Rastislav

Rastislav, also rendered as Ratislav, was a 9th-century ruler of Great Moravia. He likely reigned from about 846 to 870, during a period when the Moravian state navigated relations with both the Frankish Empire to the west and the Byzantine world to the southeast. His tenure is chiefly noted for efforts to preserve Moravian independence and to strengthen centralized authority within a changing Central European landscape.

Rastislav is best known for inviting Byzantine missionaries to Moravia. In 862–863 he invited Saints Cyril and Methodius to evangelize the Slavic peoples and to develop liturgy in the Slavic language. This initiative led to the creation of the Glagolitic script and a substantial body of translated liturgical texts in Old Church Slavonic, which helped foster a distinct Slavic Christian tradition. The move, while culturally influential, provoked opposition from Frankish church authorities, who preferred Latin rites and greater Frankish control over ecclesiastical matters.

Rastislav's efforts to resist Frankish influence and consolidate his realm ultimately faced strong pushback. Around 870 he was overthrown by his successor, Svatopluk I, with Frankish support, and went into exile. Details of his later life and death are unclear, with various sources placing him in exile during the late 870s.

Legacy of Rastislav centers on his role in enabling Cyril and Methodius to develop Slavic literacy and liturgy. This episode contributed to the cultural and religious development of the Slavic lands in Central Europe, even as Great Moravia itself declined in the following decades under continued external pressures and internal shifts.