Mojmir II of Moravia

Mojmir II
Duke of Moravia
Reign	894–after 901
Predecessor	Svatopluk I
Successor	unknown
Born	c. 872
House	House of Mojmír
Father	Svatopluk I
Mother	Svatožizna?

Mojmir II (Latin: Moymirus, Czech and Slovak: Mojmír II., born after 871, died after 901) was a member of the House of Mojmir and since 894 the last known ruler of Great Moravia. He probably died in the beginning of the 10th century in a battle against the Magyars.

Reign

Mojmir succeeded his father Svatopluk I as the king of Great Moravia in 894. At the same time, the Principality of Nitra was given as an appanage to his brother Svatopluk II. But Svatopluk II, supported by Arnulf of Carinthia, king of East Francia, rebelled against Mojmir II in 895 and again in 897, when he concluded an agreement of cooperation with Arnulf. As a result, Mojmir II attacked his brother, but was defeated by East Frankish troops sent to support Svatopluk II's rebellion.

Weakened by internal conflict, Great Moravia lost its peripheral territories: It ceded the Balaton Principality to the Eastern Franks in 894, after Magyar tribes had looted this region. Bohemia, seceding from Great Moravia in the following year, became Arnulf’s vassal. Lusatia also left the Great Moravian empire in 897 and became Arnulf's vassal. Another danger emerged, when Magyars crossed the Carpathians to definitely stay in the Carpathian Basin (895/896). In 896, they settled or were settled in the Great Moravian scarcely populated territory around the upper/middle Tisza River and in 900/901, after several looting raids in Europe, they moved to Transdanubia.

Despite these disasters, Mojmir managed to consolidate his power. In 898 he asked the Pope to consecrate new Great Moravian clerics in order to decrease the influence of Bavarian clerics in his country. The Bavarians (i.e. Eastern Franks), upset by the 898 demand, sent troops to Great Moravia, which were defeated by Mojmir II. Moreover, Mojmir captured the still rebellious Svatopluk II. But Svatopluk II was eventually rescued by the Bavarian troops, with whom he fled to Germany.

After the death of king Arnulf, the Pope finally sent his legates to consecrate a Great Moravian archbishop and three bishops in 899, thus decreasing the influence of the Bavarian clergy. The only thing we know about them is that the archbishop allowed liturgies to be conducted in Old Church Slavonic again (i.e. as opposed to Latin liturgies) and one of them had his seat in Nitra.

As mentioned above, in 900 the Magyars invaded Transdanubia (a former Great Moravian territory occupied by Franks) and raided Bavaria together with Mojmir’s troops. Eastern Francia was compelled to conclude a peace treaty with Great Moravia in 901 and Mojmir was reconciled with his brother, who is assumed to have returned to Great Moravia about this time. The peace treaty with the Eastern Franks also put an end to wars between Great Moravia and the Frankish vassal Bohemia lasting since 895. When and whether the territory that is now southern Poland seceded from Great Moravia is unknown.

Nevertheless, the Magyars become dangerous for both Eastern Francia and Great Moravia. Mojmir stopped their attacks in 902 and 906. In 904, he was even assisted by a Bavarian contingent. Mojmir II and Svatopluk II probably died in 906, a year of intense warfare with the Magyars.

In 907, the Magyars routed the Bavarian army at the three battles of Bratislava. Mojmir or any name of a successor is not mentioned in connection with this important battle(s).

After 907 the Great Moravian Empire began to disintegrate. The remnants of the core territory of Great Moravia were divided between the newly established states of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary, and small local ruler(s) continued to rule for some decades in the mountains of what is now Slovakia.