Despite Rostislav’s death and Svatopluk’s arrest at the hands of the Franks, the Moravians would not idly sit by. The Moravians, assuming that Svatopluk had died, revolted in anger and elected Slavomir, another member of the Mojmir line, as prince. Slavomir had previously been a priest and disciple of Cyril and Methodius prior to his ascension to the throne of Great Moravia. His election, despite this, showcased the commitment the Moravians had to the Moymirid dynasty. Aiming to put down this rebellion and to cause internal dispute, Carloman released Svatopluk with the intent of having him lead an army to defeat the rebelling Moravians and reclaim his authority. However, as soon as the army reached the castle of Valy at Mikulcice, Svatopluk defected to the Moravian’s side and together they defeated the Frankish army. For the next two years Svatopluk, now the ruler of Great Moravia after Slavomir stepped down for him, resisted with the Czechs and Serbs all attempts by the Frankish Empire to conquer their lands. Svatopluk was not arrogant though and realized that he could not remain solely independent forever. In 874 in Forcheim, he made peace with Louis the German and swore allegiance to him in exchange for freedom to do his own dealings. Thus began the reign of Svatopluk the Great (870-894) and the apex of Great Moravia’s power.
Statue of Svatopluk on Bratislava Castle, Slovakia.
Now at peace with the Empire of the Franks and free to do as he wanted, Svatopluk began to make large territorial pushes into all the surrounding areas bordering Great Moravia. In 874-880, Great Moravia attacked and conquered the Vistulans in southern Poland and the eastern parts of Slovakia. In 882, he fought for Frankish Pannonia, though it is unknown if he acquired land in this conflict. In 883, he defeated the Bohemians to his west and with them he took control of Silesia, Lusatia, and likely the Serbians. With this, Great Moravia had reached the peak of its territorial extent.
Great Moravia during reign of Svatopluk I.
Throughout it all, Svatopluk made an effort to convert all those he conquered to Christianity, making sure to convert the local princes of the area, as to justify his conquest and rule over them. One of these princes would be the Bohemian prince Premysl Borivoj, who he would place above the other Bohemians as his second-in-command. Of course, despite these efforts, there were still many pagans who lived in Great Moravia. Initially, Methodius was initially the Archbishop of Moravia, which Svatopluk had orchestrated in order to place Great Moravia under the Pope and free it from the authority of the Frankish Empire. Eventually, Svatopluk would align with the Bishop of Nitra, Wiching, and change the liturgy from Old Slavonic to Latin, against the will of Methodius. By 890, the power of the Papacy began to wane and once again Svatopluk had to turn his attention to the Franks. He came to an agreement with King Arnulf in East Francia that his conquest be recognized if he remained loyal to the Franks, but in 892 and 893, King Arnulf sought to dominate Great Moravia through military means. Svatopluk was able to successfully stand his ground against the Franks, but his death in 894 would spell the coming end for Great Moravia.
While the threat of external invasion was indeed real to Great Moravia, what truly doomed it was a threat from within. It was soon realized that what had kept this great empire together was not its infrastructure, but the strength of Svatopluk himself. Upon his death, his son Mojmir II (894-906) took his place. The tribes his father had conquered began to break away from Great Moravia despite his best efforts and there were many who supported the claim of Svatopluk II, his younger brother. East Francia was not the only external threat to Great Moravia. In the lands that were once home to the Avars, a new group of nomads had taken up residents: the Magyars. Mojmir II tried to make peace with Arnulf and the Magyars, which at first succeeded.
Mojmir II.
Unfortunately, with Arnulf’s death in 899, the Magyars took Pannonia and began taking control of the whole region. Mojmir II aligned himself with the Bavarians in a joint effort to defeat the Magyars and in 906 the two forces clashed. The Magyars devastated Great Moravia’s army, slaughtering many magnates in the process. It is said Mojmir II also fell in battle during this confrontation. The Bavarians attempted to recover in 907, but the Magyars struck them down in Bratislava, spelling the end of the Moymirid dynasty and the end of Great Moravia.
Though the Magyar did not take much of Great Moravia’s land, the damage to its political structure caused it to collapse in on itself, accelerated by pagan uprisings from within. With the fall of Great Moravia, the Moravians themselves fell with it, eventually ceasing to exist as an ethnicity. The Moravians that exist today emerged much later and with no direct connection to those of Great Moravia. However, like with Samo’s Empire before, a new state would rise from Great Moravia’s ashes, but this time from the land of the Czechs. Where the Moymirids had failed in Moravia, Premysl Borivoj and his Premyslid descendants would succeed in the Czech lands of Bohemia.
Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Slovakia, one of the few buildings that remain that are considered to be of Great Moravian origin.
Written by: James Travis
Citations:
Gluchman, Vasil. “Ethics and Politics of Great Moravia of the 9th Century.” Ethics & Bioethics (in Central Europe), 2018, 8 (1–2), 15–31 DOI:10.2478/ebce-2018-0007. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326514470_Ethics_and_politics_of_Great_Moravia_of_the_9th_century/
Naillon, Erin. “The Turbulent Life of Svatopluk the Great, King of Moravia.” City Media Network: PragueLife, May 2, 2017. https://cz.citymedia.network/prague/features/czech-culture/turbulent-life-svatopluk-great-king-moravia/
Panek, Jaroslave and Oldrich Tuma. 2020. A History of the Czech Lands. 2nd ed. Prague: Charles University Karolinum Press.