Editing Slavs (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Great moravia svatopluk.png|thumb|[[Great Moravia]] during [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk I]] ({{Reign|871|894}}), according to Štefanovičová (1989)]]

When Slav migrations ended, their first [[Sovereign state|state]] organizations appeared, each headed by a prince with a treasury and a defense force. In the 7th century, the Frankish merchant [[Samo]] supported the Slavs against their [[Avars (Carpathians)|Avar]] rulers and became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe, [[Samo's Empire]]. This early Slavic polity probably did not outlive its founder and ruler, but it was the foundation for later [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] states on its territory.

The oldest of them was [[Carantania]]; others are the [[Principality of Nitra]], the [[Moravia]]n principality (see under [[Great Moravia]]) and the [[Balaton Principality]]. The [[First Bulgarian Empire]] was founded in 681 as an alliance between the ruling [[Bulgars]] and the numerous [[Seven Slavic tribes|Slavs]] in the area, and their [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic]] language, the [[Old Church Slavonic]], became the main and official language of the empire in 864 AD. Bulgaria was instrumental in the spread of [[Cyrillic script|Slavic literacy]] and Christianity to the rest of the Slavic world. [[Duchy of Croatia]] was founded in 7th century and later became [[Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)|Kingdom of Croatia]].<ref>During the reign of [[Heraclius]] (<abbr>r.</abbr> 610–641). ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' chapter 30.</ref> [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Principality of Serbia]] was founded in 8th, [[Duchy of Bohemia]] and [[Kievan Rus']] both in the 9th century.

The expansion of the [[Hungarian people|Magyars]] into the [[Carpathian Basin]] and the [[Germanization]] of [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]] gradually separated the [[South Slavs]] from the [[West Slavs|West]] and [[East Slavs]]. Later Slavic states, which formed in the following centuries included the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], the [[History of Poland during the Piast dynasty|Kingdom of Poland]], [[Banate of Bosnia]], [[Duklja]] and [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Kingdom of Serbia]] which later grew into [[Serbian Empire]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}