The ancient Slovaks were a tribe or tribes of Western SLAVS, centered in present-day Slovakia near the CZECHS. They are ancestral to Slovaks (modern) now living in Slovakia and neighboring countries (see Slovaks: nationality). The name Slovak is derived from the same root as Slavic.
Origins
The earliest material evidence of Slavic settlement in the region of present-day Slovakia dates from the middle to latter sixth century. Our knowledge of Slavs in this region at this time is mostly gained from archaeological finds, pottery, house types, and other artifacts. Pottery here has affinities with Korchak pottery in present-day Ukraine and a pottery type found in southern Poland (Mogila). As does the latter it consists of tall vessels—as was all early Slavic pottery, crudely made by the standards of the time elsewhere in Europe. As elsewhere in Slavdom the precursors of the Slovaks had a very simple culture, living in small, square, sunken-floored huts and burying their dead in small, flat (lacking in mounds or tumuli), urned cremation cemeteries.
The material culture characteristic of Slovakia at this time had affinities with that in contemporary Poland; in its early stages the Slovak language was similar to South Slavic languages; thus the question of where Slavs here originated—Poland, the Danube valley to the south, or elsewhere, possibly Ukraine or Moldova—is difficult to answer, and no consensus has yet been reached.
The migration of Slavs here coincides in time with Slavic migrations across a wide region of central and eastern Europe, known to have taken place during the sixth century C. E., into many of the lands that have Slavic populations today. The impetus for this widespread migration is not known with certainty. It may have begun as part of a twofold process, Slavs moving into territory without rulers as elites among the Germanics moved out of central and eastern Europe toward the toppling empire of the Romans, some hoping for plunder, others hoping for lands where they could settle away from the Huns and other steppe peoples invading at this time; at the same time tribes who formed a Slavic confederacy somewhere between the Lower Danube and western Ukraine in the late fifth and early sixth centuries developed a warrior elite, probably in part under Hunnic influence, which began to move into lands vacated by Germanic groups, including areas of Slovakia.
The Slovak language is part of the West Slavic branch, which includes Czech and Polish as well as a number of other less widespread languages. Modern Slovak has three main branches: That in the west has strong Czech influence; in the central region the language is influenced by the South Slavic languages Serbian and Croatian; and in the east there is a Polish influence.
In about 545 C. E. Ildigis, a prince of the Lombards, led a group of Germanic and Slavic warriors across the Middle Danube possibly from southwest Slovakia or northeastern Austria.
In the seventh century in southwestern Slovakia along the Danube basin, the Slavic culture had blended with that of the Avars, steppe warriors who in the latter sixth century had arrived in the Lower Danube region and created a powerful hegemony there. Slavs there and in
Slovakia were absorbed into the Avar khanate and joined them in major episodes of raiding throughout a wide region of central Europe.
Emergence of the Moravian State and
The Annexation of Slovakian Territory
In the ninth century centralization of power led to the construction of major strongholds in the Morava River valley west of Slovakia in the present-day Czech Republic, in part because of events in the Avaro-Slavic zone to the southeast. The destruction of the Avar polity by Emperor Charlemagne of the Franks and by the Bulgars, Turkic steppe peoples, in 793-796 probably furnished the impetus for the rise of powerful leaders in this region, both to provide defense and to take advantage of the power vacuum created by the Avar collapse. Early in the next century leaders from here met with Carolingian Frankish emperors at Aachen in 811, Paderborn in 815, and Frankfurt in 822. During this period a Slavic tribe in the area, known as the Marharii, began to be called Moravians.
Expansion was led at first by the Moravian prince Mojmir, eastward into the Slovakian mountains in the 830s, taking territory of the Slovak tribe, and continued under Prince Rostislav From then until the demise of the Moravian state Slovak tribes were under Moravian hegemony Under Rostislav a crucial component of state formation in the early Middle Ages was accomplished when he converted to Christianity and made it the religion of his polity To avoid the Roman Catholic Frankish sphere of influence, Rostislav looked to Byzantium’s Eastern Church for guidance, and in 863 two Slavic brothers from Thessalonica, Cyril and Methodius, entered Moravia to found a church there. The brothers translated the Gospels and liturgical books into Old Church Slavonic in a precursor, devised by Cyril, of the Cyrillic alphabet.
The rise of Moravia was seen by the Franks as a serious threat, especially with the founding of the Moravian Church. When Rostislav was captured by the Frankish king Louis II the German in 869, Louis had him blinded, making him unfit to rule. But Louis recognized Rostislav’s nephew, Svatopluk, as his successor of a legitimate kingdom. After the death of Methodius in 885 Svatopluk took care to appease Louis by banning the Slavic liturgy.
Expansion continued both east and west through the ninth century, although its extent is a matter of controversy (former claims of Moravian annexation of Silesia and even Pannonia have come into question). But it is likely that the Moravians took Bohemia into their control. The Moravian state had only a brief existence; it was swept away by the Magyars, raiders from the forest zone north of the eastern steppe lands, some of whom Rostislav had invited to raid against the Franks in 862. The Magyar leader, Arpad, gained political power through this experience (and no doubt was tempted by Moravian wealth). In 894 Magyars helped the Moravians against a Bulgar-Frank alliance. With the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894 dissension among his three sons was further stirred up by Arnulf, king of the East Franks. When Pechenegs began invading the Magyars’ homeland, clans under Arpad moved west into Pannonia. The East Franks decided to turn the weapon used against them back on the Moravians and urged the Magyars to attack Moravia. In their now much greater numbers the Magyars succeeded in destroying the Moravian state by 906. The Moravian strongholds lay abandoned for some one hundred years.
In about 936 Boleslav I of Bohemia apparently sent forces into northern Moravia. At the beginning of the 11th century Boleslaw I the Brave of Poland arrived in Moravian territory and annexed it and part of present-day Slovakia. He seems to have found the territory depopulated, because the fortifications he built there and pottery remains of his occupation look like those in Poland, as though he had had to take his own artisans with him. Bohemia drove the Poles from Moravia in 1019. Parts of Moravia and Slovakia were taken by Germans in 1034.
Enduring Identity
From this time until the 20th century Moravia was attached to Bohemia (both passed into the hands of the Austrian Hapsburgs in 1526). Slovakia was linked to Hungary and, after the Ottoman Turks took the rest of Hungary in the 16th century, to Hapsburg Austria. The two regions were united as czechoslovakia in 1918; Moravia lay between the czechs on the west and the Slovaks on the east. Inequality of socioeconomic status between the Slovaks and Czechs (czech territory was more developed, urban, and wealthy than the mountainous Slovak territory) provoked resentment and friction between the two groups. In 1992 the union of Slovakia with the Czech Republic (the former Bohemia and Moravia) was peacefully dissolved.
The overwhelming majority of people who consider themselves Slovaks live in Slovakia, but small numbers of Slovaks live elsewhere in central Europe. These countries, in order of Slovak population size, are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania, Poland, Austria, Ukraine, and Croatia.
CULTURE (see also Slavs) Government and Society Avaro-Slavic Culture Archaeologists have found evidence of a mixed Avaro-Slavic culture in present-day Slovakia and Hungary. Slavs here buried their dead in large cemeteries attesting to stability of settlements. However, there is major disagreement between Hungarian and Slovakian researchers as to the ethnic affinities of the deceased in these cemeteries. The graves fall into two categories, those with clearly Slavic material and others with Avar artifacts, the most prominent being the Avar stirrup. Yet Slovakian scholars claim that graves with Avar artifacts belonged to Slavs who had adopted Avar dress and equipment, while Hungarians believe them to contain remains of foreign nomads, based on skeletal traits, possibly evidence of a new wave of steppe nomads. National bias on the part of the Slovaks and the Hungarians with their steppe nomad heritage seems to have entered into the debate. Thus it is uncertain whether these artifacts of late Avar type from the mideighth century were brought in this migration or were the products of a local development. In any case, the material culture here was quite rich by Slavic standards; there are even glass vessels, probably imported from Frankia.
Both Avars and Slavs were buried in western Slovakia in an area between the Danube and southern Carpathians. Cemeteries here are quite large, one near Bratislava having a thousand graves. Some of the burials had grave goods; typical artifacts of Slav graves were S-shaped temple rings. Pottery found in these cemeteries was decorated by incising wet clay with a combshaped implement to make parallel lines, either straight or curving, or by stamping. Some pots were wheel thrown. In general, Slavs here had reached a higher state of development, under Avar influence, than Slavs in other regions.
Rise of the States The Moravians during the height of their power built the first Slavic urban centers, massive strongholds sited on river crossings, with stone churches. The rise of the state was accompanied by a marked increase in wealth among the elite, documented by the fine silver jewelry, influenced by Byzantine designs, that has been found.
Dwellings and Architecture
Strongholds built in Slovakia as Moravian power was increasing have a distinctive structure. Outer drystone walls were backed by timber structures filled with earth. The central areas were surrounded by a series of contiguous enclosures, the central areas of elite dwellings, the external enclosures inhabited, perhaps, by craft workers.
As Moravian power grew the form and siting of strongholds changed. Now they were built not on hilltops as earlier but on river crossings. The multiple enclosures were no longer contiguous, but in clusters. The massive buildings were accompanied by churches, either rotundas or basilicas.
According to their folk belief the Slovaks, as were other nearby Slavs, were sometimes visited by demons or spirits called vila, beautiful naked warrior maidens armed with bows and arrows. The vila danced on mountaintops as did witches, earlier the Valkyries in Germanic lands, and the Amazons of Greek mythology. As late as the 13th century men left offerings for the vila, who lived in springs and caves and under trees and stones.
The Slovakian journey from a tribe identified as Slovaks to the modern nation called Slovakia lasted a millennium and a half. During that time the Slovakian homeland has been a part of the history of many peoples and cultures.
Further Reading
Stanislav J. Kirschbaum. Historical Dictionary of Slovakia (London: Scarecrow, 1998).
World History
