Carantania

Slovenia, 658 CE–828 CE. Draft, not yet reviewed

Carantania was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern Slovenia. Since the middle of the 8th century, it was allied with Bavaria against the Avars, and consequently became a vassal state of the Frankish Empire. By 828, internal autonomy of the principality was abolished, and the entire Carantanian territory was gradually integrated into the East Frankish administrative system, based on counties and marches.

Seat of power: Maria Saal

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• Christianisation of Carantanian Slavs was initiated, mainly through missionary activities of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
• At the installation ceremony, a peasant sitting on the Stone represented the people and had to ask in Slovene who it was that came forward.
• Carantania's capital was most likely Karnburg in the Zollfeld Field, north of modern Klagenfurt.

Picture

The Prince's Stone is the reversed base of an ancient Ionic column that played an important role in the ceremony surrounding the installation of the princes of Carantania in the Early Middle Ages.

Image: Johann Jaritz, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Carantania (Wikipedia)
• Carantania (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

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