Svatopluk I

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Svatopluk I

Svatopluk I (around 830 - 894) from the House of Mojmír

House of Mojmír

The House of Mojm?r is the modern name of the ruling dynasty of Great Moravia, the Moravia and the Principality of Nitra in the 9th and early 10th century....
was the prince of the Principality of Nitra

Principality of Nitra

The Principality of Nitra or Nitrian Principality is the name for a Slavic peoples polity, centered around Nitra. It may have been a separate principality in the 8-12th centuries that existed as an independent state and became an autonomous territory within Great Moravia, Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary; or it may have been a nascent...
(850s - 871) and then the king of Great Moravia

Great Moravia

Great Moravia was a Slavic people state that existed in Central Europe from the 9th century to the early 10th century. There is some controversy as to the actual location of its core territory....
(871 - 894). Under his rule Great Moravia reached its maximum territorial expansion.

opluk was the nephew of Rastislav

Rastislav

Saint Rastic or Rastiz was the second ruler of Great Moravia between 846 and 870. He was canonized in October 1994 by the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church....
, King of Great Moravia and he was governing a separate territory in 869 when, in August, Carloman

Carloman of Bavaria

Carloman, was the eldest son of Louis the German, king of East Francia , and Hemma, daughter of the count Welf. He was duke of Bavaria from 876 and of Italy from 877 until he was incapacitated in 879 and died in 880....
, the eldest son of the Eastern Frankish king Louis the German

Louis the German

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Svatopluk I (around 830 - 894) from the House of Mojmír

House of Mojmír

Principality of Nitra

Great Moravia

Reign

Svatopluk was the nephew of Rastislav

Rastislav

Carloman of Bavaria

Louis the German

Louis the German , was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye....
invaded and devastated his territories. In the next year, Svatopluk allied himself to Carloman who invaded and occupied Rastislav's country and divided it among his followers. Moreover, Svatopluk helped Carlman to arrest his uncle with artifice and King Rastislav was blinded on the order of King Louis. In 871, Carloman accused Svatopolk of breaking his oath of loyalty and imprisoned him in Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
. At the head of the popular resistance against the subsequent Frankish occupation stood up the priest Slavomír

Slavomír

Priest Slavom?r was an interim ruler of the Great Moravia in 871.In 870, the East Francia king Louis the German supported a rebellion of Svatopluk I against his uncle and sovereign Rastislav ....
from the House of Mojmír

House of Mojmír

The House of Mojm?r is the modern name of the ruling dynasty of Great Moravia, the Moravia and the Principality of Nitra in the 9th and early 10th century....
. Svatopluk was quickly released and sent with Frankish reinforcement back to Great Moravia. But he secretly allied himself with Slavomír and after defeating the Frankish forces, he became the sovereign ruler of Great Moravia

Great Moravia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen States of Germany ....
n and Saxon

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic peoples. Their modern-day descendants in Saxony are considered ethnic Germans; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch people; those in north eastern Belgium are considered to be ethnic Flemish people; and those in southern England ethnic English people ....
troops against Great Moravia, but they were defeated. Shortly afterwards, Carloman invaded Great Moravia but Svatopluk could defeat Carloman's soldiers he had left beneath to guard his ships. In 874, Svatopluk concluded peace with Louis the German and his sons in Forchheim

Forchheim

Forchheim may refer to the following places in Germany:*Forchheim, capital of the Forchheim , Bavaria*Forchheim am Kaiserstuhl, a municipality in Baden-W?rttemberg...
and he promised to pay an annual tribute to the king. In 880, Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII

John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Pope Leo IX two centuries later....
took up his kingdom "under the protection of St. Peter", which meant a status of legal equality to the Eastern Frankish Empire. The Pope also set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head and created a bishopric in Nitra.

In 871, the fraternal joint margraves of the Marcha Orientalis, William and Engelschalk I

Engelschalk I

Engelschalk I was the margrave of the March of Pannonia in the mid ninth century until his death on campaign against the Moravians in 871. In his day, the march orientalis corresponded to a front along the Danube from the Traungau to the Szombathely and Raba rivers and including the Vienna basin....
, invaded Moravia and campaigned against Svatopluk. Later, in 882, Engelschalk II

Engelschalk II

Engelschalk II was the margrave of the March of Pannonia in the late ninth century in opposition to Aribo. In his day, the march orientalis corresponded to a front along the Danube from the Traungau to the Szombathely and Raba rivers and including the Vienna basin....
, the elder Engelschalk's son, rebelled against the new margrave Aribo of Austria

Aribo of Austria

Aribo or Arbo was the margrave of the March of Pannonia, from 871 until his death. In his day, the march orientalis corresponded to a front along the Danube from the Traungau to the Szombathely and Raba rivers and including the Vienna basin....
and ignited the so-called Wilhelminer War

Wilhelminer War

Wilhelminer War was a minor war fought in the March of Pannonia from 882 to 884. It was initially a rebellion of the sons of the margraves William and Engelschalk I, led by Engelschalk II, against the new margrave Aribo of Austria....
. Svatopluk entered the conflict on the side of Aribo. He invaded Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
, where Arnulf of Carinthia

Arnulf of Carinthia

Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of Germany from 887 and Holy Roman Emperor from 896 until his death. He was the illegitimate son of Carloman, King of Bavaria, and his concubine, Liutswind, of Carantanians origin, daughter of one Count Ernst....
was sheltering the Wilhelminers, and demanded that the sons of the late margraves be handed over for their offences against Moravia and against their liege the emperor, Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat

Charles the Fat was the Duke of Swabia from 876, King of Italy from 879, Carolingian Empire from 881, King of Germany from 882, and King of France from 884....
. He captured one son and mutilated him, but for two years the conflict saw no progress on either side. Finally, at Kaumberg

Kaumberg

Kaumberg is a town in the district of Lilienfeld in the Austrian state of Lower Austria....
, in 884, he took oaths of fidelity to the emperor, but did not accord peace to Arnulf until late 885.

Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I used the title of the king (rex). He subjected many neighbouring lands inhabited by Slavic tribes: Vistulans

Vistulans

Vistulans were a Lechitic languages tribe inhabiting, since at least the seventh century, lands known today as Lesser Poland.In the 9th century, Vistulans created a tribal state, with major centers in Krak?w, Wislica, Sandomierz, and Strad?w....
(southern part of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
) (874), Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas....
(880), Tisza

Tisza

The Tisza is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in Ukraine, with the White Tisza in the Chornohora and Black Tisza in the Gorgany range, flows partially along the Romanian border, enters Hungary at Tiszabecs, marks Slovakia-Hungarian border, passes through Hungary, and falls into the Danube in central Vojvodina in Serbia...
basin (881), Balaton principality

Balaton Principality

The Balaton Principality was a Slavic principality located in the western part of the Pannonian plain, between the rivers Danube to its east , Drava to the south , Graz to the west, and Koszeg or Klosterneuburg to the north ....
(883), Bohemia

Bohemia

History...
and Lusatian Serbia

Lusatia

Lusatia is a historical region between the B?br and Kwisa rivers and the Elbe in the eastern German states of Free State of Saxony and Brandenburg and south-western Poland ....
(890). Under his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. Svatopluk's empire withstood several attacks of Magyar

Hungarian people

Hungarians are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary . Hungarians were the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium....
s (after 889) and of Bulgarians

First Bulgarian Empire

The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in AD 632 in the lands near the Danube Delta and disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation to the Byzantine Empire....
. He fought against Arnulf of Carinthia

Arnulf of Carinthia

Arnulf of Carinthia was the Carolingian King of Germany from 887 and Holy Roman Emperor from 896 until his death. He was the illegitimate son of Carloman, King of Bavaria, and his concubine, Liutswind, of Carantanians origin, daughter of one Count Ernst....
, the East Frankish king, in the years 883-884, 888-889, 892, 893. Arnulf named his son Zwentibold

Zwentibold

Zwentibold was the illegimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia. In 895 his father granted him the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which he ruled until his death....
after him ("Zwentibold" being a Frankish transcription of "Svatopluk").

Svatopluk I undermined religious independence of Great Moravia because he did not even try to prevent papal legates from expelling disciples of Saint Methodius. In liturgy, Svatopluk personally preferred the use of Latin over Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic, also known as Old Bulgarian, or Old Macedonian, was the first literary Slavic language, based on the old Solun dialect of the Thessaloniki region by the 9th century Byzantine Greeks missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who used it for translation of the Bible and other Ancient Greek language ecclesiastica...
. King Svatopluk I died in 894. Up to his death, the Pope addressed him as "dilectus filius" in his correspondence, a title hitherto reserved to Frankish and Byzantine Emperors.

Legend of Svatopluk's twigs

The legend of Svatopluk's twigs appeared in a fairy tale by the enlightened Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos

Constantine VII

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" , was the son of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise and his fourth wife Zoe Karbonopsina....
around the 10th century.

It says that the powerful Great Moravian king Svatopluk asked his sons to come to him before his death. He gave a twig to each of them and asked them to break it. The young noblemen could easily do it. Then he asked them to tie together three twigs and asked the sons again to break them. This task appeared to be more difficult. Thus the king demonstrated how it is necessary to be united. That only the strength of a united kingdom guarantees the country its power and prosperity.

Great Moravia was divided among the three brothers in 894 in spite of their father's warning. The country, weakened by wars, was destroyed in 907 by a Hungarian attack.

In contrast to that story, Frankish chroniclers mention only two Svatopluk's sons by name: Mojmír II

Mojmír II

Mojm?r II was the last king of the Great Moravian Empire . Because of a civil war with his brother, he failed to prevent dismemberment of his Empire and probably died while fighting Hungarian people invaders....
and Svatopluk II

Svatopluk II

Svatopluk II ruled the Principality of Nitra from 894 to 906 and strove to control all of Great Moravia.Svatopluk II was a younger son of Svatopluk I....
. On the other hand, a list of pilgrims scribbled in the 9th century on the margins of a Gospel book in Cividale del Friuli

Cividale del Friuli

Cividale del Friuli is a town in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Northern Italy, 15 km by rail from Udine, whose province of Udine it belongs to....
suggests that Svatopluk I indeed had a third son, called Predslav.

Sources

MacLean, Simon. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire. Cambridge University Press: 2003.