Samo

This article is about the Slavic king. For otheruses, see Samo (disambiguation).

Samo (died 658) was a Frankish merchant from the "Senonian country" (Senonago) (probably modern Sens, France). He was the first ruler of the Slavs (623–658) whose name is known, and established one of the earliest Slav states, a supra-tribal union usually called (King) Samo's empire, realm, kingdom, or tribal union.

Primary sources

The main source of written information on Samo and his empire is the Fredegarii Chronicon, a Frankish chronicle written in the mid-seventh century (c. 660). Though theories of multiple authorship abounded once, the notion of a single "Fredegar" is common scholarly fare today. The last or only Fredegar was the author of the brief account of the Wends in which is found the best, and only contemporary, information on Samo.

All other sources for Samo are derived from Fredegar, and are much more recent. The Gesta Dagoberti I regnis Francorum ("Deeds of King Dagobert I of the Franks") was written in the first third of the ninth century. The Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum ("Conversion of the Bavarians and Karantanians") from Salzburg (the Bavarian ecclesiastic centre), written in 871–872, is a very tendentious source, as its name suggests. According mainly to the Conversio, Samo was a Karantanian merchant.

The sources "Fredegar" used to compile his Wendish account are unknown. A few scholars have attacked the entire account as fictitious, but Fredegar displays a critical attitude and a knowledge of detail that suggest otherwise. It is possible that he had an eyewitness in the person of Sicharius, the ambassador of Dagobert I to the Slavs. According to Fredegar, the "Wends" had long been subjects and befulci of the Avars. Befulci was a word, cognative with the word fulcfree found in the Edict of Rothari, signifying "entrusted [to guard]", from the Old German root felhan, falh, fulgum and Middle German bevelhen. Fredegar appears to have envisaged the Wends as a military unit of the Avar host. He probably based his account on "native" Wendish accounts. Fredegar records the story of the origo gentis (origin of the people) of the Wends. The Wends were Slavs, but Samo was only king of the Wends, at least in Fredegar's eyes.

It has also been suggested that Fredegar's sources may have been the reports of Christian missionaries, especially disciples of Columbanus and the Abbey of Luxeuil. If this is the case, it may explain why he is remarkably free of typical stereotypes of heathen Slavs: he was familiar with the Wends as a specifically pagan nation.

History

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 part of present-day 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.

It is recorded that the Frankish ruler Samo had twelve Wendish wives.

Bibliography

• Curta, Florin. The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0 521 80202 4.