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136-473: Kluge House , also known as Maverick House , is a rare example of Silesian fachwerk , log and half-timber construction, located in Helena, Montana . In mid-1964 the home was almost destroyed as a fire hazard as it had fallen into disrepair and transients were living in it. A shed is attached to the north side of the house. The second floor was built in 1882. Prior to that Kluge had apparently done significant work on

272-477: A "Great" Moravia at the southern Morava river in present-day Serbia, and another Moravia on the northern Morava river in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia. A similar theory was also published by Toru Senga. In the 1990s, the southern thesis was further developed by Charles Bowlus, who wrote that Moravia emerged in the region of the "confluences of the Drava , Sava , Drina , Tisza and southern Morava rivers with

408-574: A Moravian ruler. Carantanians (ancestors of present-day Slovenians ) were the first Slavic people to accept Christianity from the West. They were mostly Christianized by Irish missionaries sent by the Archdiocese of Salzburg, among them Modestus , known as the "Apostle of Carantanians". This process was later described in the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, which states that Mojmír , "duke of

544-655: A contractor, but also as a gold prospector, constable, and Justice of the Peace . He was an officer in one of Helena's Masonic lodges and was a member of the Odd Fellows . Kluge resided in Helena until his death, September 26, 1924. [REDACTED] Media related to Kluge House at Wikimedia Commons Silesia Silesia (see names below ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland , with small parts in

680-486: A journey of two days from Belgrade; and beyond lies great Moravia, the unbaptized, which the [Hungarians] have blotted out, but over which in former days [Svatopluk] used to rule. Such are the landmarks and names along the Danube river [...]. The work of Porphyrogenitos is the only nearly contemporaneous source using the adjective "great" in connection with Moravia. Other documents from the 9th and 10th centuries never used

816-635: A majority ethnic Polish population, was awarded to Poland, becoming the Silesian Voivodeship . The Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany was then divided into the provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia . Meanwhile, Austrian Silesia , the small portion of Silesia retained by Austria after the Silesian Wars , was mostly awarded to the new Czechoslovakia (becoming known as Czech Silesia and Trans-Olza ), although most of Cieszyn and territory to

952-559: A network of forced labour camps solely for Poles ( Polenlager ), subcamps of prisons, POW camps and of the Gross-Rosen and Auschwitz concentration camps. The Potsdam Conference of 1945 defined the Oder-Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland, pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. At the end of WWII, Germans in Silesia fled from

1088-558: A peace treaty with Louis the Child in 901. Due to the lack of documentary evidence, the year in which Moravia ceased to exist cannot be determined with certainty. Róna-Tas writes that the Hungarians occupied Moravia in 902, Victor Spinei says that this happened in 903 or 904, while according to Spiesz, the Moravian state ceased to exist in 907. The Raffelstetten Customs Regulations , which

1224-586: A period of intense immigration from Silesia to the United States), considered Silesian as a geographical (not ethnic) term, denoting the inhabitants of Silesia. It is also mentioned the existence of both Polish Silesian and German Silesian dialects in that region. Modern Silesia is inhabited by Poles , Silesians , Germans , and Czechs . Germans first came to Silesia during the Late Medieval Ostsiedlung . The last Polish census of 2011 showed that

1360-729: A raid by the Magyars and the Kabars in East Francia in 881. According to Gyula Kristó and other historians, Svatopluk initiated this raid, because his relations with Arnulf—the son of Carloman, King of East Francia ( r.   876–881), who administered the March of Pannonia—became tense. Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg clearly accused the Moravians of hiring "a large number of Hungarians" and sending them against East Francia at an unspecified date. During

1496-694: A result of immigration from German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire . The first granting of municipal privileges in Poland took place in the region, with the granting of rights for Złotoryja by Henry the Bearded. Medieval municipal rights modeled after Lwówek Śląski and Środa Śląska , both established by Henry the Bearded, became the basis of municipal form of government for several cities and towns in Poland, and two of five local Polish variants of medieval town rights. The Book of Henryków , which contains

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1632-644: A result of German occupation the entire region was under control of Nazi Germany . In 1945, after World War II , most of the German-held Silesia was transferred to Polish jurisdiction by the Potsdam Agreement between the victorious Allies and became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet -installed communist regime . The small Lusatian strip west of the Oder–Neisse line , which had belonged to Silesia since 1815, became part of East Germany . As

1768-484: A short period, his suzerainty. On the other hand, the existence of the archaeologically attested shared cultural zones between Moravia, Lesser Poland and Silesia do not prove that the northern boundaries of Moravia were located over these territories. According to archaeologist Béla Miklós Szőke, the comitatus of Mosaburg in Pannonia was never part of Moravia. Neither archaeological finds nor written sources substantiate

1904-443: A thriving agricultural sector, which produces cereals (wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn), potatoes, rapeseed, sugar beets and others. Milk production is well developed. The Opole Silesia has for decades occupied the top spot in Poland for their indices of effectiveness of agricultural land use. Mountainous parts of southern Silesia feature many significant and attractive tourism destinations (e.g., Karpacz , Szczyrk , Wisła ). Silesia

2040-588: Is Opole . The biggest metropolitan area is the Katowice metropolitan area , the centre of which is Katowice . Parts of the Czech city of Ostrava and the German city of Görlitz are within Silesia's borders. Silesia's borders and national affiliation have changed over time, both when it was a hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states , resulting in an abundance of castles , especially in

2176-664: Is dated to 822 when the emperor "received embassies and presents from all the East Slavs, that is, Obodrites , Sorbs , Wilzi , Bohemians , Moravians and Praedenecenti, and from the Avars living in Pannonia " at an assembly held at Frankfurt . The late-9th-century Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum ("The Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians") makes the first reference to

2312-560: Is different from Upper Silesia in many respects as its population was predominantly German-speaking from around the mid 19th century until 1945–48. In the fourth century BC from the south, through the Kłodzko Valley , the Celts entered Silesia, and settled around Mount Ślęża near modern Wrocław , Oława and Strzelin . Germanic Lugii tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century BC. West Slavs and Lechites arrived in

2448-466: Is generally well forested. This is because greenness is generally highly desirable by the local population, particularly in the highly industrialized parts of Silesia. Silesia has been historically diverse in every aspect. Nowadays, the largest part of Silesia is located in Poland; it is often cited as one of the most diverse regions in that country. The United States Immigration Commission, in its Dictionary of Races or Peoples (published in 1911, during

2584-653: Is nearing extinction due to its speakers' expulsion. The names of Silesia in different languages most likely share their etymology— Polish : Śląsk [ɕlɔ̃sk] ; German : Schlesien [ˈʃleːzi̯ən] ; Czech : Slezsko [ˈslɛsko] ; Lower Silesian : Schläsing ; Silesian : Ślōnsk [ɕlonsk] ; Lower Sorbian : Šlazyńska [ˈʃlazɨnʲska] ; Upper Sorbian : Šleska [ˈʃlɛska] ; Slovak : Sliezsko ; Kashubian : Sląsk ; Latin , Spanish and English: Silesia ; French: Silésie ; Dutch : Silezië ; Italian : Slesia . The names all relate to

2720-695: Is now part of the Czech Republic, forming part of the Moravian-Silesian Region and the northern part of the Olomouc Region . Germany retains the Silesia-Lusatia region ( Niederschlesien-Oberlausitz or Schlesische Oberlausitz ) west of the Neisse , which is part of the federal state of Saxony . The region was affected by the 1997 , 2010 and 2024 Central European floods. Most of Silesia

2856-747: Is presented by Püspöki-Nagy and Senga, who write that the reference to the Merehanii —who obviously inhabited the southern regions of the Great Hungarian Plains to the north of the Danube, but south of the territories dominated by the Bulgars—and their 30 fortresses shows the existence of another Moravia in Central Europe. Among the Bohemians are 15 fortresses. The [Marharii] have 11 fortresses. The region of

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2992-471: Is reached only via an exterior staircase. The house has a brick fireplace. The first floor has an entrance vestibule and two rooms of dissimilar size. The smaller room has a hatch leading to a cellar. The second floor has a floor plan that is very similar to that of the first floor but it is reversed, i.e., two rooms and a vestibule. Floors are wooden. Emil Kluge was born March 28, 1845, in Prussia. Kluge served in

3128-664: Is relatively flat, although its southern border is generally mountainous. It is primarily located in a swath running along both banks of the upper and middle Oder (Odra) River, but it extends eastwards to the upper Vistula River. The region also includes many tributaries of the Oder, including the Bóbr (and its tributary the Kwisa ), the Barycz and the Nysa Kłodzka . The Sudeten Mountains run along most of

3264-510: Is the Czech and Slovak name for both the river and the country, presumably the river name being primary and giving name to the surrounding country. The ending -ava, as in many other Czech and Slovak rivers, is most often regarded as Slavicization of the originally Germanic -ahwa (= modern German "Au" or "-a"), cognate to Latin aqua. Some scholars again link it, via Celtic -ab, to Indo-European PIE *apa / *opa ("water, sea"). The root mor- might be also connected with other Indo-European words with

3400-506: Is unknown, but it occurred between 902 and 907. Moravia experienced significant cultural development under King Rastislav , with the arrival in 863 of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. After his request for missionaries had been refused in Rome, Rastislav asked the Byzantine emperor to send a "teacher" (učiteľ) to introduce literacy and a legal system (pravьda) to Great Moravia. The request

3536-621: The Bohemian Crown which was part of the Holy Roman Empire; however, a number of duchies remained under the rule of the Polish dukes from the houses of Piast, Jagiellon and Sobieski as formal Bohemian fiefdoms , some until the 17th–18th centuries. In 1469, sovereignty over the region passed to Hungary , and in 1490, it returned to Bohemia. In 1526 Silesia passed with the Bohemian Crown to

3672-669: The Brynica River, which separates it from Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in the Lesser Poland region. However, to many Poles today, Silesia ( Śląsk ) is understood to cover all of the area around Katowice, including Zagłębie. This interpretation is given official sanction in the use of the name Silesian Voivodeship ( województwo śląskie ) for the province covering this area. In fact, the word Śląsk in Polish (when used without qualification) now commonly refers exclusively to this area (also called Górny Śląsk or Upper Silesia). As well as

3808-599: The Bulgars is immense. That numerous people has five fortresses, since their great multitude does not require fortresses. The people called [Merehanii] have 30 fortresses. According to a 13th-century source, the History of the Bishops of Passau and the Dukes of Bavaria , Bishop Reginhar of Passau ( r.   818–838) baptized "all of the Moravians" in 831. There is no other information on

3944-584: The Czech Republic and Germany . Its area is approximately 40,000 km (15,400 sq mi), and the population is estimated at 8,000,000. Silesia is split into two main subregions, Lower Silesia in the west and Upper Silesia in the east. Silesia has a diverse culture, including architecture , costumes , cuisine , traditions, and the Silesian language (minority in Upper Silesia). The largest city of

4080-668: The Danube ". Bowlus emphasized that the orientation of the Frankish marcher organization was focused on the south-east territories, which also supports Great Moravia's southern position. Martin Eggers suggested the original location of Moravia was centered around modern Banat at the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Mureș ('Moriš' in Serbian), with further expansions extending to the territories in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia . The earliest possible reference to Slavic tribes living in

4216-636: The Diocese of Kraków . The Duchy of Krosno Odrzańskie ( Crossen ) was inherited by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1476 and with the renunciation of King Ferdinand I and the estates of Bohemia in 1538, became an integral part of Brandenburg. From 1645 until 1666, the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz was held in pawn by the Polish House of Vasa as dowry of the Polish queen Cecylia Renata . In 1742, most of Silesia

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4352-600: The First Bulgarian Empire . Although the borders of this empire cannot be exactly determined, Moravia reached its largest territorial extent under prince Svatopluk I ( Slovak : Svätopluk ), who ruled from 870 to 894. Separatism and internal conflicts emerging after Svatopluk's death contributed to the fall of Great Moravia, which was overrun by the Hungarians , who then included the territory of present-day Slovakia in their domains. The exact date of Moravia's collapse

4488-561: The Habsburg monarchy . In the 15th century, several changes were made to Silesia's borders. Parts of the territories that had been transferred to the Silesian Piasts in 1178 were bought by the Polish kings in the second half of the 15th century (the Duchy of Oświęcim in 1457; the Duchy of Zator in 1494). The Bytom area remained in the possession of the Silesian Piasts, though it was a part of

4624-473: The Jelenia Góra valley . The first known states to hold power in Silesia were probably those of Greater Moravia at the end of the 9th century and Bohemia early in the 10th century. In the 10th century, Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, and after its fragmentation in the 12th century it formed the Duchy of Silesia , a provincial duchy of Poland. As a result of further fragmentation, Silesia

4760-674: The March of Pannonia , against Louis the German in 853. The Frankish monarch retaliated by invading Moravia in 855. According to the Annals of Fulda , the Moravians were "defended by strong fortifications", and the Franks withdrew without defeating them, though the combats lasted until a peace treaty was worked out in 859. The truce is regarded as a stalemate and shows the growing strength of Rastislav's realm. Conflicts between Moravia and East Francia continued for years. For instance, Rastislav supported Louis

4896-776: The Middle Danube , dated to around 550. Large territories in the Pannonian Basin were conquered after 568 by the nomadic Avars who had arrived from the Eurasian Steppes . The Slavs were forced to pay tribute to the Avars and to participate in their raids against the Byzantine Empire , the Franks and the Lombards . Even though the Avar settlement area stabilized on the Danube river in

5032-532: The Province of Silesia in 1815, in Germany Görlitz , Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and neighbouring areas are considered parts of historical Silesia. Those districts, along with Poland's Lower Silesian Voivodeship and parts of Lubusz Voivodeship, make up the geographic region of Lower Silesia. Silesia has undergone a similar notional extension at its eastern extreme. Historically, it extended only as far as

5168-401: The bull Industriae tuae for Svatopluk whom he addressed as "glorious count" (gloriosus comes) . In the bull, the pope refers to Svatopluk as "the only son" ( unicus fillius ) of the Holy See, thus applying a title which had up to that time been only used in papal correspondence with emperors and candidates for imperial rank. The pope explicitly granted the protection of the Holy See to

5304-405: The " Wilhelminer War "—a civil war between two factions of local noblemen in the March of Pannonia which lasted from 882 and 884—Svatopluk "collected troops from all the Slav lands" and invaded Pannonia. According to the Bavarian version of the Annals of Fulda , the Moravians' invasion "led to Pannonia's being laid waste" to the east of the river Rába . However, Regino of Prüm states that it

5440-400: The "boy" Svatopluk II was rescued by Bavarian forces "from the dungeon of the city in which he was held with his men" in 899. According to Bartl, who wrote that Svatopluk II had inherited the "Principality of Nitra" from his father, the Bavarians also destroyed the fortress at Nitra on this occasion. According to most nearly contemporaneous sources, the Hungarians played a prominent role in

5576-441: The 16th-century Johannes Aventinus , writes that the Hungarians had by that time controlled wide regions to east of the rivers Hron and Danube in the Carpathian Basin. A letter of Theotmar of Salzburg and his suffragans evidences that around 900 the Moravians and the Bavarians accused each other of having formed alliances, even by taking oaths "by the means of a dog and a wolf and through other abominable and pagan customs", with

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5712-523: The 17th–18th centuries. As a result of the Silesian Wars , the region was annexed by the German state of Prussia from Austria in 1742. After World War I , when the Poles and Czechs regained their independence, the easternmost part of Upper Silesia became again part of Poland by the decision of the Entente Powers after insurrections by Poles and the Upper Silesian plebiscite , while the remaining former Austrian parts of Silesia were divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland. During World War II , as

5848-537: The 1970s under the People's Republic of Poland . During this period, Silesia became one of the world's largest producers of coal, with a record tonnage in 1979. Coal mining declined during the next two decades, but has increased again following the end of Communist rule. The 41 coal mines in Silesia are mostly part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin , which lies in the Silesian Upland. The coalfield has an area of about 4,500 km (1,700 sq mi). Deposits in Lower Silesia have proven to be difficult to exploit and

5984-404: The 19th century and the early 20th century can be found in Table 2.: (67.2%) (62.0%) (62.6%) (62.1%) (58.6%) (58.1%) (58.1%) (58.6%) (58.7%) (57.3%) (59.1%) Greater Moravia Its core territory is the region now called Moravia in the eastern part of the Czech Republic alongside the Morava River , which gave its name to the kingdom. The kingdom saw

6120-428: The 9th century contain almost no information on the internal affairs of Moravia. Only two legal texts—the Nomocanon and the Court Law for the People —have been preserved. The former is a translation of a collection of Byzantine ecclesiastical law ; the latter is based on the 8th-century Byzantine law code known as Ecloga . Both were completed by Methodius shortly before his death in 885. In addition to

6256-437: The 9th century obviously had limited knowledge of the geography of distant regions of Central Europe. Furthermore, Moravian monarchs adopted an expansionist policy in the 830s, thus the borders of their realm often changed. Moravia reached the peak of its territorial expansion under Svatopluk I ( r.   870–894). Lesser Poland , Pannonia and other regions were forced to accept, at least formally and often only for

6392-507: The Avars in the last decade of the 8th century which caused the collapse of the Avar Khaganate . The Royal Frankish Annals narrates that Avars who "could not stay in their previous dwelling places on account of the attacks of the Slavs" approached Charlemagne in Aachen in 805 and asked to be allowed to settle in the lowlands along the river Rába . Following the collapse of the Avar Khaganate, swords and other elements of Frankish military equipment became popular in territories to

6528-456: The Danube and again invaded Moravia in August 864. He besieged Rastislav "in a certain city, which in the language of that people is called Dowina", according to the Annals of Fulda . Although the Franks could not take the fortress, Rastislav agreed to accept Louis the German's suzerainty. However, he continued to support the Frankish monarch's opponents. For instance, Louis the German deprived one Count Werner "of his public offices", because

6664-485: The Danube. However, its formation is scarcely described by contemporaneous sources. The archaeologist Barford writes that the first report of the emerging Moravian state was recorded in 811. In the autumn of this year, according to the Royal Frankish Annals , Avar rulers and the duces or "leaders of the Slavs who live along the Danube" visited the court of Emperor Louis the Pious ( r.   814–840) in Aachen. The earliest certain reference to Moravians or Maravani

6800-401: The Franks and Bulgarians. Upon his request, the emperor sent two brothers, Constantine and Methodius —the future Saints Cyril and Methodius—who spoke the Slavic dialect of the region of Thessaloniki to Moravia in 863. Constantine's Life narrates that he developed the first Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into Old Church Slavonic around that time. Louis the German crossed

6936-428: The German's son, Carloman , in his rebellion against his father in 861. The first record of a raid by the Magyars in Central Europe seems to have been connected to these events. According to the Annals of St. Bertin , "enemies called Hungarians" ravaged Louis the German's kingdom in 862, which suggests that they supported Carloman. Rastislav wanted to weaken influence of Frankish priests in his realm, who served

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7072-538: The German, which ended with a peace treaty concluded at Forchheim in May 874. According to the Annals of Fulda , at Forchheim Svatopluk's envoy promised that Svatopluk "would remain faithful" to Louis the German "all the days of his life", and the Moravian ruler was also obliged to pay a yearly tribute to East Francia. In the meantime, Archbishop Methodius, who had been released upon the demand of Pope John VIII ( r.   872–882) in 873, returned to Moravia. Methodius's Life narrates that "Prince Svatopluk and all

7208-545: The German] ordered the Bavarians to assist Carloman, who wished to fight against [Svatopluk], the nephew of [Rastislav]. He himself kept the Franks and Alemans with him to fight against [Rastislav]. When it was already time to set out he fell ill, and was compelled to leave the leadership of the army to Charles his youngest son and commend the outcome to God. Charles, when he came with the army with which he had been entrusted to [Rastislav's] huge fortification, quite unlike any built in olden times, with God's help burnt with fire all

7344-729: The Holocaust and had returned to Silesia. The newly formed Polish United Workers' Party created a Ministry of the Recovered Territories that claimed half of the available arable land for state-run collectivized farms. Many of the new Polish Silesians who resented the Germans for their invasion in 1939 and brutality in occupation now resented the newly formed Polish communist government for their population shifting and interference in agricultural and industrial affairs. The administrative division of Silesia within Poland has changed several times since 1945. Since 1999, it has been divided between Lubusz Voivodeship , Lower Silesian Voivodeship , Opole Voivodeship , and Silesian Voivodeship . Czech Silesia

7480-527: The Holy See never denied Methodius's orthodoxy , in 880 the Pope appointed his main opponent, Wiching , as bishop of Nitra upon the request of Svatopluk, who himself preferred the Latin rite. A letter written around 900 by Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg ( r.   873–907) and his suffragan bishops mentions that the pope sent Wiching to "a newly baptized people" whom Svatopluk "had defeated in war and converted from paganism to Christianity". Other sources also prove that Svatopluk significantly expanded

7616-421: The Hungarians. According to Liudprand of Cremona , the Hungarians already "claimed for themselves the nation of the Moravians, which King Arnulf had subdued with the aid of their might" at the coronation of Arnulf's son, Louis the Child , in 900. The Annals of Grado adds that a large Hungarian army "attacked and invaded" the Moravians in 900. Facing the threat of further Hungarian attacks, Mojmír II concluded

7752-424: The Katowice area, historical Upper Silesia also includes the Opole region (Poland's Opole Voivodeship) and Czech Silesia. Czech Silesia consists of a part of the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Jeseník District in the Olomouc Region . Silesia is a resource-rich and populous region. Since the middle of the 18th century, coal has been mined. The industry had grown while Silesia was part of Germany, and peaked in

7888-402: The Lower Pannonian region, also known as the Balaton Principality, which was referred to in Latin sources as Carantanorum regio, or "The Land of the Carantanians". The name Carantanians (Quarantani) was in use until the 13th century. Kocel's decision to support Methodius represented a complete break with his father's pro-Frankish policy. Svatopluk had by that time been administering what had been

8024-431: The Morava river forms the Czech-Slovak frontier), into two regions—the Záluží region on the Morava's western (Czech) bank and Záhorie on its eastern (Slovak) bank. Záhorie also boasts the only surviving building from Great Moravian times, the chapel at Kopčany just across the Morava from the archaeological site of Mikulčice (these two important Great Moravian places are now connected by a bridge). The core of Great Moravia

8160-427: The Moravian monarch, his officials and subjects. Furthermore, the bull also confirmed Methodius's position as the head of the church in Moravia with jurisdiction over all clergymen, including the Frankish priests, in Svatopluk's realm and Old Church Slavonic was recognized as the fourth liturgical language together with Latin , Greek and Hebrew . The longer version of the Annals of Salzburg makes mention of

8296-427: The Moravians are twice mentioned in the text: first as Marhari , and next as Merehani . He says, that the reference to the Marhari and their 11 fortresses was made between 817 and 843, and the note of the Merehani shows the actual state under Svatopluk I. In contrast with Havlík, Steinhübel together with Třeštík and Vlasto identify the Merehani with the inhabitants of the Principality of Nitra. A third view

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8432-427: The Moravians" decided to entrust "to him all the churches and clergy in all the towns" in Moravia upon his arrival. In Moravia, Methodius continued the work of translation started in his brother's life. For instance, he translated "all the Scriptures in full, save Maccabees ", according to his Life . However, Frankish priests in Moravia opposed the Slavic liturgy and even accused Methodius of heresy . Although

8568-454: The Moravians", expelled "one Pribina " across the Danube. Pribina fled to Ratpot who administered the March of Pannonia from around 833. Whether Pribina had up to that time been an independent ruler or one of Mojmir's officials is a matter of scholarly discussion. For instance, Urbańczyk writes that Mojmir and Pribina were two of the many Moravian princes in the early 9th century, while according to Havlík, Třeštík and Vlasto, Pribina

8704-426: The Old Polish words ślęg [ɕlɛŋk] or śląg [ɕlɔŋk] , which means dampness, moisture, or humidity. They disagree with the hypothesis of an origin for the name Śląsk from the name of the Silings tribe, an etymology preferred by some German authors. In Polish common usage, "Śląsk" refers to traditionally Polish Upper Silesia and today's Silesian Voivodeship , but less to Lower Silesia, which

8840-499: The Pious at the Battle of Legnica , which took place at Legnickie Pole near the city of Legnica . Upon the death of Orda Khan , the Mongols chose not to press forward further into Europe, but returned east to participate in the election of a new Grand Khan (leader). Between 1289 and 1292, Bohemian king Wenceslaus II became suzerain of some of the Upper Silesian duchies. Polish monarchs had not renounced their hereditary rights to Silesia until 1335. The province became part of

8976-442: The Principality of Nitra, under his uncle Rastislav's suzerainty, but contemporaneous documents do not reveal the exact location of Svatopluk's successorial territory. Frankish troops invaded both Rastislav's and Svatopluk's realms in August 869. According to the Annals of Fulda , the Franks destroyed many forts, defeated Moravian troops and seized loot. However, they could not take Rastislav's main fortress and withdrew. [Louis

9112-465: The Second World War, Silesia was inhabited mostly by Germans, with Poles a large minority, forming a majority in Upper Silesia . Silesia was also the home of Czech and Jewish minorities. The German population tended to be based in the urban centres and in the rural areas to the north and west, whilst the Polish population was mostly rural and could be found in the east and in the south. Ethnic structure of Prussian Upper Silesia ( Opole regency) during

9248-412: The Silesian Piasts, although their population was primarily Vistulan and not of Silesian descent. Walloons came to Silesia as one of the first foreign immigrant groups in Poland , probably settling in Wrocław since the 12th century, with further Walloon immigrants invited by Duke Henry the Bearded in the early 13th century. Since the 13th century, German cultural and ethnic influence increased as

9384-465: The Silesian mountain region (Hirschberg, Schneekoppe). After World War I, a part of Silesia, Upper Silesia , was contested by Germany and the newly independent Second Polish Republic . The League of Nations organized a plebiscite to decide the issue in 1921. It resulted in 60% of votes being cast for Germany and 40% for Poland. Following the third Silesian uprising (1921), however, the easternmost portion of Upper Silesia (including Katowice), with

9520-494: The Silesians are the largest ethnic or national minority in Poland, Germans being the second; both groups are located mostly in Upper Silesia. The Czech part of Silesia is inhabited by Czechs, Moravians , Silesians, and Poles . In the early 19th century the population of the Prussian part of Silesia was between 2/3 and 3/4 German-speaking, between 1/5 and 1/3 Polish-speaking, with Sorbs , Czechs , Moravians and Jews forming other smaller minorities (see Table 1. below). Before

9656-462: The Slavs"), suggesting that Svatopluk had by the end of 885 been crowned king. Likewise, Frankish annals occasionally referred to Svatopluk as king in connection with events occurring in this period. The Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea —a late-12th-century source with questionable reliability —narrates that one "Sventopelk" was crowned king "on the field of Dalma" in the presence of a papal legate. Moravia reached its maximum territorial extent in

9792-580: The White Carpathians and the Chřiby mountains, has retained its non-Czech identity in its designation "Slovácko" which shows common origins with the name of the neighbouring Slovakia—a token of a past shared identity in Great Moravian times. This core region of Great Moravia along the river has retained a unique culture with a rich folklore tradition: the above-mentioned Slovácko stretches, to the south (where

9928-486: The ancient customs", which shows that pagan rites were continued for decades even after 831. According to the Annals of Fulda , around August 15, 846, Louis the German , King of East Francia ( r.   843–876) launched a campaign "against the Moravian Slavs, who were planning to defect". The exact circumstances of his expedition are unclear. For instance, Vlasto writes that the Frankish monarch took advantage of

10064-578: The archaeologist Florin Curta , the sword was produced by a Frankish artisan from the Carolingian Empire . On the other hand, Ján Dekan writes that it represents how Moravian craftsmen selected "elements from the ornamental content of Carolingian art which suited their aesthetic needs and traditions". Moravia, the first Western Slavic polity, arose through the unification of the Slavic tribes settled north of

10200-400: The area's unprofitable mines were closed in 2000. In 2008, an estimated 35 billion tonnes of lignite reserves were found near Legnica, making them some of the largest in the world. From the fourth century BC, iron ore has been mined in the upland areas of Silesia. The same period had lead, copper, silver, and gold mining. Zinc, cadmium, arsenic, and uranium have also been mined in

10336-453: The banishment of the orthodox fathers, and for the torments inflicted on the latter by the heretics with whom they acquiesced. In a few years the Magyars came, a people of Peonia, sacked their land and devastated it. But [Methodius's disciples] were not captured by the Magyars for they fled to the Bulgarians. However, the land remained desolate under the rule of the Magyars. Written sources from

10472-587: The battle ground, assuming they would be able to return when the war was over. However, they could not return, and those who had stayed were expelled and a new Polish population, including people displaced from former Eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union and from Central Poland, joined the surviving native Polish inhabitants of the region. After 1945 and in 1946, nearly all of the 4.5 million Silesians of German descent fled, or were interned in camps and expelled, including some thousand German Jews who survived

10608-553: The borders of East Francia in a north-to-south order—mentions that the Moravians or Marharii had 11 fortresses or civitates . The document locates the Marhari between the Bohemians and the Bulgars, and also makes mention of the Merehani and their 30 fortresses. According to Havlík, who writes that Conversion is a consolidated version of notes made by several authors in different years,

10744-654: The borders of his realm. For instance, according to the Life of Methodius , Moravia "began to expand much more into all lands and to defeat its enemies successfully" in the period beginning around 874. The same source writes of a "very powerful pagan prince settled on the Vistula " in present-day Poland who persecuted the Christians in his country, but was attacked and seized by Svatopluk. Upon Methodius's request, in June 880 Pope John issued

10880-466: The borders of the Byzantine Empire. Finally, the historian Lubomír E. Havlík writes that Byzantine scholars used this adjective when referring to homelands of nomadic peoples, as demonstrated by the term " Great Bulgaria ". [There] is Belgrade , in which is the tower of the holy and great Constantine, the emperor ; then, again, at the running back of the river, is the renowned Sirmium by name,

11016-630: The circumstances of this mass conversion. Vlasto writes that Mojmír had by that time been converted to Christianity; according to Petr Sommer and other historians, he was also baptized on this occasion. All the same, the Life of Methodius narrates that Christian missionaries had by the 860s arrived in Moravia "from among the Italians , Greeks and Germans " who taught them " in various ways ". The Life of Constantine adds that missionaries from East Francia did not forbid "the offering of sacrifices according to

11152-475: The count was suspected to have conspired with Rastislav against the king. The Byzantine brothers, Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius, visited Rome in 867. At the end of the year, Pope Hadrian II ( r.   867–872) sanctioned their translations of liturgical texts and ordained six of their disciples as priests. The pope informed three prominent Slavic rulers—Rastislav, his nephew, Svatopluk and Kocel , who administered Lower Pannonia —of his approval of

11288-550: The description of the travel of Cyril and Methodius from Moravia to Venice through Pannonia in the Life of Cyril ) also substantiate the traditional view. These Maroara have to the west of them the Thyringas and some Behemas and half the Begware, and south them on the other side of the Danube river is the land Carendre extending south as far as the mountains called the Alps. ... To

11424-538: The development of the local Slavs accelerated. The first Slavic fortified settlements were built in present-day Moravia as early as the last decades of the 7th century. From the end of the 7th century, it is possible to register the rise of a new social elite in Moravia, Slovakia and Bohemia—the warrior horsemen. The social organization of the local Slavs continued to grow during the 8th century, which can be documented by further building and development of fortified settlements. In Moravia, they unambiguously concentrate around

11560-520: The earliest known sentence written in the Polish language, as well as a document which contains the oldest printed text in Polish, were created in Henryków and Wrocław in Silesia, respectively. In 1241, the Mongols conducted their first invasion of Poland , causing widespread panic and mass flight. They looted much of the region and defeated the combined Polish, Moravian and German forces led by Duke Henry II

11696-423: The early period of the khaganate (southern border of present-day Slovakia), a smaller (southernmost) part came under their direct military control after the fall of Samo's empire. In the late period of the khaganate, the Avars had already inclined to a more settled lifestyle and their co-existence with the local Slavs can be already characterized as some kind of cultural symbiosis. In the 7th and 8th centuries,

11832-460: The east of it went to Poland. Polish Silesia was among the first regions invaded during Germany's 1939 attack on Poland , which started World War II . One of the claimed goals of Nazi German occupation , particularly in Upper Silesia, was the extermination of those whom Nazis viewed as " subhuman ", namely Jews and ethnic Poles. The Polish and Jewish population of the then Polish part of Silesia

11968-521: The east of the land Carendre, beyond the uninhabited district, is the land of the Pulgare, and east of that is the land of Greeks. To the east of the land of Maroara is the land of the Vistula, and east of that are those Datia who were formerly Goths. The borders of Moravia cannot exactly be determined because of the lack of accurate contemporaneous sources. For instance, the monks writing the Annals of Fulda in

12104-513: The fall of Moravia. For instance, Regino of Prüm writes that Svatopluk I's "sons held his kingdom for a short and unhappy time, because the Hungarians utterly destroyed everything in it". The Hungarians started their conquest of the Carpathian Basin after their defeat in the westernmost territories of the Pontic steppes around 895 by a coalition of the Bulgars and Pechenegs. Only a late source,

12240-509: The first known ruler of the united Moravia. Mojmír and his successor, Rastislav ("Rostislav" in Czech), who ruled from 846 to 870, initially acknowledged the suzerainty of the Carolingian monarchs, but the Moravian fight for independence caused a series of armed conflicts with East Francia from the 840s. According to most historians, the core territories of Moravia were located in the valley of

12376-434: The formation of the first Slavic state. Louis the German sent his armies against Moravia in 872. The imperial troops plundered the countryside, but could not take the "extremely well-fortified stronghold" where Svatopluk took refuge. The Moravian ruler even succeeded in mustering an army which defeated a number of imperial troops, forcing the Franks to withdraw from Moravia. Svatopluk soon initiated negotiations with Louis

12512-510: The frontiers of his realm. For instance, according to Kirschbaum, he annexed the region of the Slanské Hills in the eastern parts of present-day Slovakia. Barford even writes that the development of the state mentioned as "Great Moravia" by Constantine Porphyrogenitus commenced in Rastislav's reign. He turned against East Francia and supported the rebellion of Radbod , the deposed prefect of

12648-577: The infantry, in both the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, in the latter of which he was wounded. Kluge and his family came to America from Germany in 1871, first settling in Detroit, Michigan for two years, and then Helena, Montana, arriving on May 3, 1873. At that time, the family moved into this house, which was an abandoned miner's cabin. Kluge worked mostly as

12784-482: The interests of East Francia. He first sent envoys to Pope Nicholas I in 861 and asked him to send missionaries to Moravia who mastered the Slavic language. Having received no answer from Rome , Rastislav turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III with the same request. By establishing relations with Constantinople , he also desired to counter an anti-Moravian alliance recently concluded between

12920-430: The internal strife which followed Mojmír's death, while according to Kirschbaum, Mojmír was captured and dethroned during the campaign. However, it is without doubt that Louis the German appointed Mojmír's nephew, Rastislav , as the new duke of Moravia during this campaign. Rastislav ( r.   846–870), who initially accepted the suzerainty of Louis the German, consolidated his position within Moravia and expanded

13056-399: The last years of Svatopluk's reign. According to Regino of Prüm , King Arnulf of East Francia "gave the command of the Bohemians to King Zwentibald of the Moravian Slavs" in 890. Bartl and other Slovak historians write that Svatopluk "probably" also annexed Silesia and Lusatia in the early 890s. According to the Annals of Fulda , King Arnulf proposed a meeting to Svatopluk in 892, "but

13192-459: The latter in his usual fashion refused to come to the king and betrayed his fidelity and all the things which he had promised before". In response, Arnulf invaded Moravia in 892, but could not defeat Svatopluk, although Magyar horsemen also supported the Eastern Frankish monarch. Svatopluk—"a man most prudent among his people and very cunning by nature", according to Regino of Prüm—died in

13328-547: The local Slavic dialect of Great Moravia which was the ancestral idiom to the later dialects spoken in Moravia and western Slovakia. Later, the disciples of Cyril and Methodius were expelled from Great Moravia by King Svatopluk I , who re-orientated the Empire to Western Christianity. The meaning of the name of Great Moravia has been subject to debate. The designation "Great Moravia"— Megale Moravia ( Μεγάλη Μοραβία ) in Greek —stems from

13464-510: The meaning of water, lake or sea (sea: Slavic more, Latin mare, Welsh môr, German Meer; humidity: English and German Moor, Slavic mokr- ). Compare also other river names like Mur in Austria and another Morava in Serbia, etc.). After the fall of Great Moravia, the central territory of Great Moravia was gradually divided into the newly ascending Kingdom of Bohemia and Hungarian Kingdom . The frontier

13600-408: The name of a river (now Ślęza ) and mountain ( Mount Ślęża ) in mid-southern Silesia, which served as a place of cult for pagans before Christianization . Ślęża is listed as one of the numerous Pre-Indo-European topographic names in the region (see old European hydronymy ). According to some Polonists , the name Ślęża [ˈɕlɛ̃ʐa] or Ślęż [ɕlɛ̃ʂ] is directly related to

13736-589: The north of the Middle Danube. A new archaeological horizon—the so-called " Blatnica-Mikulčice horizon "—emerged in the valley of the northern Morava river and its wider region in the same period. This horizon of metalwork represents a synthesis of "Late Avar" and Carolingian art. One of its signature items is a sword found in a grave in Blatnica in Slovakia, which is dated to the period between 825 and 850. According to

13872-427: The north to present-day Slovakia, Moravia and Bohemia. Similarly, in the 1820s, Friedrich Blumenerger placed Great Moravia to the south on the borders of Pannonia and Moesia. Their views remained isolated until the 1970s, when Imre Boba again published a theory that Moravia's core territory must have been located around Sirmium, near the river Great Morava . Péter Püspöki-Nagy proposed the existence of two Moravias:

14008-417: The original cabin's first floor, which has hewn squared logs. The second floor is half-timber filled in with bricks. The second floor diagonal logs brace the framing logs. The overall dimensions of the house are 30'-11" x 16'-4" with a foundation of stone found locally. There are front and rear doors on the first floor. The front door is asymmetrically located and the rear door is near a corner. The second floor

14144-511: The other hand, he succeeded in restoring the Church organization in Moravia by persuading Pope John IX ( r.   898–900) to send his legates to Moravia in 898. The legates in short order installed an archbishop and "three bishops as his suffragans" in Moravia. Conflicts emerging between Mojmír II and his younger brother, Svatopluk II , gave King Arnulf a pretext to send his troops to Moravia in 898 and 899. The Annals of Fulda writes that

14280-645: The region around the 7th century, and by the early ninth century, their settlements had stabilized. Local West Slavs started to erect boundary structures like the Silesian Przesieka and the Silesia Walls . The eastern border of Silesian settlement was situated to the west of the Bytom , and east from Racibórz and Cieszyn . East of this line dwelt a closely related Lechitic tribe, the Vistulans . Their northern border

14416-525: The region is Wrocław . Silesia is situated along the Oder River, with the Sudeten Mountains extending across the southern border. The region contains many historical landmarks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites . It is also rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. The largest city and Lower Silesia's capital is Wrocław ; the historic capital of Upper Silesia

14552-588: The region, and one of the oldest dioceses in Poland, subjugated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gniezno . Poland repulsed German invasions of Silesia in 1017 at Niemcza and in 1109 at Głogów . During the Fragmentation of Poland , Silesia and the rest of the country were divided into many smaller duchies ruled by various Silesian dukes . In 1178, parts of the Duchy of Kraków around Bytom, Oświęcim , Chrzanów , and Siewierz were transferred to

14688-518: The region. Lower Silesia features large copper mining and processing between the cities of Legnica , Głogów , Lubin , and Polkowice . In the Middle Ages, gold (Polish: złoto ) and silver (Polish: srebro ) were mined in the region, which is reflected in the names of the former mining towns of Złotoryja , Złoty Stok and Srebrna Góra . The region is known for stone quarrying to produce limestone, marl , marble, and basalt. The region also has

14824-443: The result of the forced population shifts of 1945–48, today's inhabitants of Silesia speak the national languages of their respective countries. Previously German-speaking Lower Silesia had developed a new mixed Polish dialect and novel costumes . There is ongoing debate about whether the Silesian language , common in Upper Silesia, should be considered a dialect of Polish or a separate language. The Lower Silesian German dialect

14960-579: The rise of the first ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language as well as the expansion of Christianity , first via missionaries from East Francia , and later after the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in 863 and the creation of the Glagolitic alphabet , the first alphabet dedicated to a Slavic language. Glagolitic was subsequently replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet created in

15096-526: The river Morava , today in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia. Archaeological findings of large early medieval fortresses and the significant cluster of settlements growing around them suggest that an important centre of power emerged in this region in the 9th century. Early sources ( Alfred the Great 's contemporaneous translation of Orosius 's History of the World , which mentioned Moravia's neighbours, and

15232-415: The river Morava. In Slovakia, the oldest Slavic fortified settlements are documented for the last decades of the 8th century. They were exclusively in areas which were not under direct Avar influence, but probably not built only as protection against them, because some of them are also found in northern territories ( Orava , Spiš ). Variation in pottery implies the existence of at least three tribes inhabiting

15368-627: The southern edge of the region, though at its south-eastern extreme it reaches the Silesian Beskids and Moravian-Silesian Beskids , which belong to the Carpathian Mountains range. Historically, Silesia was bounded to the west by the Kwisa and Bóbr Rivers, while the territory west of the Kwisa was in Upper Lusatia (earlier Milsko ). However, because part of Upper Lusatia was included in

15504-516: The summer of 894. He was succeeded by his son, Mojmir II , but his empire shortly disintegrated, because the tribes subjugated to Svatopluk's rule by force started to get rid of Moravian supremacy. For instance, the Bohemian dukes (based in the Prague region) accepted King Arnulf's suzerainty in June 895, and Mojmír II attempted to restore his supremacy over them without success in the next two years. On

15640-749: The term in this context. Instead they mention the polity as "Moravian realm" or "realm of Moravians" ( regnum Marahensium , terra Marahensium , regnum Marahavorum , regnum Marauorum , terra Marauorum or regnum Margorum in Latin, and Moravьska oblastь in Old Church Slavonic ), simply "Moravia" ( Marawa , Marauia , and Maraha in Latin, Morava , Marava , or Murava in Old Church Slavonic, and M.ŕawa.t in Arabic ), also regnum Sclavorum ( realm of Slavs ) or alternate regnum Rastizi ( realm of Rastislav ) or regnum Zuentibaldi ( realm of Svatopluk ). "Morava"

15776-421: The traditional view of the permanent annexation of huge territories in his reign. Other scholars warn that it's a mistake to draw the boundaries of core territories because Moravia did not reach that development level. In 1784, Slovak historian Juraj Sklenár disputed the traditional view on the location of Moravia and placed its core region in the region of Syrmia , stating that it spread from that location to

15912-511: The two main wartime centers where medical experiments were conducted on kidnapped Polish children by Nazis. Czech Silesia was occupied by Germany as part of so-called Sudetenland . In Silesia, Nazi Germany operated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp , several prisoner-of-war camps for Allied POWs (incl. the major Stalag VIII-A , Stalag VIII-B , Stalag VIII-C camps), numerous Nazi prisons and thousands of forced labour camps, including

16048-542: The use of Old Church Slavonic in the liturgy in the bull Quia te zelo . Bishop Wiching even convinced Svatopluk to expel all Methodius's disciples from Moravia in 886, thus marring the promising literary and cultural boom of Central European Slavs—the Slovaks took nearly a thousand years to develop a new literary language of their own. Pope Stephen addressed the Quia te zelo bull to Zventopolco regi Sclavorum ("Svatopluk, King of

16184-482: The use of the vernacular in the liturgy in a letter of 869. In 869 Methodius was sent by the pope to Rastislav, Svatopluk and Kocel, but Methodius visited only Kocel, who sent him back to the pope. Hadrian then consecrated Methodius as archbishop with the title of Metropolitan of Sirmium to "the seat of Saint Andronicus ", i.e., the see of Sirmium. At the beginning of the 9th century, many Carantanians (Alpine Slavs), ancestors of present-day Slovenians , settled in

16320-474: The valley of the northern Morava river was made by the Byzantine historian Procopius . He wrote of a group of Germanic Heruli who "passed through the territory of all of the Sclavenes " while moving towards Denmark in 512. Archaeological sites have yielded hand-made ceramics, and closely analogous objects in southern Poland and western Ukraine appeared at the confluence of the northern Morava River and

16456-564: The very location of Great Moravia ( historiographical terms, as its original formal name is unknown) are a subject of debate. Rival theories place its centre south of the Danube (the Morava in Serbia) or on the Great Hungarian Plain. The exact date when the Moravian state was founded is also disputed, but it probably occurred in the early 830s under Prince Mojmír I ( r.   820s/830s–846),

16592-416: The victories bestowed by heaven. Svatopluk allied himself with the Franks and helped them seize Rastislav in 870. Carloman annexed Rastislav's realm and appointed two Frankish lords, William and Engelschalk , to administer it. Frankish soldiers arrested Archbishop Methodius on his way from Rome to Moravia at the end of the year. Svatopluk, who continued to administer his own realm after his uncle's fall,

16728-408: The walled fortifications of the region, seized and carried off the treasures which had been hidden in the woods or buried in the fields, and killed or put to fight all who came against him. Carloman also laid waste the territory of [Svatopluk], [Rastislav's] nephew, with fire and war. When the whole region had been laid waste the brothers Charles and Carloman came together and congratulated each other on

16864-415: The wider region of the northern Morava river in the early 9th century. Settlement complexes from the period were unearthed, for instance, near modern Bratislava , Brno and Olomouc . Fortresses erected at Bratislava, Rajhrad , Staré Město and other places around 800 evidence the development of local centres of power in the same regions. Charlemagne launched a series of military expeditions against

17000-504: The work De Administrando Imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos around 950. The emperor only used the adjective megale in connection with the polity when referring to events that occurred after its fall, implying that it should rather be translated as "old" instead of "great". According to a third theory, the megale adjective refers to a territory located beyond

17136-636: Was Arnulf of Carinthia who maintained control over Pannonia in 884. Svatopluk had a meeting with Emperor Charles the Fat ( r.   881–888) at Tulln an der Donau in Bavaria in 884. At the meeting, "dux" Svatopluk became the emperor's vassal and "swore fidelity to him", promising that he would never attack the emperor's realm. Archbishop Methodius died on April 6, 885. Led by Bishop Wiching of Nitra, Methodius's opponents took advantage of his death and persuaded Pope Stephen V ( r.   885–891) to restrict

17272-558: Was Mojmír's lieutenant in Nitra . Historians who identify Pribina as the ruler of an autonomous state, the Principality of Nitra —for instance, Bartl, Kirschbaum and Urbańczyk —add that "Great Moravia" emerged through the enforced integration of his principality into Moravia under Mojmír. The 9th-century Catalogue of Fortresses and Regions to the North of the Danube —which lists the peoples along

17408-402: Was accused of treachery and arrested by Carloman on Louis the German's orders in 871. The Moravians rose up in open rebellion against the two Frankish governors and elected a kinsman of Svatopluk, Slavomír , duke. Svatopluk returned to Moravia, took over command of the insurgents, and drove the Franks from Moravia. According to the Czech historian Dušan Třeštík , the rebellion of 871 led to

17544-596: Was divided into many duchies , ruled by various lines of the Polish Piast dynasty . In the 14th century, it became a constituent part of the Bohemian Crown Lands under the Holy Roman Empire , which passed to the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in 1526; however, a number of duchies remained under the rule of Polish dukes from the houses of Piast, Jagiellon and Sobieski as formal Bohemian fiefdoms, some until

17680-465: Was extended, according to annals, in the early 830s, when Mojmir I of Moravia conquered the neighbouring principality of Nitra (present-day western Slovakia). The former principality of Nitra was used as what is termed in Slovak údelné kniežatsvo , or the territory given to and ruled by the successor to the throne, traditionally the ruling kъnendzь (Prince)'s sister's son. Nevertheless, the extent, and even

17816-644: Was granted. The missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius introduced a system of writing (the Glagolitic alphabet) and Slavonic liturgy, the latter eventually formally approved by Pope Adrian II . The Glagolitic script was probably invented by Cyril himself and the language he used for his translations of religious texts and his original literary creation was based on the Eastern South Slavic dialect he and his brother Methodius knew from their native Thessaloniki . Old Church Slavonic, therefore, differed somewhat from

17952-571: Was in the valley of the Barycz River, north of which lived the Western Polans tribe who gave Poland its name . The first known states in Silesia were Greater Moravia and Bohemia . In the 10th century, the Polish ruler Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty incorporated Silesia into the newly established Polish state . In 1000, the Diocese of Wrocław was established as the oldest Catholic diocese in

18088-429: Was issued in the years 903–906, still refers to the "markets of the Moravians", suggesting that Moravia still existed at that time. It is without doubt that no Moravian forces fought in the battle at Brezalauspurc , where the Hungarians routed a large Bavarian force in 907. The Moravian land, according to the prophecy of the holy archbishop Methodius, was promptly punished by God for their lawlessness and heresy, for

18224-399: Was originally settled on the Morava river. However, from the 12th century, the Czech kings managed to gain more and more of the region on the eastern bank, eventually gaining the whole stretch of the eastern territory from Uherské Hradiště down to Strážnice along the White Carpathians. The original core territory of Great Moravia, nowadays forming the eastern part of Moravia and situated between

18360-713: Was seized by King Frederick II of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession , eventually becoming the Prussian Province of Silesia in 1815; consequently, Silesia became part of the German Empire when it was proclaimed in 1871. The Silesian capital Breslau became at that time one of the big cities in Germany. Breslau was a center of Jewish life in Germany and an important place of science (university) and industry (manufacturing of locomotives). German mass tourism started in

18496-467: Was subjected to genocide involving expulsions , mass murder and deportation to Nazi concentration camps and forced labour camps, while Germans were settled in pursuit of Lebensraum . Two thousand Polish intellectuals, politicians, and businessmen were murdered in the Intelligenzaktion Schlesien in 1940 as part of a Poland-wide Germanization program . Silesia also housed one of

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