Moravia, see Hungary, Magyars, Bohemia
Formed from: Around 60 BC, the Celtic Boii people withdrew from the region and were succeeded in
turn by the Germanic Quadi and in the sixth century the Slavic tribes. At the end of the eighth century, the
Moravian Principality came into being in present-day south-eastern Moravia, Záhorie in south-western
Slovakia and parts of Lower Austria. In 833, this became the state of Great Moravia with the conquest of
the Principality of Nitra (present-day Slovakia). From the 10th century into 1918 it was part of the
Kingdom of Hungary.
Original Record of: At the end of the eighth century the Moravian Principality came into being in
present-day south-eastern Moravia, Záhorie in south-western Slovakia and parts of Lower Austria
Migrations
and Changes:
Great Moravia reached its greatest territorial extent in the 890s under Svatopluk I. At this time, the empire
encompassed the territory of the present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia, the western part of present
Hungary (Pannonia), as well as Lusatia in present-day Germany and Silesia and the upper Vistula basin
in southern Poland.
After Svatopluk's death in 895, the Bohemian princes defected to become vassals of the East Frankish
ruler Arnulf of Carinthia, and the Moravian state ceased to exist after being overrun by invading Magyars
in 906-7.
Following the defeat of the Magyars by Emperor Otto I at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, Otto's ally
Boleslaus I, the Pøemyslid ruler of Bohemia, received Moravia. Boleslaus I of Poland annexed Moravia in
999, and ruled it until 1019, when the Pøemyslid prince Bretislaus recaptured it. Upon his father's death in
1035, Bretislaus also became the ruler of Bohemia. In 1054, Bretislaus decreed that the Bohemian and
Moravians lands would be inherited together by primogeniture, although he also provided that his younger
sons should govern parts of Moravia as vassals to his oldest son.
Throughout the Pøemyslid era, junior princes often ruled all or part of Moravia from Olomouc, Brno, or
Znojmo, with varying degrees of autonomy from the ruler of Bohemia.
Moravia reached its height of autonomy in 1182, when Emperor Frederick I elevated Moravia to the status
of a margraviate (or mark), immediately subject to the emperor, independent of Bohemia. This status was
short-lived: in 1197, Vladislaus III of Bohemia resolved the succession dispute between him and his
brother Ottokar by abdicating from the Bohemian throne and accepting the margraviate of Moravia as a
vassal of Bohemia.
Since then, Moravia has shared its history with Bohemia. The Pøemyslid dynasty became extinct in 1306,
and in 1310, John of Luxembourg became king of Bohemia. Moravia and Bohemia remained (except
period of the Hussite wars) within the Luxembourg dynasty of Holy Roman kings and emperors, until
inherited by Albert II of Habsburg in 1437.
Subsequent 21-year-long period of split kingdom was decisive for rising awareness of specific Moravian
identity, different from the Bohemian. Although Moravia was reunited with Bohemia in 1490 when
Vladislaus Jagiellon, who had succeeded George as king of Bohemia in 1471, then also succeeded
Matthias as king of Hungary, certain aversion of Moravian estates to "governance of Prague" and
accentuation of Moravian "freedoms" continued until the end of independence (1620). In 1526, Vladislaus'
son Louis died in battle and the Habsburg Ferdinand I was elected as his succesor.
Under the Habsburgs
The epoch 1526–1620 was marked by increasing animosity between Catholic Habsburg kings (emperors)
and Protestant Moravian (and other Crowns') estates. Moravia remained with Bohemia as a Habsburg
possession until the end of World War I. Until 1641 Moravia's capital was the centrally-located Olomouc.
Cities or towns:
Olomouc (originally founded as a Roman fort ), Kopcany, Mikulcice, Pohansko, Devin, Nitra ,Rajhrad ,
Rostoky, Levy Hradec, Mikulov, Boskovice, Znojmo,
Language:
Romanian
Hungarian
Recorded names:
Male Mojmir I, Jaromir, Oldrich
Neighbors
9th Century:
Poland to the North, Hungary to the South and East, Ottonian Empire on the West
Sources for Research:
Dagome Iudex
Moravia Magna: The Great Moravian Empire, Its Art and Times
The Early Slavs P.M. Barford
Vernadsky’s works, Kievan Rus
Interesting Links:
scroll down for History and map.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravia
an extensive Catholic church history of the area ... http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10561a.htm