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Great Moravia (Czech: Velká Morava, Slovak: Veľká Morava), also Moravia^[1][2][3] or Great Moravian Empire,^[4] was the first West Slavic state which emerged from "the most powerful tribal area in Central Europe".^[5][vague] Its core territories were located on the northern Morava River along the present-day border of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Theories of a Great Moravia situated in the region of the southern Great Morava River have not widely been accepted. The exact date of the founding of the Moravian state is controversial, but it is supposed that the state building process was completed in the early 830s under Mojmir I (r. 820s/830s–846), who is the first known Moravian ruler.

Mojmir and his successor, Rastislav (r. 846–870) initially acknowledged the Carolingian monarchs' suzerainty, but their attempts to achieve independence caused a series of armed conflicts with East Francia from the 840s. Moravia reached its largest territorial extent under Svatopluk I (r. 871–894), who was occasionally styled as king in contemporaneous sources. Although his empire's borders cannot exactly be determined, he controlled, in addition to the core territories of Moravia, parts of present-day Austria, Hungary, and Poland for a longer or shorter period during his reign. Separatism and internal conflicts emerging after Svatopluk's death contributed to the fall of Moravia which was overrun by the Hungarians. The exact date of Moravia's collapse is unknown, but it occurred in the period between 902 and 907.

Moravia experienced significant cultural development after the 863 arrival of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, initiated by Prince Rastislav, which introduced a system of writing (Glagolitic alphabet) and Slavonic liturgy, the latter eventually formally approved by Pope Adrian II.^[6] The Glagolitic script and its successor Cyrillic were disseminated to other Slavic countries (particularly Balkan and Kievan Rus'), charting a new path in their cultural development.

The designation "Great Moravia" – megale Moravia (Μεγάλη Μοραβία) in Greek – ^[7] stems from the work De Administrando Imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos around 950.^[8][9] The emperor only use the adjective megale in connection with the polity when referring to events which occurred after its fall, which implies that it should rather be translated as "old" instead of "great".^[10] According to a third theory, the megale adjective refers to a territory located beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire.^[4][11] Finally, the historian Lubomír E. Havlík writes that Byzantine scholars used this adjective when referring to homelands of nomadic peoples, as it is demonstrated by the term "Great Bulgaria".^[12]

Porphyrogenitos's work is the only nearly contemporaneous source which uses the "great" adjective in connection with Moravia.^[12] Other documents from the 9th and 10th centuries never used it in this context.^[13] For instance, the Annals of Fulda write of the Slavi Margenses or the Maravani, and the so-called Heimo-Urkunde – a charter issued for one Heimo in 888 by King Arnulf of East Francia (r. 887–899) – of the regnum Marauorum.^[14]

[There] is 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 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 [Svatopluk] used to rule. Such are the landmarks and names along the Danube river [...].

— Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio^[15]

The borders of Moravia cannot exactly be determined because of the lack of accurate contemporaneous sources.^[16][17] For instance, the monks writing the Annals of Fulda in the 9th century obviously had limited knowledge of the geography of distant regions of Central Europe.^[18] Furthermore, Moravian monarchs adopted an expansionist policy in the 830s thus the borders of their realm often changed.^[19] Moravia reached the peak of its territorial expansion under Svatopluk I (r. 871–894).^[20] Lesser Poland, Pannonia and other regions were forced to accept, at least formally and often only for a short period, his suzerainty,^[21][17] but neither archaeological finds nor written sources substantiate the traditional view of the permanent annexation of huge territories in his reign.^[20]

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.^[22][23] Large early medieval fortresses and the significant cluster of settlements growing around them suggest that an important center of power emerged in this region in the 9th century.^[24][8]

Imre Boba was the first historian to challenge this traditional view.^[25][26] In his Moravia's History Reconsidered: A Reinterpretation of Medieval Sources of 1971, he writes that the analisys of contemporaneous documents shows that the core territory of Moravia was located in the region of ancient Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia).^[27][28][29] Boba's views, which were rejected by most specialists, were further developed in the 1990s by Charles Bowlus.^[28] He writes that Moravia emerged in the region of the "confluences of the Drava, Sava, Drina, Tisza, and southern Morava rivers with the Danube".^[30] In contrast with both the traditional view and Boba's theory, Martin Eggers writes that Moravia was initially centered in modern Banat at the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Mureș.^[31][28]

The Slovakian historian, Péter Püspöki-Nagy was the first to propose, in his study published in 1978,^[32] 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. The Japanese Senga Toru, in a study of 1983, likewise concludes that two polities named Moravia co-existed in the 9th century which were united under Svatopluk I.^[33] On the other hand, archaeological research has not substantiated the existence of 9th-century power centers in these southern regions where only unfortified villages from the 9th century have been unearthed.^[34]

The earliest possible reference to Slavic tribes living in the valley of the northern Morava river was made by the Byzantine historian, Procopius.^[35] He wrote of a group of the Germanic Heruli who "passed through the territory of all of the Sclavenes" while moving towards Denmark in 512.^[36] Archaeological sites yielding hand-made ceramics^[37] and objects with close analogies in southern Poland and western Ukraine appeared at the confluence of the northern Morava River and the Middle Danube around 550.^[38]

Large territories in the Carpathian Basin were conquered after 568 by the nomadic Avars who had arrived from the Eurasian Steppes.^[35][39] The Slavs were forced to pay tribute to the Avars and to participate in their plundering raids against the Byzantine Empire, the Franks and the Lombards.^[35] Archaeological sites in the lowlands along the Middle Danube show that a new cultural synthesis which mixed the elements of Avar and Slavic tradition emerged in the first decades of the 7th century.^[40]

The Chronicle of Fredegar narrates that a Frankish merchant named Samo stirred up a group of Slavs or Wends to revolt against the Avars in 623 or 624.^[35][41][42] Samo established an independent polity and ruled it for 35 years.^[43] Whether his realm included territories along the northern Morava river is subject to scholarly debate.^[44] For instance, the Slovak historian Stanislav J. Kirschbaum writes that "the western part of the territory of Slovakia" was the core territory of Samo's realm,^[43] but his colleague, Richard Marsina writes that this view "is not very probable",^[45] and Barford sharply rejects this theory.^[46]

A new type of ceramics – the so-called "Devínská-Nová Ves" pottery – emerged at the end of the 7th century in the region between the Middle Danube and the Carpathians.^[47] These vessels were similar to the hand-made pottery of the previous period, but wheel-made items were also found in "Devínská-Nová Ves" sites.^[47] Large inhumation cemeteries found at Holiare, Nové Zámky and other places in Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia from the period beginning around 690 show that the settlement network of the Carpathian Basin became more stable in the "Late Avar" period.^[41][48] The most popular "Late Avar" motifs – griffins and tendrils decorating belts, mounts and a number of other artifacts connected to warriors – may either represent nostalgia for the lost nomadic past or evidence a new wave of nomads arriving from the Pontic steppes at the end of the 7th century.^[41][49] According to historians who accept the latter theory, the immigrants may have been either Onogurs^[50] or Alans.^[51] Anthropological studies of the skeletons point at the presence of a population with mongoloid features.^[41]

Charlemagne launched a series of military expedition against the Avars in the last decade of the 8th century which caused the collapse of the Avar Khaganate.^[35][52][53] The Royal Frankish Annals narrates that Avars who "could not stay in their previous dwelling places on account of the attacks of the Slavs"^[54] approached Charlemagne in Aachen in 805 for allowing them to settle in the lowlands along the river Rába.^[53][55] According to Eggers, who locates the core territory of Moravia to the region of the confluence of the rivers Mureș and Tisza, the northward movement of the Slavs from the valley of the southern Morava to the Great Hungarian Plain forced the Avars to depart from their homeland.^[56] On the other hand, no archaeological evidence of a migration to those regions have been produced.^[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.^[24] A new archaeological horizon – the so-called "Blatnica-Mikulčice horizon" – emerged in the valley of the northern Morava river and its wider region in the same period.^[58] This horizon of metalwork represent a synthesis of "Late Avar" and Carolingian art.^[8] One of its featuring items is a sword found in a grave in Blatnica in Slovakia,^[24] which is dated to the period between 825 and 850.^[59] According to the archaeologist Florin Curta, the sword was produced by a Frankish artisan from the Carolingian Empire.^[24] 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".^[60]

Variation in pottery implies the existence of at least three tribes inhabiting the wider region of the northern Morava river in the early 800s.^[61] Settlement complexes from the period were unearthed, for instance, near modern Bratislava, Brno, and Olomouc.^[61] Fortresses erected at Bratislava, Rajhrad, Staré Město and other places around 800^[24] evidence the development of local centers of power in the same regions.^[8]

Moravia, the first Western Slavic polity arose through the unification of the Slavic tribes settled north of the Danube.^[62] However, its formation is scarcely described by contemporaneous sources.^[63] The archaeologist Barford writes that the first report of the emerging Moravian state was recorded in 811.^[8] 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"^[64] visited the court of Emperor Louis the Pious (r. 814–840) in Aachen.^[65] 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, Bohemians, Moravians, and Praedenecenti, and from the Avars living in Pannonia"^[66] at an assembly held at Frankfurt.^{[21][67][68][69]}

The late 9th-century^[70] Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians makes the first reference to a Moravian ruler.^[21] It narrates that "Moimir, duke of the Moravians" expelled "one Pribina" across the Danube.^[71][72] Pribina fled to Ratpot who administered the March of Pannonia from around 833.^[73] Whether Pribina had up to that time been an independent ruler or one of Moimir's officials cannot be decided based on the source.^[74]

According to a sentence added to the original text of the same document at a later date, Archbishop Adalram of Salzburg (r. 821–836) consencrated a church on Pribina's estate "at a place over the Danube called Nitrava".^[75] Most historians^[75] identify "Nitrava" with Nitra in present-day Slovakia. For instance, Kirschbaum writes that Pribina was "the ruler of the Principality of Nitra",^[76] while according to Havlík^[77] and Vlasto,^[74] Pribina was a member of Moimir's dynasty appointed to administer the "Duchy of Nitra". Historians who identify Pribina as an independent ruler, including Kirschbaum^[76] and Bartl,^[4] add that "Great Moravia" emerged through the enforced integration of his principality into Moravia under Moimir.

The Catalogue of Fortresses and Regions to the North of the Danube – a document written between 817^[77] and 862 which lists the peoples along the borders of East Francia in a north-to-south order – mentions that the Moravians or Marharii^[8][78] had 11 fortresses or civitates.^[79] The document lists the Marharii between the Bohemians and Bulgarians.^[78] According to Püspöki-Nagy and Senga, the same document's reference to the Merehanii – who obviously inhabited the southern regions of the Great Hungarian Plains – and their 30 fortresses shows the existence of an other Moravia in Central Europe.^[78][80][81]

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^[82]

According to a 13th-century source, the History of the Bishops of Passau and the Dukes of Bavaria,^[83] Bishop Reginhar of Passau (r. 818–838) baptized "all of the Moravians"^[84] in 831.^[85][74] There is no other information on the circumstances of this mass conversion.^[85] Vlasto^[74] writes that Moimir had by that time been converted to Christianity; according to Petr Sommer and other historians, he was also baptized on this occasion.^[85] 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 "in various ways".^[86][87] The Life of Constantine adds that missionaries from East Francia did not forbide "the offering of sacrifices according to the ancient customs",^[88] which shows that pagan rites were continued for decades even after 831.^[85]

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".^[89][90] The exact circumstances of his expedition are unclear. For instance, Vlasto writes that the Frankish monarch took advantage of the internal strifes which followed Moimir's death,^[91] while according to Kirschbaum, Moimir was captured and dethroned during the campaign.^[92] However, it is without doubt that Louis the German appointed Moimir's nephew, Rastislav as the new duke of Moravia during this campaign.^[90]

Rastislav (r. 846–870) who initially accepted the suzerainty of Louis the German consolidated his position within Moravia^[59] and expanded the frontiers of his realm.^[8] For instance, according to Kirschbaum, he annexed the region of the Slanské Hills in the eastern parts of present-day Slovakia.^[93] Barford even writes that the development of the state mentioned as "Great Moravia" by Constantine Porphyrogennetos commenced in Rastislav's reign.^[8]

He turned against East Francia and supported the rebellion of Ratpot, the deposed perfect of the March of Pannonia, against Louis the German in 853.^[94][93] In revenge, the Frankish monarch invaded Moravia in 855.^[95] According to the Annals of Fulda, the Moravians were "defended by strong fortifications",^[96] and the Franks withdrew without defeating them,^[97][98] though the combats lasted until a peace treaty was worked out in 859.^[99] The truce is regarded as a stalemate and shows the growing strength of Rastislav's realm.^[100] Conflicts between Moravia and East Francia continued for years.^[101] For instance, Rastislav supported Louis the German's son, Carloman in his rebellion against his father in 861.^[102] The first record of a raid by the Magyars in Central Europe seems to have connected to these events.^[103] According to the Annals of St. Bertin, "enemies called Hungarians"^[104] ravaged Louis the German's kingdom in 862, which suggests that they supported Carloman.^[103]

Rastislav wanted to weaken influence of Frankish priests in his realm, who served the interests of East Francia.^[105] He first sent envoys to Pope Nicholas I in 861 and asked him to send missionaries to Moravia who mastered the Slavic language.^[101] Having received no anwer from Rome, Rastislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III with the same request.^[101] By establishing relations with Constantinople, he also desired to counter an anti-Moravian alliance recently concluded between the Franks and Bulgarians.^[105] Upon his request, the emperor sent two brothers Constantine and Methodius – the future Saints Cyril and Methodius – who spoke the Slavic dialect of the region of Thessaloniki to Moravia in 863.^[93] Constantine's Life narrates that he developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into Old Church Slavonic around that time.^[106][107]

Louis the German crossed the Danube and again invaded Moravia in August 864.^[101][108] He besieged Rastislav "in a certain city, which in the language of that people is called Dowina",^[109] according to the Annals of Fulda.^[108] Although the Franks could not take the fortress, Rastislav agreed to accept Louis the German's suzerainty.^[110] However, he continued to support the Frankish monarch's opponents.^[111] For instance, Louis the German deprived one Count Werner "of his public offices",^[112] because the count was suspected to have conspired with Rastislav against the king.^[111]

The Byzantine brothers, Constantine and Methodius visited Rome in 867.^[101] 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.^[101][113] The pope informed three prominent Slavic rulers – Rastislav, his nephew, Svatopluk, and Koceľ who administered Lower Pannonia – of his approval of the use of the vernacular in the liturgy in a letter of 869.^[114] Upon Kocel's initiation, Pope Hadrian also consencrated Methodius as archbishop to "the seat of Saint Andronicus",^[115] that is to the see of Sirmium.^[116]

Svatopluk had by that time been administering a separate principality under Rastislav's suzerainty, but contemporaneous documents does not reveal its location.^[117] Frankish troops invaded both Rastislav's and Svatopluk's realms in August 869.^[101][118] According to the Annals of Fulda, the Franks destroyed many forts, defeated Moravian troops and seized loot.^[118] However, they could not take Rastislav's main fortress and withdrew.^[101][118]

[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^[119]

Svatopluk allied himself with the Franks and assisted them to seize Rastislav in 870.^[120] Carloman annexed Rastislav's realm and appointed two Frankish lords, William and Engelschalk to administer it.^[121] Frankish soldiers arrested Archbishop Methodius on his way from Rome to Moravia at the end of the year.^[121][120] Svatopluk 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.^[121][122] The Moravians rose up in open rebellion against the two Frankish governors and elected a kinsman of Svatopluk, Slavomír duke.^{[110][121][122]} Svatopluk returned to Moravia, took over the command of the insurgents and drove the Franks from Moravia.^[110] According to the Czech historian Dušan Třeštík, the rebellion of 871 led to the formation of the first Slavic state.^[123]

Louis the German sent his armies against Moravia in 872.^[124] The imperial troops plundered the countryside, but could not take the "extremely well-fortified stonghold" where Svatopluk took refuge.^[124] The Moravian ruler even succeeded in mustering an army which defeated a number of imperial troops, forcing the Franks to withdraw from Moravia.^[121][124] Svatopluk soon initiated negotiations with Louis the German, which ended with a peace treaty concluded at Forchheim in May 874.^[121] According to the Annals of Fulda, at Forchheim Svatopluk's envoy promised that Svatopluk "would remain faithful" to Louis the German "all the days of his life",^[125] and the Moravian ruler was also obliged to pay a yearly tribute to East Francia.^[121][126]

In the meantime, Archbishop Methodius who had been released upon the demand of Pope John VIII (r. 872–882) in 873 returned to Moravia.^[122] 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"^[127] in Moravia upon his arrival.^[128] In Moravia, Methodius continued the work of translation started in his brother's life.^[26][129] For instance, he translated "all the Scriptures in full, save Maccabees",^[130] according to his Life.^[26][129] However, Frankish priests in Moravia opposed the Slavic liturgy and even accused Methodius of heresy.^[131] Although the Holy See never denied Methodius's 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.^[121][132]

A letter written around 900 by Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg (r. 873–907) and his suffragan bishops mentions that the pope sent Wiching to "a newly baptized people" whom Svatopluk "had defeated in war and converted from paganism to Christianity".^[133] Other sources also prove that Svatopluk significantly expanded the borders of his realm.^[134] For instance, according to the Life of Methodius, Moravia "began to expand much more into all lands and to defeat its enemies successfully"^[127] in the period beginning around 874.^[122] The same source writes of a "very powerful pagan prince settled on the Vistula"^[135] in present-day Poland who persecuted the Christians in his country, but was attacked and seized by Svatopluk.^[136]

Upon Methodius's request, in June 880 Pope John issued the bull Industriae tuae for Svatopluk^[121] whom he addressed as "glorious count" (gloriosus comes).^[137] 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.^[122][9] The pope explicitly granted the protection of the Holy See to the Moravian monarch, his officials and subjects.^[122] 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 Svatopluk's realm.^[110][122]

The longer version of Annals of Salzburg makes mention of a raid by the Magyars and the Kabars in East Francia in 881.^[138] According to Gyula Kristó^[139] and other historians,^[140] Svatopluk initiated this raid, because his relations with Arnulf – the son of Carloman, King of East Francia (r. 876–881) – who administered the March of Pannonia became tense.^[110] 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.^[141]

During the "Wilhelminer War" – a civil war between two fractions of local noblemen in the March of Pannonia which lasted from 882 and 884 – Svatopluk "collected troops from all the Slav lands"^[142] and invaded Pannonia.^[9][143] According to the Bavarian version of the Annals of Fulda, the Moravians' invasion "led to Pannonia's being laid waste"^[144] to the east of the river Rába.^[9][145] Svatopluk had a meeting with Emperor Charles the Fat (r. 881–888) at Tulln an der Donau in Bavaria in 884.^[146] At the meeting, "dux" Svatopluk became the emperor's vassal and "swore fidelity to him",^[144] promising that he would never attack the emperor's realm.^[146]

Archbishop Methodius died on April 6, 885.^[134] 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.^{[146][147][148]} Bishop Wiching even convinced Svatopluk to expel Methodius's all disciples from Moravia in 886.^[146][87]

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.^[149][148] Likewise, Frankish annals occasionally referred to Svatopluk as king in connection with events occurring in this period.^[148] The Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea – a late 12th-century source with questionable reliability – ^[150]narrates that one "Sventopelk" was crowned king "on the field of Dalma" in the presence of a papal legate.^[149]

Moravia reached the maximum of its territorial extent in the last years of Svatopluk's reign.^[146] 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"^[151] in 890.^[152] Bartl and other Slovak historians write that Svatopluk "probably" also annexed Silesia and Lusitania in the early 890s.^[146] 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".^[153][154] In response, Arnulf invaded Moravia in 892, but could not defeat Svatopluk, although Magyar horsemen also supported the Eastern Frankish monarch.^[154][110]

Svatopluk – "a man most prudent among his people and very cunning by nature",^[155] according to Regino of Prüm – died in the summer of 894.^[146] He was succeeded by his son, Mojmir II,^[156][157] but his empire in short time disintegrated, because the tribes subjugated to Svatopluk's rule by force started to get rid of Moravian supremacy.^[107] For instance, the Bohemian dukes accepted King Arnulf's suzerainty in June 895, and Mojmir attempted to restore his supremacy over them without success in the next two years.^{[146][158][159]} On the other hand, he succeeded in restoring the Church organization in Moravia by persuading Pope John IX (r. 898–900) to sent his legates to Moravia in 898.^[160] The legates in short time installed an archbishop and "three bishops as his suffragans"^[161] in Moravia.^[162]

Conflicts emerging between Mojmir and his younger brother, Svatopluk II gave a pretext to King Arnulf to sent his troops to Moravia in 898 and 899.^{[159][156][160]} The Annals of Fulda writes that the "boy" Svatopluk II was rescued by Bavarian forces "from the dungeon of the city in which he was held with his men" ^[163] in 899.^[164] 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.^[160]

According to most nearly contemporaneous sources, the Magyars played a preeminent role in the fall of Moravia.^[165] For instance, Regino of Prüm writes that Svatopluk I's "sons held his kingdom for a short and unhappy time, because the Hungarians utterly destroyed everything in it".^[155][165] The Magyars 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.^[166] Only a late source, the 16th-century Johannes Aventinus writes that the Magyars had by that time controlled wide regions to east of the rivers Hron and Danube in the Carpathian Basin.^[167]

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",^[168] with the Magyars.^[169] According to Liudprand of Cremona, the Magyars already "claimed for themselves the nation of the Moravians, which King Arnulf had subdued with the aid of their might"^[170] at the coronation of Arnulf's son, Louis the Child in 900.^[171] The Annals of Grado adds that a large Hungarian army "attacked and invaded" the Moravians in 900.^[172] Facing the threat of further Magyar attacks, Mojmir II concluded a peace treaty with Louis the Child in 901.^[159][173]

In lack of documentary evidence, the year in which Moravia ceased to exist cannot be determined with certainty.^[174] For instance, Róna-Tas^[175] writes that the Magyars occupied Moravia in 902, Spinei^[174] says that this happened in 903 or 904, while according to Kirschbaum^[159] and Spiesz, the Moravian state ceased to exist in 907.^[156] The Raffelstetten Customs Regulations, which was issued around 903,^[176] still refers to the "markets of the Moravians", suggesting that Moravia still existed at that time.^[165] It is without doubt that no Moravian forces fought in the battle at Brezalauspurc where the Magyars routed a large Bavarian force in 907.^[165]

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^[177]

Written sources from the 9th century contain almost no information on the internal affairs of Moravia.^[9] Only two legal texts – the Nomocanon and the Court Law for the People – have been preserved.^[9][26] 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.^[26][129] Both were compelled by Methodius shortly before his death in 885.^[26]

Moravia was ruled by monarchs from a "wider kinship"^[178] known as the House of Mojmír.^[179] The throne rarely passed from father to son.^[17] Actually, Svatopluk I was the only ruler who was succeeded by his son.^[17] Rastislav ascended the throne through the East Frankish monarch's intervention,^[17] and Slavomír was elected as duke when the Franks captured Svatopluk in 871.^[178] The latter case reveals the strong claim of the Mojmír dynasty to the throne, because Slavomír was an ordained priest at the time of his election.^[178] The Moravian monarchs were regularly styled as ducis ("dukes"), occasionally as regis ("kings") in 9th-century documents. ^[178] Tombs within a church have only been unearthed at Mikulčice, implying that royals had exclusive right to be buried in such a prestigious place.^[180]

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").^[181] 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".^[181] 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 century.^[179] Svatopluk incorporated a number of Slavic tribes (including the Bohemians and Vistulans) into his empire.^[122][110] The subjugated tribes were administered by vassal princes or governors,^[122] but they preserved their autonomy, which contributed to the quick disintegration of Svatopluk's Moravia after his death.^[110]

According to Bartl,^[4] Kirschbaum,^[110] Štefan,^[178] and other historians,^[59][182] Great Moravia had two centers. One of them was located in the esternmost regions of the future Czech Lands, the other in the westernmost regions of present-day Slovakia around Nitra.^[178] Bartl,^[183] Marsina^[182] and Štefan^[178] add that Nitra was administered by younger members of the Mojmír dynasty. Their view has not been universally accepted. For instance, Bartl^[101] and Kirschbaum^[120] write of Svatopluk as prince of Nitra in the reign of Rastislav, but for the same period Svatopluk is mentioned as ruler of Staré Město by Goldberg,^[117] of the lands east of the river Tisza by Püspöki-Nagy,^[184] or of regions between the Danube and the Tisza by Senga Toru.^[185]

The existence of a local aristocracy is well documented: contemporaneous sources refer to "leading men"^[186] (optimates or primates),^[187] and nobiles viri or principes.^[178] However, these documents do not reveal what was the basis of the Moravian chiefs' power.^[178] Richly furnished graves – with the exception of the one at Blatnica, which is "an old and disputable find",^[180] according to Štefan – have only been unearthed in Mikulčice and other large fortifications controlled by the monarchs.^[188] 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".^[180]

The process of feudalization in Great Moravia was obviously not a general phenomenon but it cannot be denied especially during its highest flourishment during the reign of King Svatopluk.^{[verification needed][189]}

Most of the population was formed by freemen, who were obliged to pay an annual tax.^[190] Slavery and feudal dependency are also recorded.^[190][191] Although no relevant historical source has been retained which would prove the existence of the so-called hereditary aristocracy from the period of Great Moravia, written sources suggest the existence of duke's retinues and aristocracy, the members of which were the most important dignitaries and administrators (representatives) of the castle organization.^{[verification needed][189]}

As in all medieval states, life in Great Moravia was difficult compared to the modern standards: 40 percent of men and 60 percent of women died before reaching the age of 40.^[192] However, Great Moravian cemeteries also document rich nutrition and advanced health care. Inhabitants of Great Moravia even had better teeth than people today: a third of the examined skeletons had no caries or lost teeth.^[192]

Muslim geographers, when describing the inhabitants of Great Moravia, mentioned that

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 (...).
They state that their number is greater than that of the Rum and that they are a separate nation. The greater part of their trade is with Arabia.

— Ahmad ibn Rustah^[193]

Very little is known about the Great Moravian way of warfare. The druzhina was a princely retinue composed of professional warriors, who were responsible for collecting tribute and punishing wrongdoers.^[192] In general, Slavs used cavalry rarely. Despite a relative scarcity of horses among the Slavs, a contemporary Arab traveler reported that Svatopluk I had plenty of riding horses.^[194] The Great Moravian heavy cavalry emulated the contemporary Frankish predecessors of knights, with the expensive equipment that only the highest social strata could afford.^[194] Facing larger and better equipped Frankish armies, Slavs often preferred ambushes, skirmishes, and raids to regular battles.^[195] An important element of Great Moravian defense was to hide behind strong fortifications, which were difficult to besiege with the then prevailing forms of military organization. For example, a Frankish chronicler wrote with awe about "Rastislav's indescribable fortress" that stopped a Frankish invasion.^[196] The army was led by the king or, in case of his absence, by a commander-in-chief called voivode.^[190]

Great Moravia had an exceptionally developed system of fortresses and fortified towns.^{[196][page needed]} 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).^{[197][198][199][200]} Some sources claim that Uzhhorod in Ukraine (903) was also a fortress of the country. Many other castles were identified by excavations.

Although location of the Great Moravian capital has not been safely identified, the fortified town of Mikulčice with its palace and 12 churches is the most widely accepted candidate.^[201][202] However, it is fair to note that early medieval kings spent a significant part of their lives campaigning and traveling around their realms due to the lack of reliable administrative capacities.^[vague] It is thus very likely that they also resided from time to time in other important royal estates.^[203][vague] Devín Castle is sometimes identified with a "fortress of Prince Rastislav" mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses.^[204][205]

Mikulčice was fortified in the 7th century and it later developed into a large (2 km²) agglomeration composed of various villages and forts, spread over several river islands.^[196][201] The area enclosed by the fortifications was only slightly smaller than the area of the contemporary Frankish Emperor's capital of Regensburg.^[196] The population, estimated at 2,000, lived off trade and crafts.^[203] Mikulčice was also a foremost religious center, with the first stone churches built around 800.^[202] The largest among them was a three-nave basilica with the inside dimensions 35 m by 9 m and a separate baptistery.^[201][205] The only church safely identified as Great Moravian and at the same time still remaining above ground is situated in nearby Kopčany.^[206]

Nitra, the second center of the Empire, was ruled autonomously by the heir of the dynasty as an appanage.^[207][204] Nitra consisted of five large fortified settlements and twenty specialized craftsmen's villages, making it a real metropolis of its times. Crafts included production of luxury goods, such as jewelry and glass. The agglomeration was surrounded by a number of smaller forts and religious buildings (e.g. in Dražovce and Zobor).

Bratislava Castle had a stone two-story palace and a spacious three-nave basilica, built in the mid-9th century.^{[208][page needed]} Excavations of the cemetery situated by the basilica brought findings of the Great Moravian jewelry, similar in style and quality to that from Mikulčice.^{[208][page needed]} The castle's name was first recorded in 907, during the fall of Great Moravia, as Brezalauspurc.^[209] This name literally means "Braslav's Castle" and Braslav of Pannonia was a count appointed by King Arnulf of East Francia.^[209]

The sturdy Devín Castle, in vicinity of Bratislava, guarded Great Moravia against frequent attacks from the West.^{[208][page needed]} Although some authors claim that it was built only later as a stronghold of the Kings of Hungary,^[210][211] excavations have unearthed an older Slavic fortified settlement founded in the 8th century.^{[208][page needed]} During the Great Moravian period, Devín Castle was a seat of a local lord, whose retainers were buried around a stone Christian church.^{[208][page needed]} These two castles were reinforced by smaller fortifications in Devínska Nová Ves, Svätý Jur, and elsewhere.

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.^[192] The fortifications usually formed several contiguous enclosures, with the elite buildings concentrated in the center and crafts in the outer enclosures.^[192] Most buildings were made of timber, but ecclesiastical and residential parts were made of stone. Sometimes, earlier, prehistoric (Devín Castle) or Roman (Bratislava Castle) fortifications were integrated. At least some churches (e.g. in Bratislava, Devín Castle, and Nitra) were decorated by frescoes, plausibly painted by Italian masters since the chemical composition of colors was the same as in northern Italy.^{[208][page needed]} In Nitra and Mikulčice, several castles and settlements formed a huge fortified urban agglomeration. Many castles served as regional administrative centers, ruled by a local nobleman.^{[208][page needed]} For example, Ducové was the center of the Váh river valley and Zemplín Castle controlled the Zemplín region. Their form was probably inspired by Carolingian estates called curtis.^{[208][page needed]} The largest castles were usually protected by a chain of smaller forts. Smaller forts (e.g. Beckov Castle) were also built to protect trade routes and to provide shelter for peasants in case of a military attack.

The archaeological evidence for the destruction and abandonment (lasting for a century or so in many cases) of the Moravian strongholds at this time is eloquent.^[192] Only a few examples of Great Moravian architecture are fully preserved or reconstructed. The only building still standing is the church in Kopčany, though several other early medieval churches (for example in Kostoľany pod Tribečom, Michalovce, and Nitra) may be Great Moravian too.^{[208][page needed]} Two open air museums, in Modrá near Uherské Hradiště and in Ducové, are devoted to Great Moravian architecture.

Due to the lack of written documents, very little is known about the original Slavic religion and mythology. 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.^[212] A cult object in Mikulčice was 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.^[212] The period of the Great Moravian ascent in European history is associated more with the spread of Christianity.

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.^[205][213] The first Christian church of the Western and Eastern Slavs known to the written sources was built in 828 by Pribina in Nitra. The church, consecrated by Bishop Adalram of Salzburg, was built in a style similar to contemporaneous Bavarian churches, while architecture of two Moravian churches from the early 9th century (in Mikulčice and Modrá) indicates influence of Irish missionaries.^[202][214] Despite the formal endorsement by the elites, the Great Moravian Christianity was described as containing many pagan elements as late as in 852.^[192] Grave goods, such as food, could be found even in church graveyards.^[205] 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.^[215]

Foundation of the first Slavic bishopric (870), archbishopric (880), and monastery was the politically relevant outcome of the Byzantine mission initially devised by Prince Rastislav to strengthen his early feudal state. It is not known where the Great Moravian archbishop resided (a papal document mentions him as the archbishop of Morava, Morava being the name of a town), but there are several references to bishops of Nitra. Big three-nave basilicas unearthed in Mikulčice, Staré Město, Bratislava, and Nitra were the most important ecclesiastical centers of the country, but their very construction may have predated the Byzantine mission.^{[208][page needed]} Nitra and Uherské Hradiště are also sites where monastic buildings have been excavated. A church built at Devín Castle is clearly inspired by Byzantine churches in Macedonia (from where Cyril and Methodius came) and rotundas, particularly popular among Great Moravian nobles, also have their direct predecessors in the Balkans.^{[208][page needed]}

But yields of the mission of Cyril and Methodius extended beyond the religious and political sphere. The 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.^[217] Its late form still remains the liturgical language of the Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, Macedonian and 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]} The 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.^[213] 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 in 885, they disseminated their knowledge (including the Glagolitic script) to other Slavic countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, and Bohemia. They created the Cyrillic script, which became the standard alphabet in the 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'.

In the first half of the 9th century, Great Moravian craftsmen were inspired by contemporary Carolingian art.^[205] In the second half of the 9th century, Great Moravian jewelry was influenced by Byzantine, Eastern Mediterranean, and Adriatic styles.^[205] 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."^[205] 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.^[201]

The most important industry in Great Moravia was iron metallurgy.^[205] An example of highly developed tool production are asymmetrical plowshares.^[205]

Great Moravian centers (e.g., Bratislava (Pozsony, Pressburg), Nitra (Nyitra), Tekov (Bars), and Zemplín (Zemplén)) also retained their functions afterwards, although the identification of Bratislava (Pozsony,Pressburg ), Tekov (Bars) and Zemplín (Zemplén) as Great Moravian castles is not generally accepted.^[218] Since the same castles became the seats of early Hungarian administrative units (counties), historians posit that the administrative division of Great Moravia was just adopted by new rulers.^{[208][page needed][219][page needed]} On the other hand, 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.^[220]

Social differentiation in Great Moravia reached the state of early feudalism, creating the social basis for development of later medieval states in the region.^[221] 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.^{[190][194][222]} The most prominent example are the powerful families of Hunt and Pázmán.^[222] 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,^[222] were mentioned by Simon of Kéza to have arrived from the Duchy of Swabia to the kingdom in the late 10th century.^{[223][224][225]}

Many Slavic words related to politics, law, and agriculture were taken into the Hungarian language.^{[208][page needed][219][page needed]} Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a certain word was borrowed from which Slavic language; e.g., the Hungarian word for county ("megye") was borrowed from a South Slavic language, but it may have taken either from the Slovene or from the Serbo-Croatian.^[226]

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 Kievan Rus').^[227][228] 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.^[229]

There are also documents indicating that the Church organization survived the invasion of the pagan Magyars at least to some degree.^[190] For example, continuity of the formal Church organization is confirmed by an uninterrupted list of Moravian bishops from the 14th century.^{[230][page needed]}

Neither the demographic change was dramatic. As far as the graves can tell, there had been no influx of the Magyars into the core of former Great Moravia before 955^{[citation needed]}. Afterwards, Magyar settlers appear in some regions of Southern Slovakia, but graves indicate a kind of cultural symbiosis (resulting in the common Belobrdo culture), not domination.^{[208][page needed]} Due to cultural changes, archaeologists are not able to identify the ethnicity of graves after the half of the 11th century.^{[208][page needed]} This is also why integration of central, eastern, and northern territories of present-day Slovakia into the Hungarian Kingdom is difficult to be documented by archeology, and written sources have to be used.^{[citation needed][citation needed]}

Great Moravia also became a prominent theme of the Czech and Slovak romantic nationalism of the 19th century.^[231] 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 (especially the Slovaks, as it was the only significant Slavic state Slovakia had ever been a part of) and it was employed in vain attempts to create a single Czechoslovak identity in the 20th century.^[232]

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 Inner Western Carpathians.^[233][234] Toponyms may prove that the semi-nomadic Magyars occupied the Western Pannonian Plain in present-day Slovakia, while the hills were inhabited by a mixed (Slav and Hungarian) population, and people living in the valleys of the mountains spoke Slavic language.^[235]

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^[236] mention Great Moravia.^{[230][page needed]} In 942, Magyar warriors captured in Al Andalus said that Moravia is the northern neighbor 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.^[203] The rest remained under the rule of the local Slavic aristocracy^[222] and was gradually^[207] integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary in a process finished in the 14th century.^[203][237] 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 Kingdom of Hungary by 1031.^[232][203] Since the 10th century, the population of Slovakia has been evolving into the present-day Slovaks.^[207]

• History of the Czech lands

• Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (Greek text edited by Gyula Moravcsik, English translation by Romillyi J. H. Jenkins) (1967). Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. ISBN 0-88402-021-5.
• 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. 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. 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. 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.

• Angi, János (1997). "A nyugati szláv államok [=Western Slavic states]". In Pósán, László; Papp, Imre; Bárány, Attila; Orosz, István; Angi, János (eds.). Európa a korai középkorban ["Europe in the Early Middle Ages"]. Multiplex Media - Debrecen University Press. pp. 358–365. ISBN 963-04-9196-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Barford, P. M. (2001). The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3977-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bartl, Július; Čičaj, Viliam; Kohútova, Mária; Letz, Róbert; Segeš, Vladimír; Škvarna, Dušan (2002). Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Slovenské Pedegogické Nakladatel'stvo. ISBN 0-86516-444-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bowlus, Charles R. (1994). Franks, Moravians and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788–907. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3276-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bowlus, Charles R. (2009). "Nitra: when did it become a part of the Moravian realm? Evidence in the Frankish sources". Early Medieval Europe. 17 (3). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd: 311–328. Retrieved 27-08-2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89452-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dekan, Ján (1981). Moravia Magna: The Great Moravian Empire, Its Art and Time. Control Data Arts. ISBN 0-89893-084-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Drulák, Petr (2012). "Czech geopolitics: struggling for survival". In Guzzini, Stefano (ed.). The Return of Geopolitics in Europe? - Social Mechanisms and Foreign Policy Identity Crises. Cambridge University Press. pp. 77–100. ISBN 978-1-107-02734-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Goldberg, Eric J. (2006). Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817–876. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7529-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Havlík, Lubomír E. (1992). Kronika o Velké Moravě [=Chronicle of Great Moravia]. Jota. ISBN 80-85617-04-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Havlík, Lubomír E. (2004). "Great Moravia between the Franconians, Byzantium and Rome". In Champion, T. C. (ed.). Centre and Periphery: Comparative Studies in Archaeology. Routledge. pp. 227–237. ISBN 0-415-12253-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kirschbaum, Stanislav J. (1995). A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival. Palgarve Macmillan. ISBN 1-40396929-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kristó, Gyula (1996). Hungarian History in the Ninth Century. Szegedi Középkorász Műhely. ISBN 1-4039-6929-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kučera, Matúš (1974). Slovensko po páde Veľkej Moravy, Bratislava: Veda.
• Lukačka, Ján (2002). Formovanie vyššej šľachty na západnom Slovensku, Bratislava: Mistrál.
• Macháček, Jiří (2009). "Disputes over Great Moravia: chiefdom or state? the Morava or the Tisza River?". Early Medieval Europe. 17 (3). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd: 248–267. Retrieved 30-08-2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Macháček, Jiří (2012). ""Great Moravian state"–a controversy in Central European medieval studies". Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 11 (1). Saint-Petersburg, RU: Publishing House of the History Department of the Saint-Petersburg State University: 5–26. Retrieved 30-08-2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mahoney, William M. (2011). The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313363054. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Marsina, Richard (1997). "Ethnogenesis of Slovaks" (PDF). Human Affairs. 7 (1). Bratislava, SLO: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Department of Social & Biological Communication: 15–23. Retrieved 31-08-2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Obolensky, Dimitri (1994). Byzantium and the Slavs. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. ISBN 0-88141-008-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Petkov, Kiril (2008). The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh-Fifteenth Century: The Records of a Bygone Culture. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16831-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Poulík, Josef (1975). Mikulčice: Sídlo a pevnost knížat velkomoravských, Praha.
• Poulík, Josef (1978). "The origins of Christianity in Slavonic countries north of the Middle Danube Basin". World Archaeology. 10 (2). Taylor&Francis: 158–171. Retrieved 06-09-2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Püspöki Nagy, Péter (1978). "Nagymorávia fekvéséről [=On the location of Great Moravia]". Valóság. XXI (11). Tudományos Ismeretterjesztő Társulat: 60–82. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Püspöki-Nagy, Péter (1982). On the Location of Great Moravia: A Reassessment. Department of History, Duquesne University. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Róna-Tas, András (1999). Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History. CEU Press. ISBN 978-963-9116-48-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sedlák, Vincent (2005). "Onomastika a historiografia". In Fábrová, Karin (ed.). Príspevky k slovenským dejinám. Prešov. pp. 17–28. ISBN 80-8068-330-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Senga, Toru (1983). "Morávia bukása és a honfoglaló magyarok [=The fall of Moravia and the Hungarians occupying the Carpathian Basin]". Századok (2). Magyar Történelmi Társulat: 307–345. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sommer, Petr; Třeštík, Dušan; Žemlička, Josef; Opačić, Zoë (2007). "Bohemia and Moravia". In Berend, Nora (ed.). Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus', c.900-1200. Cambridge University Press. pp. 214–262. ISBN 978-0-521-87616-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spiesz, Anton; Caplovic, Dusan (2006). Illustrated Slovak History: A Struggle for Sovereignty in Central Europe. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86516-426-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spinei, Victor (2003). The Great Migrations in the East and South East of Europe from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Century (Translated by Dana Badulescu). ISBN 973-85894-5-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Štefan, Ivo (2011). "Great Moravia, Statehood and Archaeology: The "Decline and Fall" of One Early Medieval Polity". In Macháček, Jiří; Ungerman, Šimon (eds.). Frühgeschichtliche Zentralorte in Mitteleuropa. Bonn: Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt. pp. 333–354. ISBN 978-3-7749-3730-7. Retrieved 27-08-2013. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Štefanovičová, Tatiana (1989). Osudy starých Slovanov [=Fate of the Ancient Slavs]. Osveta. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Senga, Toru (1983). "Morávia bukása és a honfoglaló magyarok [=The fall of Moravia and the Hungarians occupying the Carpathian Basin]". Századok (2). Magyar Történelmi Társulat: 307–345. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Vlasto, A. P. (1970). The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-10758-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wieczorek, Alfried and Hans-Martin Hinz (Hrsg.) (2000). Europas Mitte um 1000, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-8062-1545-6 or ISBN 3-8062-1544-8

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