Lesson 4. The Slavs from the 6th to the 11th centuries Learning tasks: by completing this unit of study, the student will be able to: Identify the main aspects of the Early Slavs history; Reveal the most important moments of the evolution of the Slavs states between the 6th and the 11th centuries: The South Slavs (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria); The West Slavs (Samo's empire, Great Moravia, The Czech State, The Polish Kingdom); The East Slavs (Kievan Rus). 1. The Early Slavs Besides the invasion of the Germanic tribes at the end of the Western Roman Empire took place the "silent", unspectacular but very important movement of the Slavs which included, in the late sixth century, an important part of Europe. Their first habitat was a vast area between Dnieper and Vistula. The Slavs movement began in the late sixth century, motivated by a great demographic pressure. This movement has been made in several directions: Towards the East, Northeast, Southeast. The Slavs penetrated slowly amongst the Finno-Ugric and Turkish peoples in Don and Volga regions. For many centuries, the Slavs slowly succeeded to banish or to enslave the autochthonous populations. West. The movement of the Slavs followed that of the Germans. The Slavs crept on South and West, replaced the Germans, and occupied a vast territory which stretching from the Baltic Sea and the Elbe in the northeast and to the Danube. South. The Slavs arrived at the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire and they penetrated in the empire in the sixth century, during the reign of Justinian (527-565). The Slavs expanded rapidly in the Balkans, including Greece and the Aegean islands. The migration of the Ugric and the Turkish peoples divided the huge Slavic world. The Slavs were divided into three groups: the south, the west and the east. Each group formed several Slavic peoples and Slavic populations. * Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History 2. The South Slavs The penetration and the massive settlement of the Slavs south of the Danube in the sixth century, a phenomenon that changed the ethnic structure of the Balkans, is a crucial moment in the history of Southeast Europe. In these circumstances the Romanized population of the Balkans was dislocated from the territories on which they occupied and was pushed by migration of the Slavs to the south and west of the Balkan Peninsula, while the space occupied by the Greek population has been considerably narrowed. The Slavs are assimilated by the administration of Constantinople as foederati but the Byzantine Empire made efforts to bring them under a real domination. This process was interrupted by the arrival of the Proto-Bulgarians. a) Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia The Slavic tribes that led to the formation of the Croatian and Slovenian peoples arrived in mid-seventh century in the regions occupied by them today, being attracted by the Byzantines and used as foederaţi against the Avars in Pannonia. Carantania was the first Slavic state in the Balkan Peninsula, formed in the first half of the eighth century. It occupied approximately the current territory of Slovenia. Carantania entered under the rule of Charlemagne. Byzantium takes control over the Slavs from the Adriatic coast, Slavs who later formed the Serbian people. The first state of the future Serbs was formed in the mid-ninth century, under the leadership of the Prince Vlastimir (c. 830 - c. 851). To resist to the Bulgarian pressures, Vlastimir accepted the Byzantine suzerainty in 874 and Christianization in the Greek Orthodox rite. During the Bulgarian-Byzantine confrontations, the Slavs from the former Yugoslavia were under the Bulgarian influence or the Byzantine influence. b) The Bulgarian State (7th -11th centuries) Although today the Bulgarian people is mentioned among the South Slavic peoples, the origin of the old Bulgarians (Proto-Bulgarians or Bulgars) is totally different from that of the old Slavs. Proto-Bulgarians were in fifth and sixth centuries in the North Caucasus, between the lower courses of the Don and Volga rivers. They fell under the Avar dominion. Weakening of the Avars power after 626 favored the formation of the Bulgar Khaganate (Old Great Bulgaria) led by the Khan Kubrat, which stretched from the mouth of the Don River to the Kuban plains. This great state collapsed under the blows of the Khazars. A part of the Bulgars went to north along the Volga River, forming Volga Bulgaria. In the early tenth century, Islam was adopted here as the state religion. In 922-923, Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir of Baghdad established relations with Volga Bulgaria and sent here qadis and teachers of Islamic law. This state was destroyed in mid-thirteenth century by the 2 Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History Mongol invasion. Another group of the Bulgars went to the west to the Danube mouths. In the mid seventh century, this group of Bulgars passed in the Balkan Peninsula, through Dobrudja, under the leadership of Asparukh. When arrived in the Balkans, the Bulgars had a superior political and military structure compared with the Slavs on which they found here. But their number was much smaller than the Slavs and therefore the assimilation process of the Bulgars was irreversible. The Court of Constantinople understood that the new Bulgarian state is very strong. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (741-775) attempted to liquidate the Bulgarian state. But only after three centuries of fighting the Byzantines have success. Under the Khan Krum the Horrible (805-814) the Bulgarians killed the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I (802-811). In 864, under Boris I (or Boris-Mikhail) (852– 889), the Knyaz of the First Bulgarian Empire, the Bulgarians were evangelized in the Orthodox rite. During the reign of his son, Simeon the Great (893-927), the Bulgarian State reached maximum territorial limits, occupying almost the whole Balkan Peninsula. During the reign of the Tsar Samuel (997- 1014) is reconstituted Bulgarian Empire. On July 29, 1014, the Bulgarians are defeated by the Byzantine Emperor Basil II (or Basil the Porphyrogenitus). Also, in 1018 Ohrid fell and the Bulgarian state disappears. * 3. The West Slavs Their historical destiny was not different from that of the other groups of Slavs. They occupy in the 5th and the 6th centuries the region between the Elbe, the Vistula, the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. a) Samo's empire The first state of the West Slavs was established under the conditions of the fight against the Avars domination, struggle led by the Frankish merchant Samo. He ruled from 623 until his death in 658. This political entity has included almost all the western Slavic tribes. In 631, in the Battle of Wogastisburg, Samo successfully defended his realm against the Kingdom of the Franks. In 658 Samo dies and his kingdom disappears. b) Great Moravia Liquidation of the Avar Khaganate from Pannonia facilitated the Carolingian domination over the southern and the western Slavs, namely over Slovaks and Moravians. After the death of Charlemagne (814), the Moravian ruler Mojmir I (r. 820s/830s–846) created the early medieval state of the Slavs (830). The boundaries of this state, which is known as "Great" Moravia, included Moravia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia of today, and upper valleys of the Elbe and Vistula rivers. Under the rule of Rastislav (846-870), the 3 Daniel Flaut, Introduction in Medieval History grandson of Mojmir I, the Moravian State is confronted with serious internal difficulties, due to the tendencies of the great German feudal lords from Bavaria to extend their political influence in Moravia, hidden influence in religious garb. At first, the German kingdom manages to tip the balance in its favor. Rastislav is overthrown by his nephew Svatopluk I (or Svatopluk the Great) with the German feudal lords support (870). Soon between Svatopluk I (870-894) and his protectors erupts a conflict in which Svatopluk emancipated under the German suzerainty (870-871). At the beginning of the reign of Mojmir II (894-before 907), from Great Moravia were detached the Czech and the Serbo-Croatian regions, after which the remaining territory crumbles into several independent principalities. In 906 the Magyars destroyed the political center of Great Moravia, thus ending the existence of the Moravian Empire. c) The Czech State The Czech population detaches from Great Moravia in 895, following the revolt led by brothers Spythnev and Vratislav from the Prémysl family who put the bases of their own state. Principality known height of its power under the reign of Boleslav I (or Boleslaus I the Cruel) (935-967), which participates, as a vassal of the German king Otto I, in the great Battle of Lechfeld (955). Also, under his rule the Czech State reaches its maximum extent: Czech, Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia and other territories. Under his successor, Boleslav II (967-999), the Czech State loses the Polish possessions and fight with the German feudal lords. d) Formation of the Polish Kingdom The first Polish political personality, historically attested, is Mieszko I (963-992), de facto creator of the Polish state. Mieszko I reject the attempts to conquest of the German Margraves to the east of the Elbe and in 996 he put his country in the cultural sphere of the Western Christianity. Under Bolesław I Chrobry (or Boleslaw the Brave) (992-1025), the early Polish State achieves the peak of its power. In 1000 Bolesław I obtained from the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II the right to create an Archbishopric at Gniezno and other three Bishoprics in Kraków, Wrocław and Kolobrzeg. In 1018, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II concluded a treaty with Boleslaw I in which recognizes to the Polish ruler the dominion over the provinces Lusatia and Milsko.