Pribina | |
---|---|
Prince of Nitra (?) | |
Reign | 825 –833 |
Successor | Mojmír I |
Duke of Lower Pannonia | |
Reign | 846–861 |
Successor | Koceľ |
Born | c. 800 |
Died | 861 |
Issue | Koceľ Muntimerus Sclav.[1] |
House | (?) |
Pribina (c. 800 – 861) was a Slavic prince whose adventurous career, recorded in the Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians (a historical work written in 870), illustrates the political volatility of the Franco–Slavic frontiers of his time.[2] Pribina was the first ruler of Slavic origin to build a Christian church on Slavic territory in Nitra, and also the first to accept baptism.[3]
He was attacked and expelled from his homeland by Mojmir I, duke of Moravia.[4] Pribina first fled to Ratpot, one of the border lords in East Francia.[4] Thereafter he was wandering in Central and Southeastern Europe for several years.[4] Finally, in the late 830s, Louis the German, king of East Francia granted Pribina lands near Lake Balaton (now in Hungary) where he set up his own principality under the king's suzerainty.[4][5] He died fighting against the Moravians.[6]