Summary:  Great Moravian Empire

<>After unsuccessfully attempting to liberate Spain from the invading Arabs, Karol the Great (Charlemagne in French and English, and Karl der Gross in German), destroys the Avar Empire in 791/794 with the help of Moravian and Slovakian allies.  Mojmir I unites the Moravian tribes to oppose Frankish expansion in the Danubian basin/Central Europe.  Pribina, Prince of Nitrava, allows the Archbishop of Salzburg to consecrate a Frankish Christian chuch in Nitra in 828.    Mojmir I expels Pribina from Nitrava in 833/835 as retaliation for the construction of the church in Nitra.  Nitrava is annexed by (joined to) Moravia.

***Moravia blocks further Frankish penetration into Eastern Europe, and especially expansion into Poland from the south****

<>In 843, the Treaty of Verdun establishes Louis the German as King of East Francia.  In 846, Louis invades Moravia, deposing Mojmir I, and placing his nephew, Rastislav on the Moravian  throne.  There are also clashes between the Bavarians and Bohemian tribes between 845 - 849, with the Bohemians coming out as victors.

In 855, Louis again invades Bohemia and Moravia, assisted by troops from White Serbia.  Anti-Frankish chieftain, Slavitah of Bohemia takes refuge in the court of Rastislav.  (I mention this because, although my book does not mention it, this may have been part of the reason Bohemia federated with Great Moravia, as an invasion of Bohemia by Great Moravia is not mentioned.)   A peace treaty is signed in 859, and Louis and his allies retire.

<>In response to a Frankish alliance with the Bulgarians, who now border Moravia on the east at the Tisza River, in 862, Ratislav seeks an alliance with Byzantium.  In addition, to counter the influence of the Frankish monks, he asks for Christian missionaries.  The Byzantine Emperor Michael III accepts Rastislav's offer, and in 864, attacks and defeats the Bulgarians as they are moving against Moravia.  He also sends Constantine and Methodius from Thessalonica as missionaries to the Moravian court.  Constantine, now called Cyril, and Methodius establish a church in Moravia ( at Velehrad? or at Nitra?) with Roman ritual in the Slavonic language.

****Cyrus and Methodius compose the Glagolitsa, the basis of the Slavic alphabet used in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Russia****

<>After initial success in Moravia, and against the opposition of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Cyril and Methodius travel to Rome at the invitation of Pope Nicholas.  In 868/871, Methodius is consecrated Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, and returns.  In 869, Cyril dies in Rome.   In 870/874, Louis the German deposes Rastislav and replaces him with Svatopluk, the nephew of Rastislav and a friend of Carloman, Louis's own son.  Rastislav is tried for treason against East Francia, is blinded and imprisoned. 

Svatopluk also opposes the work of Methodius, and turns him over to the German ecclesiatical authorities, where he was imprisoned.  Methodius escapes to Rome, and is confirmed by Pope John VIII.  He returns to Moravia and dies in 885.  After his death, Pope Stephen V, in response to requests from the German clergy, bans the slavic liturgy.  Methodius' disciple leave Moravia, and take the Cyrillic alphabet to Bulgaria, where it is accepted and established.

Svatopluk expands the Great Moravian Empire by conquering Pannonia, Silesia, White Croatia, and White Serbia.  He dies in 894, and is succeded by his sons, Mojmir II, Rastislav II, and Preslav.  These fight among themselves, weakening the Great Moravian Empire.  In 895, Bohemia leaves Great Moravia and moves toward friendlier relationships with Bavaria.

During the 890's Arnulf of Bavaria, seeking to expand eastward at the expense of Great Moravia, invites the Magyars into Pannonia.  The Magyars have recently been defeating while attempting to cross the Danube into the southern Balkans by a Byzantine Army assisted by the Magyar's constant enemy, the Pechengs.  The Pechengs had earlier driven the Magyars out of southern Ukraine.  The Magyars, a nomadic people, begin raiding into Great Moravia.

After the Magyar's initial military success, Arnulf allies himself with Great Moravia to expel the Magyars from Pannonia, but with no success.  In 907, the allied armies are defeated at the Battle of Bratislava, and shortly thereafter, the Magyars seize Velehrad, and Great Moravia ceases to exist.  The area of the Empire reverts to local tribal control.