MORAVIA'S HISTORY RECONSIDERED A REINTERPRETATION OF MEDIEVAL SOURCES

MORAVIA'S HISTORY RECONSIDERED A REINTERPRETATION OF MEDIEVAL SOURCES

MORAVIA'S HISTORY RECONSIDERED A REINTERPRETATION OF MEDIEVAL SOURCES by IMRE BOBA.. ~ MARTINUS NIJHOFF I THE HAGUE I 1971

I97I by Martinus Nijhott, The Hague, Netherlands All right reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form ISBN-13: 978-90-247-5041-2 DOl: 10.1007/978-94-010-2992-6 e-isbn-13: 978-94-010-2992-6

"The entanglement of Moravia with the Bulgarians must be clarified by history." v. T. Tatishchev's marginal note in the manuscript of his Istoriia Rossiiskaia,* (completed in 1750). * Ct., v. N. Tatishchev, Istoriia Rossiiskaia. vol. 2 (Moscow-Leningrad, 1963); p. 301.

CONTENTS PREFACE I. REWRITING MORAVIA'S HISTORY a. A brief outline of the history of Moravia b. Premises of Moravian history c. The diocese of Saint Methodius d. Moravia part of Slavonia e. Slavonic liturgy in Croatia and Dalmatia II. BASIC PREMISES a. Marava, Maravenses and Moravia b. Slavonia III. THE REALM OF MORAVIA a. Testimony of Western Chronicles and Annals b. Testimony of Byzantine sources IV. THE EPISCOPACY AND DIOCESE OF ST. METH :nus a. Testimony of Ecclesiastic sources b. The so-called "Forgeries of Lorch" v. MEDIEVAL HISTORIOGRAPHY ON MORAVIA I04 a. Tradition and evidence south of the Drava I04 b. Tradition and evidence north of the Danube!I8 VI. ARCHEOLOGY AND PHILOLOGY CONCERNING MORAVIA a. Evidence derived from archeology I4I b. Philological evidence I46 VII. CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX IX I 3 6!I 14 I8 2I 2I 27 3I 3I 76 86 86 97 I4I I59 I6I r65

PREFACE This study represents the unexpected outcome of an enquiry into the resources for the study of the medieval history of East Central Europe. While reading sources for a planned survey of medieval Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, it became apparent to me that many current presentations of the history of Bohemia and Moravia were not based on viable evidence. Sources pertaining to the lives of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, as well as those for the study of Moravia, had been subjected to unwarranted interpretations or emendations, other sources of significance had been entirely omitted from consideration, and finally, crucial formulations concerning Cyril and Methodius and Moravian history had been made in recent historiography without any basis in sources. Hen:e this study: an exercise in confronting the axioms of modern histori( 'graphy, philology and archaeology with the testimony of sources. My study is more of all introduction to the problems of Moravia's history than a set of fim 1 definitions and solutions. It will lead, necessarily, to a series of enquiries into the early history of several nations of East Central Europe, of the Church history of that region, and of various disciplines connected with the study of the Cyrillo-Methodian legacy. Several drafts of this study were presented to the Russian and East European Faculty Seminar of the University of Washington. I am very much indebted to the members of that seminar for their cooperation in shaping the final version of this study, but, above all, for their constant encouragement to publish it. I wish to add that the necessary visits to archives, libraries, archaeological sites, museums, and congresses were made possible by the generous grants of the Russian and East European Faculty Seminar and the Graduate School of the University of Washington. University of Washington Spring 1970