Samo's Empire

Samo's Empire is the historiographical name for the Slavic tribal union established by rex Samo, that existed between 623 and 658. The centre of the union was most likely in Moravia, while the union included Bohemia, Lusatia and Carantania.

Territory

Archaeological findings indicate that the empire was situated in present-day Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria and Slovenia. According to Slovak historian Richard Marsina, it is unlikely that the center of Samo's tribal union was in the territory of present-day Slovakia.^[1] The settlements of the later Moravian and Nitrian principalities (see Great Moravia) are often identical with those from the time of Samo's Empire. Since we have no direct documentation about the Slavonic tribes, their names, or their political organization between the 6th and 7th centuries,^[1] and furthermore since we don't have any concrete records from the following 150 years,^[1] there is no historical evidence of any connection between Samo's kingdom and the ethnogenesis of the Slovaks.^[1]

History

Present-day Bohemia, Sorbia at the Elbe, and the state of Karantania probably became parts of the empire in the 630s as well.^[2] Although the Slavs under King Samo managed to defeat all Avar attacks, Slav conflicts with Frankish merchants, in which merchants were killed and goods stolen, forced them to fight against the Franks as well.

Aftermath

The history of the tribal union after Samo's death in 658 or 659 is largely unclear; it is generally assumed that it ended. Archaeological findings show that the Avars returned to their previous territories (at least to southernmost modern Slovakia) and entered into a symbiosis with the Slavs, whereas territories to the north of the Avar Khaganate were purely Slav territories. The first specific thing that is known about the fate of these Slavs and Avars is the existence of Moravian and Nitrian principalities in the late 8th century that were attacking the Avars, and the defeat of the Avars by the Franks under Charlemagne in 799 or 802–03, after which the Avars quickly ceased to exist.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Marsina 1997, p. 18
^ According to Fredegar, IV, 68: Dervanus dux gente Surborium, qui ex genere Sclavinorum erant, et ad regnum Francorum jam olim aspexerant, se ad regnum Samoni cum suis tradidit. (Dervan with his people submitted to Samo)

[Marsina18-1] Marsina 1997, p. 18

[2] According to Fredegar, IV, 68: Dervanus dux gente Surborium, qui ex genere Sclavinorum erant, et ad regnum Francorum jam olim aspexerant, se ad regnum Samoni cum suis tradidit. (Dervan with his people submitted to Samo)

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