murder his other brother Odalrich.  Both flee to Bavaria for protection.  His inadequacy as king leads to a revolt in 1002 that deposes and banishes him from Bohemia.  He flees to the court of Margrave Henry of Nordgau, who turns him over to the Polish king, Boleslas the Great. 

Vladivoj, a relative of Boleslas, is recalled from the Polish court and crowned King of Bohemia.  Vladivoj dies a few months after his coronation, so Boleslas III returns to Prague as king.  On Shrove Tuesday in 1003, he massacres another prominent Czech clan, the Vrshovci, who had pressured his father, Boleslas II, into the massacre of the Slavniks.  The Czech nobility then invite Boleslas the Great of Poland the crown of Bohemia if he will rid them of Boleslas III.  The Polish King calls Boleslas III to his court, and there blinds and imprisons him.  He then quickly occupies Prague and is hailed as a liberator by the Czechs.

The merger of Bohemia, which now includes Moravia and western Slovakia, with Poland alarms the Duke of Bavaria, who has now been elected Emperor Henry II.  He makes an alliance with Stephen of Hungary, and they attack Poland.  Although they are successful in placing Jaromir on the Bohemian throne, Henry is soundly defeated when he attempts to invade Poland itself.  In the Treaty of Posen, in 1005, Boleslas the Great renounces his claim to the crown of Bohemia, but retains Moravia and Slovakia as Polish territories.  At this same time, however, Boleslas the Great may have been able to extend Poland's boundaries all the way to the Danube.  In the Hungro-Polish Chronicle, written in the 12th century, the boundary between Poland and Hungary during the time of Stephen is described as:

"The lands of the Poles ended on the banks of the Danube near the town of Esterszgom, whence the frontier ran to the town of Magri and the river called Tisza, and from there followed the course of the river called Topla as far as the town of Salis, to the end there between the Hungarians, the Ruthenians, and the Poles."

<>In 1015, Henry II again attacks Poland, in alliance with the Czech Duke Oldarich and King Stephen of Hungary.  As in 1003, the Germans are again routed by the Poles.  The Czechs, however, are successful in taking Businc (Beznec?) in southern Moravia.  In 1017, Boleslas attacks Bohemia and Bavaria, but is also unsuccessful.  The Peace of Budyshin (Bautzen) ends the war on February 3, 1018.  At the Peace of Budyshin, or shortly thereafter, Stephen does take control of southern Slovakia, including Bratislava.  The Hungarians persist for the next fifty years, and finally, in 1077, under Gezja I, the Poles are driven completely from Slovakia.  Moravia, in the meantime, has re-merged into the Duchy of Bohemia.