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A historical representation of King Svatopluk

Svatopluk I^[1] (around 830 - 894) from the House of Mojmír was the prince of the Principality of Nitra (850s - 871) and then the king of Great Moravia (871 - 894). Under his rule Great Moravia reached its maximum territorial expansion.

The papal bull Industriae Tuae addressed to Svatopluk I

Svatopluk originally ruled in Nitra under the suzerainty of his uncle Rastislav, King of Great Moravia. Because of a dispute with Rastislav, Svatopluk allied himself to the son of the Eastern Frankish king Louis the German, Carloman in 870. After escaping an attempt on his life, Svatopluk launched open rebellion against his uncle and eventually he captured Rastislav. In the same year, Carloman accused him of breaking his oath of loyalty and imprisoned him in Bavaria. At the head of the popular resistance against the subsequent Frankish occupation stood up the priest Slavomír from the House of Mojmír. Svatopluk was quickly released and sent with Frankish reinforcement back to Great Moravia. But he secretly allied himself with Slavomír and after defeating the Frankish forces, he became the sovereign ruler of Great Moravia in 871. Three years later (874), he concluded peace with Louis the German and his sons. In 880, Pope John VIII took up his kingdom "under the protection of St. Peter", which meant a status of legal equality to the Eastern Frankish Empire. The Pope also set up an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Methodius as its head and created a bishopric in Nitra.

In 871, the fraternal joint margraves of the Marcha Orientalis (later Austria), William and Engelschalk I, invaded Moravia and campaigned against Svatopluk. Later, in 882, Engelschalk II, the elder Engelschalk's son, rebelled against the new margrave Aribo of Austria and ignited the so-called Wilhelminer War. Svatopluk entered the conflict on the side of Aribo. He invaded Pannonia, where Arnulf of Carinthia was sheltering the Wilhelminers, and demanded that the sons of the late margraves be handed over for their offences against Moravia and against their liege the emperor, Charles the Fat. He captured one son and mutilated him, but for two years the conflict saw no progress on either side. Finally, at Kaumberg, in 884, he took oaths of fidelity to the emperor, but did not accord peace to Arnulf until late 885.

Similarly to his predecessor, Svatopluk I used the title of the king (rex). He subjected many neighbouring lands inhabited by Slavic tribes: Vistulans (southern part of Poland) (874), Silesia (880), Tisza basin (881), Balaton principality (883), Bohemia and Lusatian Serbia (890). Under his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. Svatopluk's empire withstood several attacks of proto-Magyar nomads (after 889) and of Bulgarians. He fought against Arnulf of Carinthia, the East Frankish king, in the years 883-884, 888-889, 892, 893. Arnulf named his son Zwentibold after him ("Zwentibold" being a Frankish transcription of "Svatopluk"). Svatopluk I undermined religious independence of Great Moravia because he did not even try to prevent papal legates from expelling disciples of Saint Methodius. In liturgy, Svatopluk personally preferred the use of Latin over Old Church Slavonic. King Svatopluk I died in 894. Up to his death, the Pope addressed him as "dilectus filius" in his correspondence, a title hitherto reserved to Frankish and Byzantine Emperors.

Svatopluk I with three twigs according legend of Svatopluk's twigs and his three sons Mojmír II, Svatopluk II and Predstav.

The legend of Svatopluk's twigs appeared in a fairy tale by the enlightened Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos around the 10th century.

It says that the powerful Great Moravian king Svatopluk asked his sons to come to him before his death. He gave a twig to each of them and asked them to break it. The young noblemen could easily do it. Then he asked them to tie together three twigs and asked the sons again to break them. This task appeared to be more difficult. Thus the king demonstrated how it is necessary to be united. That only the strength of a united kingdom guarantees the country its power and prosperity.

Great Moravia was divided among the three brothers in 894 in spite of their father's warning. The country, weakened by wars, was destroyed in 907 by a Hungarian attack.

In contrast to that story, Frankish chroniclers mention only two Svatopluk's sons by name: Mojmír II and Svatopluk II. On the other hand, a list of pilgrims scribbled in the 9th century on the margins of a Gospel book in Cividale del Friuli suggests that Svatopluk I indeed had a third son, called Predslav.

• MacLean, Simon. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire. Cambridge University Press: 2003.