CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Plavec, Zvonimir |
|---|---|
| Title | Who is a Slav anyway?: Pannonian Slavs within the Frankish Political Framework |
| Summary | This thesis provides a fresh perspective on the Slavic presence in the region bounded by the Danube River to the north and east, the Dinaric Mountains to the south, and the Alpine foothills to the west during the 9th century. This period follows the fall of the Avar Khaganate at the beginning of the century and precedes the arrival of the Hungarians at its end. Traditionally, the ethnic composition of this area's population has been treated as an objectively verifiable fact, determined by formal characteristics of material culture or political institutions. However, methodological advancements in recent decades have revealed that ethnonyms are not inherently tied to fixed criteria and are subject to constant reinterpretation by those who use them, whether for themselves or others. This thesis examines whether and to what extent Frankish observers applied the Slavic name to the political and cultural situation in this area during the 9th century. I argue that the Frankish attitude was shaped by the inclusion of that area into the Frankish Realm at a time when this Realm was trying to redefine itself from a polity of a single Christian people dominating its pagan neighbors to a homogenously Christian polity in which ethnic identities are dissolved. Consequently, this region was often perceived as a land of subjugated pagan Avars or as the province of Pannonia. The perception of this area as a Slavic land was mainly confined to the Bavarian elites who exerted direct control over it. |
| Supervisor | Ziemann, Daniel |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/plavec_zvonimir.pdf |
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