European Kingdoms

Carinthia (Austria) (Central Europe)

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The European political organisation which would become the late medieval 'first' German empire was created in part through a single act in AD 800. The powerful Frankish king, Charlemagne, had already conquered much of the German-speaking lands during and after his eventual defeat of the mighty Saxons.

Part of the story in the lead-up to this creation, on what eventually would be the Frankish empire's easternmost border in Central Europe, the earliest Slav kingdom was formed halfway through the first half of the seventh century AD. This kingdom included territory within its hazy borders in what today are Austria, Hungary, and Moravia (eastern Czechia).

Situated in the south of Austria, on the frontier with modern Slovenia, the medieval region of Carinthia was home to various Celtic tribes from the third century BC. This included elements of the Taurisci, Ambisontes, Carni, and Latovici, and it may even have been the Carni who gave their name to Carinthia, and also to Carniola. The region was finally conquered and then governed by the Roman empire between 15 BC and AD 445.

Around that later date the dreaded Huns took over, creating a relatively short-lived empire of their own while they threatened Roman holds over a wide swathe of their north-eastern European border. The Hunnic empire was busy collapsing around 460, so the Ostrogoths were briefly able to replace them, before relinquishing control as they focussed more closely on Italy from 488.

Following the chaos of the slow dissolution of the Roman empire, Carinthia became a border zone which separated the Avars from the Bavarii. Tribal Slavs settled the region in the late fifth and early sixth centuries, and Carinthia enjoyed a short-lived period of independence under Samo and his seventh century 'Slav Kingdom'.

Out of this was formed a Slavic principality called Khorushka which survived until 820. Then, with the German Holy Roman empire becoming more important in Central Europe, waves of German immigrants from Austria and also Bavarians settled the land. Eventually a 'Duchy of Carinthia' was established which underwent several changes of governance during the medieval period.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by William Willems, from Noble Strategies in an Early Modern Small State: The Mahuet of Lorraine, Charles T Lipp, from The History of the Franks, Volume II, Gregory of Tours (O M Dalton, Trans, 1967), from From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, Thomas F X Noble, from Popular Revolt, Dynastic Politics, and Aristocratic Factionalism in the Early Middle Ages: The Saxon Stellinga Reconsidered, Eric J Goldberg (Speculum, Vol 70, No 3, Jul 1995), from The Annals of Fulda (Timothy Reuter (Trans), Manchester Medieval Series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II, 1992), and from External Links: the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, and from Encyclopaedia.com, and Cranach Digital Archive (in German and English), and Special Collections (University of Arizona), and The Holy Roman Empire (Heraldica), and The Holy Roman Empire, Christopher Brooks (Portland Community College via LibreTexts Humanities).)