Avar-Slavic period 5th to 9th century – findings

The time of the arrival of the Slavs on our territory can be debated at length, and some political influence can be traced to this subject. While during the communist period this time was pushed back to the 4th century, nowadays it is more like the 6th century. Probably under the influence of Anglo-Saxon culture . It is likely that the first Slavs who came to us were "refugees" from the nomads who were pressing on these tribes in the east. In Bohemia they found remnants of the original Iron Age population and probably some Germans. It is possible that there was so much space that there was no need to fight over territory.

Behind the Slavs, a small but aggressive Avar alliance appeared. These nomads, of Turkic origin, managed to subdue a number of Slavic tribes. They often fought in the ranks of the Avar army. A series of wars between the Avars and the Byzantine or Frankish empires are described, and the Avars plagued Europe until 791. In this year the internally unstable Avar state was invaded by Charlemagne and essentially destroyed. The remnants of the Avars settled in the Principalities of Nitra and Blatno and slowly merged with the local population.

But we managed to get rid of the Avars ourselves. Here the person of the Frankish merchant Sam, who was to head a probably very loose Slavic tribal union, comes to historical light. We even have an accurate account of this: "In the fortieth year of the reign of Chlothar, a man named Sámo, a native Frank from the region of Senona, gathered a large number of merchants and went to the land of the Slavs called Vinids to trade. The Slavs had already begun to rebel against the Avars and against their king Kagan.".

We also know the date of the arrival of Samos on our territory: Sámo arrived with his heavily armed entourage in the fortieth year of the reign of the Frankish king Chlothar II, that is, in 623 to 624, just as the Slavic revolt against the Avars broke out. Why he came here, whether he was to support the rebellion and weaken the Avars or simply to protect his own business interests, we do not know.

Sámo thus became perhaps the first Bohemian ruler and created a huge empire with his size. This could not escape the attention of the Frankish Empire and during the reign of Dagobert I the battle of the fortress called Wogastisburg took place. Here the Franks were defeated. The site of this fortress has been searched for many years and its discovery would be a great sensation. But so far we are confined to the realm of speculation. For further developments in our territory we may quote: " Thus it happened that Sámo founded the firstSlavic empire. He then married twelve Slavic women, had twenty-two sons and fifteen daughters by them, and reigned happily for thirty-five years. After thedeath of Samos, however, darkness falls upon the annals. It is evident that the loose tribal union broke up, and with it the first Slavic empire on our territory ceased to exist.

It is often speculated on the fate of Sama's children, who were exaggerated. The conjectures go as far as the fact that the mythical founder of the Přemyslids, Přemysl Oráč is actually Sámo and the other Přemyslid princes are his descendants. However, linguistic similarities can also be found in the possibility of kinship with the Mojmir family ruling in the Great Moravian Empire. This similarity is literally offered, but there is no way to verify it in any way.

The Slavs brought their distinctive culture to our territory. However, with their relatively backward way of life, they quickly began to assimilate into the Central European conditions by associating with the much more developed Frankish Empire. They underwent the same change as the Germans who had appeared here about 5 centuries earlier. Gradually, the other ethnic groups that had previously resided here merged with the Slavic population. Nevertheless, the names of mountains, rivers or entire mountain ranges remain.