Samo
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King Samo (? – 658) was a Frankish merchant born in the Senonian country (Senonago) (probably today's Sens in France). He was the first ruler of the Slavs whose name is known, and the founder of the so-called (King) Samo's Empire or Samo's Realm (623 - 658), the first known organized community of the Slavs - actually a kind of supra-tribal union, not a true state. As for Samo's nationality (see the end of this article), Fredegar's chronicle - the only contemporaneous source mentioning Samo - says explicitly "Samo, a Frank by birth [or nation] from the Senon[ag]ian province". It is recorded that the Frankish ruler Samo had twelve Wendish wives.
The Avars arrived in the Carpathian Basin in the 560s from the steppes of Asia and subdued the Slavs living on the conquered territory. The Avar border ran approximately along the line of the Byzantine Empire in present-day Serbia - Lake Balaton - eastern Bratislava - southern Slovakia - Ruthenia. However, after the Avars were defeated at Constantinople in the early 7th century, the Slavs living north of the Danube started to revolt against them. Samo was one of the merchants who supplied arms to the Slavs (mainly) for these revolts. During a Slav revolt in 623 (probably at today's Bratislava-Devín), Samo joined the Slavs, the Avars were defeated under his leadership, and the Slavs made him their ruler, thereby giving birth to what is known as King Samo's Empire.
Archaeological findings indicate that the "empire" was situated in present-day Moravia, Slovakia, Lower Austria and Carinthia. The settlements of the later Moravian and Nitrian principalities (see Great Moravia) are often identical with those from the time of Samo's Empire. Present-day Bohemia probably, Sorbia at the Elbe surely, and state of Karantania temporarily, became parts of the empire later (in the 630s), as well. Although the Slavs, led by King Samo, managed to defeat all Avar attacks, Slav conflicts with Frankish merchants, in which merchants were killed and goods stolen, forced them to fight against the Franks as well. In 631, the Frankish king Dagobert I (Merovingian) sent three armies against King Samo. The biggest of the armies, hailing from Austrasia, was defeated by the Slavs led by King Samo at the castle Wogastisburg (Vogast Castle) when trying to attack the center of Samo's Empire. As a result, Samo even invaded Frankish Thuringia several times and undertook looting raids there. The Sorbian prince Dervan joined Samo after this success. The location of the Wogastisburg is currently strongly disputed with claims ranging from castles in Bohemia, to castles at the Danube, to the Frankish Forchheim, to Bratislava, to the Devín Castle, to Nitra, to Carnuntum etc.
The history of the empire after Samo's death in 658 (or 659) is largely unclear. It is generally assumed that it disappeared with Samo's death. Archaeological findings show that the Avars returned to their previous territories (at least to southernmost Slovakia) and entered into a symbiosis with the Slavs, whereas territories to the north of the Avar empire were purely Slav territories. The first specific thing that is known about the fate of these Slavs and Avars, is the existence of the Moravian and Nitrian principalities in the late 8th century (see Great Moravia) which were attacking the Avars, and the defeat of the Avars by the Franks under Charlemagne in 799 or 802/803, after which the Avars quickly ceased to exist.
Sources of information
The main source of written information on Samo and his "empire" is the Frankish Fredegarii Chronicon (Fredegar's Chronicle). It was written by one author (perhaps called Fredegar) around 660 or by three authors in the first half of the 7th century. Its second part describes the history of the Franks between 584 and about 643 and is one of the main sources on the Frankish history. It is the only contemporaneous source on Samo. All other sources are derived from this chronicle, and are much more recent. Examples of such sources are the Gesta Dagoberti I, regnis Francorum from the first third of the 9th century, and the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum (Conversion of the Bavarians and Karantanians) from Salzburg (the center of Bavarian clergy) written in 871-872, the latter source being a very tendentious one as its name suggests (which however does not mean necessarily that it is wrong). According mainly to the Conversio, Samo was a Karantanian merchant.
Names of the entity in other languages
The names of the so-called Samo's Empire in other languages are: Czech Sámova říše, Bulgarian Държава на Само, Polish Państwo Samona, German Reich des Samo, Slovak Samova ríša, Slovene Samova država (Samo's State) or Samova plemenska zveza (Samo's Tribal Union), Croatian Samovo kraljevstvo (Samo's kingdom), Serbian Samov plemenski savez or cyrillic spelling Самов племенски савез (Samo's Tribal Union).