Morea, Chronicle of,and despot of 503send missionaries. CYRIL and Methodios arrived in
Moravia about 863.
GREAT MORAVIA AND BOHEMIAGreat Moravia reached its high point of power and
influence under Borivoj, or Svatopluk (870–894), who
ruled Bohemia, parts of POLAND, Silesia, PANNONIA, and
part of Saxony. The decline of this state began at the end
of the ninth century with discord among his successors
and tensions between the adherents of the liturgy in
Slavonic and those in favor of the Latin rite. In 906, the
army of Moravia was defeated by the Magyars and the
state collapsed.
Around 955, the Bohemian Boleslav I annexed
Moravia but it was conquered again in 1003 by BOLESLAV
THEGREAT(r. 992–1025) of Poland, was only taken by
Bohemia in 1019–20. Bretislav I (r. 1034–55) strength-
ened Moravia’s ties with Bohemia, built royal strongholds,
and created a centralized administration. The knights
who had come to Moravia with Bretislav acquired official
positions and supported themselves by property holdings
there, forming a new Moravian nobility.
THE PREMYSL DYNASTY AND SOCIETYIn the 12th century, a series of conflicts broke out between
the royal court at PRAGUEand the Moravian Premyslids.
Two Moravian Premysls gained power at Bohemia, Svato-
pluk (r. 1107–09) and Conrad II Otto (r. 1189–91). A
title, margrave of Moravia, was created at the end of the
12th century. By about 1200, the Moravian Premysls had
died out. From the time of Premysl Ottokar II (1253–78),
the king of Bohemia was also the margrave of Moravia.
In the 13th century the Moravian barons controlled
the local administration and soon claimed more political
power. From the 1220s, through the rest of century,
towns were founded by the king. German immigrants
colonized the countryside and populated new remote
areas at higher altitudes. Apart from frequent skirmishing
on the frontiers with AUSTRIAand HUNGARY, the only
serious warfare occurred during the invasion of the MON-
GOLSin 1241 and during the years of dynastic conflict
after the death of Premysl Ottokar II in 1278.
When the Premysl dynasty died out in 1306, the
throne of Bohemia and margravate of Moravia passed to
John of Luxembourg (r. 1310–46), son of the German
Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII (r. 1313). In 1334, John
gave the margravete to his son, the future king of
Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor CHARLESIV. In an act
as the Holy Roman Emperor on April 7, 1348, Charles
made Moravia part of the kingdom of Bohemia and part
of the lands of its Crown.
LATER MEDIEVAL CONFLICTSBy 1349, Charles IV was heavily involved in trying to
govern the empire, so he delegated Moravia to a younger
brother, John Henry (d. 1375). The region’s political and
economic life deteriorated under his successor, Josˇt (d.
1411), as part of the conflict with Wenceslas IV, king of
Bohemia (1378–1419), and his younger brother, Sigis-
mund of Luxembourg (1387–1432), king of Hungary.
Rival factions of the nobility threatened to take over
Moravia and internal social and religious conflicts
increased.
Ideas for the reform of the church were expressed in
Bohemia from the early 15th, centered on John HUS. His
ideas reached Moravia, but the populace remained faith-
ful to Sigismund and the church, as a result of the deci-
sive stance of the great royal towns dominated by
Germans. Moravia was soon transformed into an imperial
military staging area for attacks against Hussite Bohemia.
The Bohemian king, George of Podebrady (r. 1458–71),
tried to keep Moravia linked to Bohemia. Another cru-
sade against “heretical” Bohemia and the ensuing war
with Hungary made this difficult. Matthias CORVINUS, the
king of Hungary (1458–90), occupied a large part of
Moravia in 1469 and was elected king of Bohemia by the
nobility. After this Moravia remained detached from
Bohemia until the 16th century when it became linked
with the Austrians HABSBURGS.
Further reading: Francis Dvornik, The Making of
Central and Eastern Europe,2d ed. (Gulf Breeze, Fla.: Aca-
demic International Press, 1974); Imre Boba, Moravia’s
History Reconsidered: A Reinterpretation of Medieval
Sources(The Hague: Nijhoff, 1971); Ján Dekan, Moravia
Magna: The Great Moravian Empire, Its Art and Times,
trans. Heather Trebatická (Bratislava: Tatran, 1980); Josef
Zˇemlicˇka, “Moravia,” EMA2.985–986.Morea, Chronicle of,and despot of The four ver-
sions of the Chronicle of Moreaare the most important
sources for the history of the principalities of Achaia and
Morea between 1204 and 1430. The despotate of Morea
was a Frankish and later a Byzantine principality in the
Peloponnese in Greece. It was conquered by the Frankish
crusaders in 1204/05. Geoffroi of VILLEHARDOUINtook
over the province and established a princely dynasty
based on feudal ties bolstered with Western concepts of
nobility and CHIVALRY, but all supported by a traditional
Byzantine system of landholding. In the mid-13th cen-
tury a restored Byzantine Empire attacked the principality
and forced it to surrender the castle of MISTRAand parts
of the Peloponnese. Much of the rest of the Morea fell
under the influence of CHARLESI OFANJOU, king of
SICILY. Soon marriages between the last of the Ville-
hardouin line and the Angevins of NAPLESled to the
establishment of a Neapolitan colony. In the 14th century
VENICEacquired large parts of the Morea and became the
dominant power in the principality. However, companies
of Catalan mercenary soldiers conquered other portions