Great Moravia

Slovakia, 833 CE–907 CE. Draft, not yet reviewed

Great Moravia was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in Central Europe. Its core encompassed today's Moravia in the eastern Czech Republic and adjacent western Slovakia. Moravia reached its largest territorial extent under Prince Svatopluk I, called Svätopluk in Slovak, who ruled from 870 to 894. Great Moravia was overrun by the Hungarians, who then included the territory of present-day Slovakia in their domains.

Seat of power: Mikulčice

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• After Saints Cyril and Methodius arrived in 863, the Glagolitic alphabet was created, the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavic language.
• The kingdom saw the rise of the first-ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language.
• During the Great Moravian period, Devín was the center of a larger agglomeration, and a pre-romanesque church was built on the castle between approximately 850 and 863/870.

Picture

Devín Castle is one of the oldest castles in Slovakia.

Image: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

• Great Moravia (Wikipedia)
• Great Moravia (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.