Editing Slovakia (section)

=== Slavic states ===
The [[Slavs|Slavic]] tribes settled in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the fifth century. Western Slovakia was the centre of [[Samo]]'s empire in the seventh century. A Slavic state known as the [[Principality of Nitra]] arose in the eighth century and its ruler [[Pribina]] had the first known Christian church of the territory of present-day Slovakia consecrated by 828. Together with neighbouring [[Moravia]], the principality formed the core of the [[Great Moravia]]n Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavonic empire came with the arrival of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] in 863, during the reign of [[Duke]] [[Rastislav of Moravia|Rastislav]], and the territorial expansion under [[King]] [[Svätopluk I]].

==== Great Moravia (830–before 907) ====
{{Main|Great Moravia}}

[[File:Cyril a metod zilina.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|A statue of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius]] in [[Žilina]]. In 863, they introduced [[Christianity]] to what is now Slovakia.]]

Great Moravia arose around 830 when [[Mojmir I of Moravia|Mojmír I]] unified the [[Slavs|Slavic]] tribes settled north of the [[Danube]] and extended the Moravian supremacy over them.<ref>'Europe', p.360</ref> When Mojmír I endeavoured to secede from the supremacy of the king of [[East Francia]] in 846, King [[Louis the German]] deposed him and assisted Mojmír's nephew [[Rastislav of Moravia|Rastislav]] (846–870) in acquiring the throne.<ref name="Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon">{{cite book|last=Kristó|first=Gyula|title=Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9–14. század) |trans-title=Encyclopedia of Early Hungarian History – 9th–14th centuries |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|year=1994|location=Budapest|page=467|isbn=963-05-6722-9}}</ref> The new monarch pursued an independent policy: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken the influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. [[Rastislav of Moravia|Duke Rastislav]] asked the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Emperor]] [[Michael III]] to send teachers who would interpret Christianity in the Slavic vernacular.

On Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] came in 863. Cyril developed the [[Glagolitic alphabet|first Slavic alphabet]] and translated the Gospel into the [[Old Church Slavonic]] language. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g.,&nbsp;''Dowina'', sometimes identified with [[Devín Castle]])<ref name="worldarcheology">{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728|title=The Origins of Christianity in Slavonic Countries North of the Middle Danube Basin|journal=World Archaeology|year=1978|first=Josef|last=Poulik|volume=10|issue=2|pages=158–171|issn = 0043-8243 }}</ref><ref name="caplovic">{{cite book|last=Čaplovič|first=Dušan|author2=Viliam Čičaj |author3=Dušan Kováč |author4=Ľubomír Lipták |author5=Ján Lukačka |title=Dejiny Slovenska|publisher=AEP|year=2000|location=Bratislava}}</ref> are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.<ref>pages=167, 566</ref>{{full citation needed |date=March 2025}}<ref name="fulda">{{cite book|title=Annales Fuldenses, sive, Annales regni Francorum orientalis ab Einhardo, Ruodolfo, Meginhardo Fuldensibus, Seligenstadi, Fuldae, Mogontiaci conscripti cum continuationibus Ratisbonensi et Altahensibus / post editionem G.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Pertzii recognovit Friderious Kurze; Accedunt Annales Fuldenses antiquissimi|publisher=Imprensis Bibliopolii Hahniani|year=1978|location=Hanover|url=http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312020323/http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 March 2007|access-date=26 September 2009}}</ref>

During Rastislav's reign, the [[Principality of Nitra]] was given to his nephew [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svätopluk]] as an [[appanage]].<ref name="caplovic"/> The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. Similarly to his predecessor, Svätopluk I (871–894) assumed the title of the king (''rex''). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only present-day [[Moravia]] and Slovakia but also present-day northern and [[central Hungary]], [[Lower Austria]], [[Bohemia]], [[Silesia]], [[Lusatia]], southern Poland and [[Vojvodina|northern Serbia]] belonged to the empire, but the exact borders of his domains are still disputed by modern authors.<ref name="Tóth">{{cite book|last=Tóth|first=Sándor László|title=Levediától a Kárpát-medencéig ''("From Levedia to the Carpathian Basin")''|publisher=Szegedi Középkorász Műhely|year=1998|location=Szeged|page=199|isbn=963-482-175-8}}</ref> Svatopluk also withstood attacks of the [[Hungarians|Magyar]] tribes and the [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], although sometimes it was he who hired the Magyars when waging war against [[East Francia]].<ref>page=51</ref>

In 880, [[Pope John&nbsp;VIII]] set up an independent [[ecclesiastical province]] in Great Moravia with Archbishop [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Methodius]] as its head. He also named the German cleric [[Wiching]] the Bishop of [[Nitra]].
[[File:Great Moravia.svg|thumb|left|Certain and disputed borders of Great Moravia under [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk I]] (according to modern historians)]]

After the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894, his sons [[Mojmir II of Moravia|Mojmír&nbsp;II]] (894–906?) and [[Svatopluk&nbsp;II]] succeeded him as the Prince of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively.<ref name="caplovic"/> However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with [[Eastern Francia]], Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories.

In the meantime, the semi-nomadic Magyar tribes, possibly having suffered defeat from the similarly nomadic [[Pechenegs]], left their territories east of the [[Carpathian Mountains]],<ref>{{cite book|title=A Country Study: Hungary|publisher=Federal Research Division, [[Library of Congress]]|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+hu0013)|access-date=6 March 2009|archive-date=29 October 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041029114728/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+hu0013%29|url-status=live}}</ref> invaded the [[Carpathian Basin]] and started to occupy the territory gradually around 896.<ref>pages=189–211</ref>{{full citation needed |date=March 2025}} Their armies' advance may have been promoted by continuous wars among the countries of the region whose rulers still hired them occasionally to intervene in their struggles.<ref name="Kristó 2">{{cite book|last=Kristó|first=Gyula|title=Magyar honfoglalás – honfoglaló magyarok ''("The Hungarians' Occupation of their Country – The Hungarians occupying their Country")''|publisher=Kossuth Könyvkiadó|year=1996|pages=84–85|isbn=963-09-3836-7}}</ref>

It is not known what happened with both Mojmír&nbsp;II and Svatopluk&nbsp;II because they are not mentioned in written sources after 906. In [[Battle of Pressburg|three battles]] (4–5&nbsp;July and 9&nbsp;August 907) near [[Bratislava]], the Magyars routed [[Bavaria]]n armies. Some historians put this year as the date of the break-up of the Great Moravian Empire, due to the Hungarian conquest; other historians take the date a little bit earlier (to 902).

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. The [[Glagolitic alphabet|Glagolitic script]] and its successor [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] were disseminated to other Slavic countries, charting a new path in their [[Sociocultural evolution|sociocultural development]].