Editing Bohemia (section)

===Ancient Bohemia===
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Bohemia, like neighboring [[Bavaria]], is named after the [[Boii]], a large [[Celtic nations|Celtic nation]] known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the [[Helvetii]] into southern France, one of the events leading to the interventions of Julius Caesar's Gaulish campaign of 58 BC. The emigration of the Helvetii and Boii left southern Germany and Bohemia a lightly inhabited "desert" into which [[Suebi]]c peoples arrived, speaking Germanic languages, and became dominant over remaining Celtic groups. To the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast, in present-day Hungary, were [[Dacians|Dacian]] peoples.

In the area of modern Bohemia, the [[Marcomanni]] and other Suebic groups were led by their king, [[Marobodus]], after being defeated by Roman forces in Germany. He took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. They were able to maintain a strong alliance with neighboring tribes, including (at different times) the [[Lugii]], [[Quadi]], [[Hermunduri]], [[Semnones]], and [[Buri (Germanic tribe)|Buri]], which was sometimes partly controlled by the [[Roman Empire]] and sometimes in conflict with it; for example, in the second century, they fought [[Marcus Aurelius]].

In late classical times and the early [[Middle Ages]], two new Suebic groupings appeared west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the [[Alemanni]] (in the Helvetian desert) and the Bavarians ([[Baiuvarii]]). Many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westward, settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the [[Vandals]] and [[Alans]].

Other groups pushed southward toward [[Pannonia]]. The last known mention of the Kingdom of the Marcomanni, concerning a queen named [[Fritigil]], is from the fourth century, and she was thought to have lived in or near Pannonia. The Suebian [[Langobardi]], who moved over many generations from the [[Baltic Sea]], via the Elbe and Pannonia to Italy, recorded in a [[Origo Gentis Langobardorum|tribal history]] a time spent in "Bainaib".

After the [[Migration Period]], Bohemia was partially repopulated around the sixth century, and eventually [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] tribes arrived from the east, and their language began to replace the older Germanic, Celtic, and [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] ones. These are precursors of today's Czechs, but the exact amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx came in two or three waves. The first came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic [[Lombards]] left Bohemia (''circa'' 568 AD). Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by [[Samo]]'s tribal confederation. His death marked the end of the old "Slavonic" confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after [[Carantania]] in [[Carinthia (province)|Carinthia]].

Other sources (''[[Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii]]'', Bavaria, 800–850) divide the population of Bohemia into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare (Bohemani), and Fraganeo. (The suffix ''-ani'' or ''-ni'' means "people of-"). Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but became dominant only in the 10th or 11th century.

The 9th century was crucial for Bohemia's future. The [[manorialism|manorial system]] sharply declined, as it did in Bavaria. The influence of the central Fraganeo-Czechs grew, as a result of the important cultic center in their territory. They were Slavic-speaking and contributed to the transformation of diverse neighboring populations into a new nation named and led by them with a united "Slavic" ethnic consciousness.<ref>Petr Charvát: "Zrod Českého státu" [Origin of the Bohemian State], March 2007, {{ISBN|80-7021-845-2}}, in Czech</ref>