„Feldúlták és elfoglalták”

Emperor Constantin Porphyrogennetos described a territory in his work (De Administrando Imperio) which he called ‘Magna Moravia’. The explanation of this name highlights researchers’ opinions concerning the meaning of the adjective ‘magna’. Either it can refer to the extensiveness of territory or to the sense of a lengthy antiquity of the Moravian state. If one accepts the latter point of view, one has to think what was considered ‘old’ by the emperor. The aim of this study is to argue against the view, that Great Moravia may have been located in the area of the Great Hungarian Plain as a part of Svatopluk’s realm. The author offers several reasons against this point of view, including the distinction of two Moravian settlement areas, one located in the Balkan Peninsula and the other to the Carpathian Basin. Several sources prove that the name Morva refers to the River Morava in the Balkans. Moreover, an intensive, northward migration of Slavic nations may also be detected at the beginning of the 9th century. It means that the traditional point of view on the nature of the Moravian migration has changed direction from eastward to north-westward. According to Western European chronicles, the Bulgarians are clearly indicated to have won a dominant position in the region of ‘Szerémség’. This, then, is a region that could not have been controlled by the Moravians. To the north of it, however, we have original references on Moravian rule on the Great Hungarian Plain, in the highlands of present-day Slovakia, and in the Lower Morava Valley. From the archaeological data, the Lower Morava Valley is considered to be the central region while we can expect a certain amount of Avar and Slavic ties on the Great Hungarian Plain, too.